Saudi Arabia is planning a luxurious Fortnite event – but Twitch streamers are forgoing a lot of money

On June 30, 2022By Garmin Philip

As has now become known, a large and apparently luxurious event for the online shooter Fortnite is planned in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Some big Twitch streamers from the USA were asked for this. But they probably won’t fly. Some have scruples, others fear it could cost them their livelihood.

This is the situation:

Countries like Saudi Arabia or Qatar have made a lot of money from oil production for decades, but see the end of this time approaching. Therefore, they are trying to invest in innovative projects and become the hottest “leisure and sports” locations worldwide. Qatar has been awarded the 2022 World Cup. Saudi Arabia plans to become a “gaming Mecca”.
In the West, however, these countries are viewed critically because there are significant restrictions on human rights there. Again and again you hear horror stories about how guest workers or women are treated there.
Now it turns out that a Fortnite tournament is planned for summer 2022. The organizers apparently wanted to have this advertised by top-class gaming streamers. But organizers seem to have trouble finding people to advertise their event.

Huge event for tens of millions of US dollars is obviously of little interest

What is this event? The event has been announced for a long time, but so far it has not really interested many people:

The event will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in the summer of 2022
The total prize money is 15 million US dollars – 2 million US dollars is planned for the Fortnite part
The game is played in the “Duo Zero Build” format

On their Twitter channel, the organizers “Gamers without Borders” post interviews with “His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan”, the President of the Saui Arab E-Sports Federation – but only get 1 retweet and 6 likes .

The video has only 146 views on YouTube.

The event was already discussed on Reddit at the end of April:

Tournament apparently wants to pay a lot of money for US Twitch stars

How did the public find out about the event? A broader public learned about the event via the Twitch streamer Pokelawls:

He explained in a Twitch stream that he had received an official offer to fly to Saudi Arabia for 4 days to play Fortnite there.
He stated that in order to promote this event, he should “make 3 Twitter posts, 3 Instagram stories, 2 Instagram feeds and 1 YouTube post.”
The message also states that the streamers “Mikif and Emiru” have already confirmed, two big Twitch streamers. However, Pokelawls indicated that he would not fly there under any circumstances.

Pokelawls doesn’t explain that this is exactly what this event is about – but it is very close.

It’s not entirely clear how the streamer should be rewarded for participating. But one can assume that in addition to luxurious accommodation, sums in excess of $100,000 are paid for such advertising deals.

Why does everyone say Saudi Arabia is evil?

This is how Mizkif reacted: Streamer Mizkif was then confronted with saying he had agreed to fly there. After all, that is evident from the range of Pokelawls.

Apparently he had no idea why that could be awkward. He said he thought it was a benign charity event:

Why does everyone say Saudi Arabia is evil? What’s wrong with Saudi Arabia? I thought this was for a good cause. Why is everyone mad at me now – will I be canceled now? What’s going on here? I thought this would be cool and fun!

After finding out more about how problematic the partnership is with the help of political streamer HasanAbi, Mizkif canceled the event after HasanAbi explained to him that genocide was emanating from Saudi Arabia.

Mizkif could be seen live learning about Saudi Arabia: