The Esports World Cup Foundation announced Wednesday a three-year strategic partnership with Amazon Ads that will help promote the Saudi Arabian government-funded Esports World Cup in Western markets.
Financial terms of the new deal were not disclosed.
As part of the deal, EWCF and Amazon Ads will work together to bring Esports World Cup content and awareness to consumers in regions such as the United States, Europe, Brazil, Mexico, the Middle East and North Africa, Turkey, India, and Canada. This will include EWC live broadcasts on Twitch, an original docuseries on Prime Video, real-time voice integrations on Alexa, and content via Wondery. among other things.
The new deal is an expansion of its previous collaboration—launching the Esports World Cup Hub on Amazon.sa and Amazon.ae in 2024. Earlier this week, the EWCF announced that it had inked a deal with Amazon Prime to bring a five-part documentary series about the 2024 Esports World Cup called “Esports World Cup: Level Up” to the streaming platform on June 6. The documentary series is part of a deal signed with Sony Pictures, and was directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker R.J. Cutler, produced by This Machine (a Sony Pictures Television division), showrunner John Dorsey, and executive produced by Jane Cha Cutler, Trevor Smith, Elise Pearlstein, and Mark Blatty.
Critics of the docuseries, which follows players from various teams competing at last year’s Esports World Cup, say that the filmmakers focus mostly on the positive aspects of the event, and that it serves as an additional vehicle for the Saudi Arabian government to engage in so-called “sports or esports washing.” Supporters say the series simply shows the triumphs and challenges of international players competing on an international stage.
The Esports World Cup is an eight-week, multi-title event, held on an annual basis during the summer (July to August) managed by the Esports World Cup Foundation, a non-profit funded (it claims) by a sports grant from the Saudi government’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund. The Esports World Cup is operated by ESL FACEIT Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi government-owned gaming and esports company Savvy Games Group—EFG is home to a number of tournament organizers and broadcast production companies, including DreamHack, ESL, FACEIT, and Esports Engine.
Projects backed or owned by the Saudi Arabian government such as Esports World Cup have been criticized for helping the government engage in so-called “sports washing,” or using various forms of sport and entertainment to cover up its record on human rights, women’s rights, LGTBQ+ rights, military actions in Yemen, and more. These and other criticisms have been highlighted by international watchdog groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.