Publicly traded esports organization Guild Esports (LSE: GILD; OTCQB: GULDF) announced Wednesday that it has teamed up with long-time partner Sky Broadband for a series of tournaments aimed at empowering women in esports.
On a freshly launched announcement page for this new initiative, Guild cited an unattributed statistic: “47% of gamers are women, but only 5% make it as esports pros.”
“Together with Sky Broadband, we are empowering women to game competitively by creating the UK’s first-of-its-kind esports initiative to drive equality in gaming,” the company noted.
Two tournaments have been announced, as of this writing: Beginning April 26, the Sky Broadband RACERS ESERIES will kick off, with the aim of empowering “women to game competitively and provide the opportunity to secure a pro contract at the Women’s Esports Finals.”
The other tournament, which is marked as “coming soon,” the “Sky Broadband SOCCER ESERIES,” will offer a similar opportunity to play competitive football in the region (we assume EA Sports FC 24, but there was no formal announcement on this specific game). Both competitions will feed into the Sky Broadband Women’s Esports Finals—the details of which will be announced at a later date.
“Our winners of the Racers and Soccer Eseries will secure a place in the Women’s Esports Finals, where cash prizes, pro contracts, and Sky Full Fibre will be on the line,” the companies said in an Instagram post.
The Esports Advocate reached out to Guild to ask it if this new initiative aimed at supporting women in the UK is at odds with its public commitment to participate in the Esports World Cup, a multi-week esports and gaming festival owned, operated, and hosted by the Saudi Arabian government and backed by its sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF).
The Saudi Arabian government has been criticized for its policies on women’s rights in the past, as noted in this 2033 report from Human Rights Watch—and more recently—by watchdog group Amnesty International, who pushed back on news that the country would chair the UN Commission on the Status of Women and “a leaked draft of Saudi Arabia’s first written penal code,” which would have “further catastrophic consequences for women in the country,” according to the organization.
Guild did not respond to our request for comment, as of this writing.
Guild was one of the first Western esports organizations to commit publicly to the Esports World Cup when it was announced by HRH Crown Prince MBS in October 2023—Guild CEO Jasmine Skee was in attendance at the New Global Sport Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where it was announced—at the time.
The Esports World Cup replaces the Saudi Esports Federation’s other big event, Gamers8, which featured an overall prize pool of more than $45M USD in 2023. The event is operated by the Esports World Cup Foundation, a non-profit backed by the Saudi government, and is being organized by government-owned tournament and events organizer ESL FACEIT Group.