• LG has announced that it is an “official partner” of the eSports World Cup 2024 event to be held in Saudi Arabia this year.
• The event will see a prize pool of $60 million, one of the largest in esports, and counts Sony and adidas among sponsors.
• It joins other major international sporting events that the government of Saudi Arabia is hosting in efforts to adjust its public image after years of notable human rights violations.

South Korean electronics giant LG is the latest sponsor of Saudi Arabia’s Esports World Cup (EWC) 2024, announcing itself as the event’s “official partner.”

It is the last corporation to join the event as a sponsor. The first edition of the EWC, the 2024 event is criticised for being yet another attempt by the Saudi monarchy to improve its international image in light of gross past human rights violations.

According to LG’s announcement, the company will provide more than 990 LG UltraGear OLED gaming monitors for players to use during matches, and more monitors will be up for display at an LG-branded booth at the event.

“It’s a real honour for LG UltraGear to be named the official gaming monitor brand of an esports event as momentous as EWC 2024,” said YS Lee, vice president and head of the IT business unit of LG, in the announcement.

Saudi Arabia’s recent history of human rights violations

The EWC 2024 is yet another effort paid for by the country’s Vision 2030 investment strategy, a government effort to showcase the country as a progressive, economically and digitally advanced world power. It is spearheaded by the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

In 2020, the Human Rights Watch wrote that “Saudi Arabia faced unprecedented international criticism in 2019 for its human rights record, including the failure to provide full accountability for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in October 2018, as well as the country’s dismal treatment of Saudi dissidents and human rights activists.”

Under its bootheel, the Saudi government violently represses dissidents to its authority, including human rights activists in the country. The Riyadh criminal court in 2019 quickly dismissed allegations from several Saudi women, arrested for peacefully protesting for women’s rights and the end of the country’s male guardianship system.

The women alleged that they had been tortured by authorities while in captivity. In 2022, a Saudi woman with a prominent social media following was critical of the government on Twitter and was handed a 34-year prison sentence by the state. That’s longer than a South African life sentence.

The Esports World Cup – more sportswashing?

Officially, the country says that EWC 2024 is an initiative to send a “positive message” to the supposedly struggling esports industry.

“More than $60 million is a testament to our investment in the future of global esports, a commitment to esports fans who deserve exceptional events and an extension of our mission to create meaningful competitive opportunities with life-changing prize pools for esports players everywhere,” explained CEO of the Esports World Cup Foundation, Ralf Reichart in a statement.

“The Esports World Cup is the natural next step in Saudi Arabia’s journey to become the premier global hub for gaming and esports, offering an unmatched esports experience that pushes the boundaries of the industry,” said bin Salman of the event.

The Saudi government has, in a short amount of time, invested billions of dollars into brands like the Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour and into recruiting football stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, hired by Al Nassr FC which is owned by the Saudi government and has close ties to the royal family.

The Saudi monarchy even has a $100 million yearly deal with the WWE to host events in cities like Riyadh and Jeddah. Female wrestlers were not allowed to compete at these events before 2019, and must still change their ring gear to not show any exposed skin below the face in recent years.

“Sportswashing” is often the term used to denote a strategy of using sporting events as propaganda tools, especially those events of wide-ranging international appeal. The enormity of the wide-ranging sporting events planned for the future in the country is difficult to even cover.

This includes FIFA events, like a potential FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2035, to be hosted in a country where women are still legally treated as second-class citizens with a guardianship law that “codifies discriminatory practices and includes provisions that facilitate domestic violence and sexual abuse in marriage,” as per the Human Rights Watch.

Despite this, a “Sports for All Federation” has been established by the country in order to attract more women to sporting events – they must have modest wear, however – and instructs sporting events to use masculine as well as feminine words to ensure that sports are presented as accessible to both men and women.

Hypertext reached out to LG South Africa regarding the sponsorship, but it is unable to comment on the matter.