The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Thursday that it has mutually agreed with the Saudi Arabian government to cancel the 12-year deal to host and operate the Esports Olympic Games. The initial deal was signed in July 2024 by then IOC President Thomas Bach and the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Saudi Arabia (the Saudi Arabian government).
In a statement, the IOC said that each entity still has its own plans for esports in the years ahead, but did not elaborate much on what those plans were:
Unraveling of a Deal
The Esports Advocate has been looking into the deteriorating relationship between the IOC and the Saudi Arabian government over the last several weeks and has learned some of the reasons why the deal inevitably unraveled, but the signs were already there that something was amiss.
The first indicator that things were not on track came to light in February 2025, when the IOC announced that there would not be an Esports Olympic Games until 2027. At the time, organizers said that the parties involved needed more time to formulate a proper plan, but the initial plan was to have an event ready in 2025. Steering this monumental project were the Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF); President of the SOPC and Minister of Sports, HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal; and a joint committee between the IOC and the SOPC set up to steer the games, chaired by IOC Member Ser Miang Ng and co-chaired by HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal.
If the name Ser Miang Ng sounds familiar, it is because he was accused of mixing his “many positions with family business in several respects in connection with esports, the Olympic Esports Week and the Olympic Esports Games” in a complaint filed by whistleblowers to the IOC Ethics Commission. Ultimately, the IOC rapidly conducted an investigation and concluded he did not engage in any wrongdoing.
By the time August came around, it was clear that the deal between the IOC and Saudi Arabia was done. On Aug. 23, the Esports World Cup Foundation announced the Esports Nations Cup (ENC), a new tournament promising nations vs. nations competition, taking place every two years. The competitions are being co-developed along with Electronic Arts, Krafton, Tencent, and Ubisoft, according to the announcement. The ENC announcement was made at the New Global Sport Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Sources tell TEA that friction between the new IOC President, Kirsty Coventry (she was sworn in in June), and individuals within Saudi Arabia in charge of steering the Esports Olympic Games arose because they couldn’t agree on some key points, namely, important issues with the IOC charter itself. The IOC charter generally requires that games organizers work with a relevant stakeholder/federations, but as esports only has the International Esports Federation (IESF) and the Global Esports Federation (GEF), the Saudis were not keen on having them be a part of the process, because both organizations are struggling financially, and had no control over intellectual property from stakeholders.
Ultimately, the Saudi Arabian government had no interest in working with either federation, per our sources, having seen how both operate internally because people like HRH Prince Faisal (founder of the Saudi Esports Federation) took on executive roles at these organizations and saw how the sausage was made. Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation have told TEA for several years that the ultimate goal of the Saudi Arabian government has been to usher in the end of both federations and replace them with something else. While the Esports Olympic Games might have been part of that plan, ultimately, the Esports Nations Cup is as closely modeled to IESF and GEF events as you can get, save for the two-year waiting period in between games (something inspired by the Olympics, no doubt).
Ultimately, the Saudis put forward a proposal to the IOC to create a federation of its own, and then the IOC, under Bach, agreed to it, but when he was replaced by Coventry, things shifted. She did not like the proposal because it would not provide a democratic process and would ultimately be under the control of the Saudi government in perpetuity, according to our sources.
Further, the Saudi contingent pushed back on being forced to put women in leadership positions and adhering to rules on who (what nations) it could or could not allow to participate, according to sources with knowledge of the situation who spoke to TEA.