How ESL and FACEIT sale will affect esports

A week ago, tournament operator ESL and esports platform FACEIT were acquired by Savvy Gaming Group for $1 billion and $500 million, respectively.

SGG is backed by the Saudi Government's Public Investment Fund. Therefore, many CS:GO and Dota 2 fans have a lot of questions about how this deal will affect esports.

Saudi Arabia is one of the richest countries in the world, having on its territory a huge reserve of oil, which historically has always been the source of its wealth. Now, the country is diversifying its investments, and traditional sports, along with e-sports, have now become the object of large investments by the Middle Eastern monarchy.

On the one hand, it's definitely cool. After all, against the backdrop of Valve's inaction, the cancellation of tournaments and the DPC system with all its shortcomings, the appearance of such a sponsor will have an extremely positive effect on eSports. Moreover, not only one of the largest tournament operators was acquired, but also the FACEIT platform, which is an extremely useful tool in organizing tournaments and other events.

The injection of new funds into the esports artery will increase the interest of players and esports organizations in specific disciplines in direct proportion. And ideally, there could be a series of tournaments and leagues designed not only for Tier 1 teams, but also for those who are just trying their hand at the competitive scene.

On the other hand, it must be taken into account that from now on the owners of ESL and FACEIT are citizens of Saudi Arabia, with all the ensuing consequences. After all, in fact, for many, this is the east - this is a different world, with its own religion, laws and foundations.

For example, some people reacted negatively to this news due to the poor reputation of the Saudis in the field of human rights. And what about players and talents? After all, if the tournament will be held in Saudi Arabia, will women be limited in their rights?

ESL is very deeply connected with such disciplines as Dota 2 and CS:GO. In addition, DreamHack is its subsidiary, which further expands the influence of TO in these disciplines. For so many years, the company has established the organization of tournaments, found partners and signed many long-term contracts.

The well-known ESL One tournament series has been run by these guys for a long time. And now ESL, together with DreamHack, are busy organizing Dota Pro Circuit 2021/2022 in North America and Western Europe, respectively.

The Middle East has been getting closer to Dota 2 for some time now. Many still remember one of the princes of Saudi Arabia, who owns a Steam account and spends incredible amounts of money to buy Battle Passes and the Compendium before TI10. The amount of money he has spent on Dota 2 is over $100,000.

In addition, the European roster of Nigma Galaxy with captain KuroKy trains at the bootcamp in Abu Dhabi and represents the entire MENA region. Moreover, the organization also has a second roster that plays in Southeast Asia. The Nigma Galaxy SEA roster will play in the first division of the DPC, along with Tier 1 teams from the region. In general, the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates and the countries of the Persian Gulf are rapidly breaking into e-sports and developing this direction in their region.

Now, after such a large-scale acquisition and merger of ESL and FACEIT into one structure, we can assume that the representative of this region has finally joined the competitive scene of Valve games.

This means that any further decision or conflict between the Eastern and Western worlds will have great consequences. Part of the Western community is concerned about the attitude of the Middle Eastern state towards women and minorities. And if earlier ESL supported this movement, now this issue is up in the air.

Someone talked about a boycott, but refusing to participate in ESL events threatens to forfeit DPC points. Now the competitive scene in Dota 2 is built around The International. Therefore, refusal and loss of DPC points is tantamount to dropping out of the entire system. CS:GO does not have its own TI, but the consequences can be similar.

It is not known how Valve will resolve possible conflicts. But it is clear that the absolute majority do not care about the above problems. Players and teams are ready to ignore some of the nuances for the sake of a promising future of discipline and money. And the average viewer is likely to get even more tournaments where teams won't wait for one match once a week and will be motivated by solid prize money.