INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC) and Saudi Arabia have ended their 12-year esports partnership just a year after it was announced, with both parties choosing to pursue independent projects, the IOC confirmed on Thursday.
The agreement revealed during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and originally set to run until 2036 was expected to culminate in the first Olympic Esports Games in Riyadh in 2026. However, discussions between the IOC, the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the Esports World Cup Foundation have concluded with a mutual decision to terminate the collaboration.
“Recently, the two parties and the Esports World Cup Foundation sat down again and reviewed this initiative. They mutually agreed that they will end their cooperation on the Olympic Esports Games. At the same time, both parties are committed to pursuing their own Esports ambitions on separate paths,” the IOC said in a statement.
Esports has been a strategic focus for the IOC in recent years as it looks to engage younger audiences and future-proof the Olympic movement. With traditional viewership demographics ageing, the IOC has been seeking new ways to connect with emerging generations and saw a Saudi partnership as a powerful accelerator given Saudi’s growing presence in international sport.
Saudi Arabia has invested billions across global sport, including football, Formula One, boxing and golf, as part of its broader sports and entertainment strategy.
“The IOC, for its part, will develop a new approach to the Olympic Esports Games … and pursue a new partnership model. This approach will be a chance to better fit the Olympic Esports Games to the long-term ambitions of the Olympic Movement and to spread the opportunities presented by the Olympic Esports Games more widely, with the objective of having the inaugural Games as soon as possible,” the IOC said.
