GeoGuessr withdraws from Esports World Cup following furious blowback from the community over Saudi Arabia's human rights record

In response to a massive blowback from its player base, geographical puzzle game GeoGuessr has announced its withdrawal from the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

GeoGuessr announced its planned participation in the Esports World Cup earlier in May, describing it as "a massive step" for the game. But the immediate reaction was almost exclusively negative, due to Saudi Arabia's abysmal human rights record. As one user on X put it, "Marketing your world championship as diverse and inclusive but then deciding to make a wildcard [tournament] in Riyadh out of all places is such an unbelievably stupid decision."

Less than a week after GeoGuessr's EWC announcement, the makers of many of the game's most popular maps (GeoGuessr allows community members to contribute lists of locations that anyone can play) issued a statement "in solidarity with those currently residing in Saudi Arabia while being subject to oppression, as well as members of the community who would feel and be unsafe attending the tournament in Riyadh." They also took more concrete action by rendering their maps unplayable.

"The EWC is a sportswashing tool used by the government of Saudi Arabia to distract from and conceal its horrific human rights record," the group of mapmakers said. "Groups targeted by the government include women, LGBTQ people, apostates and atheists, political dissenters, migrant workers in the Kafala system, religious minorities, and many others.

"The subjugation of these groups is extensive and pervasive. Members of these groups are routinely subjected to discrimination, imprisonment, torture, and even public executions. These severe human rights violations are well-documented and indisputable."

The mapmakers said they would maintain their blackout "until we see action from GeoGuessr," specifically the cancellation of its EWC participation and a promise that no other events will be hosted in Saudi Arabia. One day later, they got what they wanted, as GeoGuessr said today that it's pulled out.

"I’ve seen your reactions over the past few days regarding our decision to participate in the Esports World Cup in Riyadh," GeoGuessr CEO Daniel Antell wrote. "When we made that decision, it was with positive intentions. To engage with our community in the Middle East and to spread GeoGuessr’s core mission of letting everyone Explore the World. Since Erland, Anton, and I founded GeoGuessr in 2013, we’ve always strived to be a community-first game. Everyone here at the Stockholm office is a passionate GeoGuessr fan, doing our best to build something meaningful, with you and for you.

"That said, you—our community—have made it clear that this decision does not align [with] what GeoGuessr stands for. So, when you tell us we’ve got it wrong we take it seriously. That’s why we’ve made the decision to withdraw from participating in the Esports World Cup in Riyadh."

GeoGuessr is withdrawing from the Esports World Cup. from r/geoguessr

The sudden change in direction is a major move for GeoGuessr. Saudi Arabia has been sinking billions of dollars into videogames and esports in what is widely perceived as an effort to clean up its public image—"esportswashing" is a term sometimes used to describe it—and there is a lot of money on the table at the EWC, which boasts multi-million-dollar prize pools across games including Dota 2, Valorant, Apex Legends, League of Legends, StarCraft 2, PUBG, Rainbow Six Siege X, Overwatch 2, and numerous others. Even chess is getting in on the action.

The reaction to the withdrawal is pretty much universally positive: While some question GeoGuessr's "positive intentions"—it's not as though Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses are a big secret, after all—the overall feeling is that the community came together, the game makers listened and responded in a timely fashion, and it's a win all around: "A 5K," as some put it, a reference to a perfect score in GeoGuessr.

With the EWC tournament scrapped, GeoGuessr said updated information on how wildcards for the upcoming World Finals will be shared soon. The GeoGuessr community, including mapmakers who blacked out their work yesterday, have also announced a new, crowdfunded Rainbow Classic Tournament, "to empower women and LGBT+ members of our community," that's set to run at the same time as the now-cancelled EWC tourney.

If you're curious how a game based on Google Maps can be an entertaining, shoutcasted spectacle, watch the 2024 Grand Championship, an incredible duel with highs and lows, twists and turns.