Keep the Repressive Saudi Arabian Monarchy Out of the Fighting Game Community
Saudi money is slowly filtering into fighting game competition, and it’s time we talk about it
If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably noticed that I don’t exactly like the Saudi Arabian monarchy and enjoy the idea of them getting involved with the fighting game community even less. I talk about it a lot, partly because I have an obsessive personality and partly because no one else does. And while great strides to integrate Saudi money into fighting game competition have yet to be made, the inklings that, one day, they may become a key player in funding tournaments has me very worried, to say the least.
I should preface this by saying I have nothing but love for Saudi competitors. It’s been amazing to see players from the Middle East expand their profile over the last few years and show the global community that they are a force to be reckoned with. The issues presented in this piece lie entirely with the monarchy that has maintained control of the various incarnations of the Saudi state since 1744.
Despite its long history, you don’t have to go very far back to come face to face with the Saudi Arabian monarchy’s assault on human rights. The country’s current ruler, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (hereafter “King Salman”), has been opposed to the installation of a true Saudi democracy since he assumed the crown in 2015. During King Salman’s reign, the worst of Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations — most notably the lack of religious freedom, the institution of male guardianship (under which women need permission from a father, brother, or husband for things like pursuing an education or traveling), severe restrictions on press that might be seen as negative to the monarchy, and a complete lack of LGBTQ+ rights — have continued unabated.
Most of these issues stem from the Saudi monarchy’s adoption of Wahhabism, an ultraconservative doctrine observed by a growing number of adherents to the Islamic faith’s Sunni sect. And although many have anointed King Salman’s son and heir apparent, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (hereafter “MBS”), as a progressive opposition to these traditionalist beliefs, human rights activists have continued to be arrested en masse under his direction. MBS is also responsible for Saudi Arabia’s intervention in the ongoing Yemeni civil war, which includes a blockade of the country that has led to mass famine and the deaths of at least 50,000 children. And, in 2018, the CIA came to the conclusion that MBS directly ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and frequent critic of the crown prince.
As you might imagine, complete control of Saudi Arabia has given the royal family considerable access to the region’s natural oil reserves, making them a major player on the world stage. Saudi Arabia is the second-largest producer of crude oil and the most prolific oil-exporting nation. There’s a lot of big numbers involved and tons of money changing hands due to the world’s dependency on the energy source, and much of that money enters the Saudi royal family’s coffers by way of the state-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Company (hereafter “Aramco”), generating $1 billion a day in revenue. This absolutely ridiculous cashflow has raised the royal family’s collective wealth to more than $1 trillion. But even with this enormous wealth, some estimates say that a quarter of the Saudi population lives below the poverty line, which in Saudi Arabia is about $17 a day or around $530 a month. In contrast, a 1996 cable released by Wikileaks in 2011 revealed that every member of the royal family received a stipend that ranged from $270,000 a month for the children of Abdulaziz ibn Abdul Rahman ibn Faisal ibn Turki ibn Abdullah ibn Muhammad Al Saud (hereafter “Ibn Saud”), King Salman’s father and first ruler of the current Saudi state, to $8,000 for Ibn Saud’s great-great-grandchildren, not to mention whatever additional assets they were able to acquire through investments and corruption. Two decades later, those numbers have likely increased dramatically, and a dissident family member living in Germany has claimed that a lot of money is concealed from the official budget.
But what do Saudi royals spend that money on when they aren’t purchasing lavish mansions? Well, one prince in particular has set his eyes on making Saudi Arabia a major destination for competitive gaming.
Prince Faisal Bin Bandar Bin Sultan Al Saud (hereafter “Prince Faisal”) is a great-grandson of Ibn Saud who spent many of his formative years growing up in the United States. He graduated from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, returning to Saudi Arabia in 2005 to take “a lead role in managing his family’s private-sector business affairs.” Prince Faisal established the Saudi Arabian Federation for Electronic and Intellectual Sports (hereafter “SAFEIS”) in late 2017 with the goal of “positioning [Saudi Arabia] as a main eSports hub in the Middle East and the world” and assumed the role of president. Since then, the organization has hosted a number of esports tournaments within Saudi Arabia and, in August 2018, signed an agreement with the Japan eSports Union (hereafter “JeSU”) to hold a competition between the two countries in January 2019 with a guaranteed ¥30 million JPY (around $274,000 USD) prize pool. This event, which has since been postponed due to “various circumstances,” planned to include tournaments for Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Winning Eleven 2019. Prince Faisal also made the rounds at Evo Japan 2018, talking with Evolution Championship Series co-founder Joey “Mr. Wizard” Cuellar and head of business development Mark “MarkMan” Julio, the latter of which shared news about their meeting twice. When contacted about their work with the Saudi Arabian government around the time of the Jamal Khashoggi assassination, neither JeSU nor Julio returned a request for comment.
Unlike more powerful members of the royal family, it’s hard to find much information about Prince Faisal apart from what has been released through various PR campaigns related to his work with SAFEIS. His father is Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud (hereafter “Prince Bandar”), grandson of Ibn Saud and Saudi ambassador to the United States from 1983 to 2005. Prince Bandar was so close to George W. Bush during his time in the White House that the former president took to calling him “Bandar Bush” as a nickname. This proximity to the Bush family and the diplomatic immunity that came with being an ambassador has kept Prince Bandar from being investigated for his indirect ties to the 9/11 hijackers. Later, he would become a key advocate for the United States’ military action against Iraq, according to investigative reporter David B. Ottoway’s nonfiction book The King’s Messenger.
Should Prince Faisal be held accountable for his father’s questionable actions? Probably not. But it’s clear that, as a member of the Saudi royal family, he has been afforded the monetary support necessary to fund his excursions into competitive gaming. While his projects have been mainly focused on his own country, Prince Faisal’s recent moves mean that the extraordinary wealth his family has hoarded over the decades as unquestioned rulers of Saudi Arabia now stands to infiltrate the global fighting game community by way of JeSU and possibly even the Evolution Championship Series. Much like Saudi Arabia’s partnership with WWE for a couple of propaganda-laden and women-excluding shows last year, SAFEIS’s work to establish footholds in esports serves as another step in MBS’s “Vision 2030” plan, a series of international investments that the monarchy is using to improve their image on the world stage without making any meaningful changes within Saudi Arabia itself. Prince Faisal revealed as much after partnering with Global eSports Resources (hereafter “GER”) in February 2018, saying: “By attracting foreign investment, creating jobs and non-oil revenues eSports fulfills the Crown Prince’s 2030 vision for the future of the Kingdom.”
Every country has its issues, but it’s rare that governments become directly involved in funding fighting game competition, especially one as corrupt and vile as the Saudi monarchy. Are we supposed to believe that, during a hypothetical fighting game tournament, someone who is open about their homosexuality like Dominique “SonicFox” McLean would be safe in Saudi Arabia? What about female competitors? Do we really want to advocate Saudi Arabia’s completely backwards treatment of women by accepting money from a member of the royal family?
For the last few years, the fighting game community has been in a precarious position. Desperate for money and opportunity, we’ve started to toy with the idea of trading integrity for financial stability. Partnering with drastically uninformed and disrespectful organizations like ELEAGUE is one thing, but accepting support from a government presided over by the Saudi monarchy is another entirely. By doing so, we will be telling the female, gay, lesbian, trans, and otherwise queer members of the fighting game community that their well-being is second to whatever money Prince Faisal and SAFEIS might be putting on the table. It will tell these groups, who struggle to maintain a presence in the competitive scene as it is, that outright hatred and discrimination can be overlooked if you provide this tournament or that event with enough cash. Ultimately, we will be telling the rest of the esports world that we are for sale to the highest bidder, no matter what atrocities the financier has committed. Where do we draw the line if not here?
Ian Walker is a freelance writer focused on covering the fighting game community. You can follow him on Twitter at @iantothemax and check out his published work through his online portfolio.
