It’s been a tumultuous week for some of the biggest beneficiaries of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund of the Saudi Arabian state (KSA). At the start of the week, rumors began to swirl that LIV Golf, the PIF’s counter-programming to the PGA Tour, was facing some kind of shuttering, with the prevalent theory that the golf tour could cease at the end of 2026.
A day later, a bombshell sale announcement of PIF-backed Al-Hilal, a part of Saudi Pro League (SPL), to Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, rocked the football world, and sent waves as far as the English Premier League (EPL), where the PIF has significant holdings.
These two potential divestments, alone worth billions of dollars, alongside the widely publicized new strategy of the PIF until 2030, have caused observers to suggest that the KSA’s wealth fund is cutting sports out of its long term plan. And as a result, sports’ digital cousin, esports, and even gaming in general, might have to start looking over its shoulder. Here’s why:
Image Credit; Esports World Cup Foundation
It’s no secret that Saudi Arabia has been investing heavily in esports. Across the past five years, the KSA through the PIF has invested around $38 billion. Much of this investment sits under the Savvy Games Group, a subsidiary of the PIF which now encompasses tournament organizer ESL FACEIT Group, Scopley, a mobile games company, and development studios MOONTON and Steer Studios. Savvy also holds stakes in the Embracer Group and Nintendo. These represent just a portion of the country’s full investment.
But the crown jewel in the Saudi Arabian esports and gaming investment is the Esports World Cup (EWC), an annual $60 million tournament (or, perhaps more accurately a series of tournaments which collectively amount to $60 million in prize money).
The annual event, run not directly by the PIF, but instead by government backed non-profit, the Esports Foundation (formerly the Esports World Cup Foundation), and organized by Savvy Games Group subsidiary EFG, encompasses two months of the annual esports calendar and hosts 25 events across 24 games, with exceptionally generous prize money.
Beyond this, there’s the EWC Foundation Club Partner program, which in effect gives money directly to teams in return for their participation, attempts and qualification, and promotion of the EWC.
And perhaps most crucially, there’s the fact that the EWC is now a crucial part of the individual esports circuits of many games. Apex Legends uses the event as its Split 1 Playoffs, Mobile Legends Bang Bang uses the event as its Mid Season Cup, and Overwatch now incorporates it into its championship series.
Then there’s the Esports Nations Cup ENC. While the EWC focuses on individual teams and clubs, the ENC, announced in 2025, and set for its inaugural edition later this year, will pit individual nations against each other. By investing huge amounts of money into the creation of national teams across the globe, the ENC, again backed by the Esports Foundation has in effect tied every national esports organization to the continued support of the Saudi Arabian state.
Suffice it to say the PIF and Saudi Arabia are significantly invested in esports. And now, with the news that significant, seemingly spurious investments in sports are being divested by the PIF, esports should be on high alert. Or should it?
Image Credit; Esports World Cup Foundation
LIV Golf was boasting $30 million in prize pools for every single event (20 million to players, 10 to teams). With 13 events across the globe, that’s $390 million before any other costs. With salaries, logistics, and other associated spending, LIV Golf likely cost in the ballpark of half a billion dollars each year. And almost certainly made nothing close to that in revenue.
Similarly, Al-Hilal reportedly had almost $285 million in player salaries alone, according to some sources. With another conservative estimate, with its additional costs, the club likely cost the PIF another half a billion each year.
These cuts, and the drastic realignment of the PIF’s strategy which was announced earlier this week, follow a pattern of reductions. The cuts, starting with the scaling back of The Line and NEOM as a whole, also including Vision 2030 projects, such as the Trojena ski resort, a proposed desert ski resort constructed for the 2029 Asian Winter Games. Overall, billions of dollars of projects have been cancelled over the past few months.
However, in comparison to many of these cancelled projects, the Esports World Cup is a bit of a bargain. The $60 million prize pool alone is a fraction, and compared to the globe-trotting factors of the likes of LIV Golf, the entire event being hosted in a theme park in Riyadh makes things a lot less financially intensive. Even with the millions poured into the Partner Club system, the bill for each edition of the EWC pales into even the payroll of a top flight Premier League football club.
Beyond that, a decent chunk of the money for Riyadh-based event goes directly into the country. On top of the quite literally thousands of contractors shipped into EWC each year from across the globe, there’s thousands of workers from in and around Riyadh who pick up a paycheque during the EWC, and dozens of foreign workers enticed into moving and living in-country, not to mention spending money there during the tournaments.
In effect, the EWC acts, in the way that only a hyper-rich country can, as a state-run social jobs program masquerading as a big capitalist spectacle, at least for those living in Saudi Arabia.
To that end, the EWC and later ENC could be inured against the most drastic of cuts, on the simple fact that the money behind it, deliberately buffered by the non-profit Esports Foundation, is both not that significant (in the grand scheme of things) and at least does visible good within the KSA.
Which is to say, in a vague metaphor to avoid hard predictions, while the EWC (and ENC) is likely on the kitchen table, it’s not on the chopping block just yet. Esports has put too many of its eggs in one basket, to unfortunately continue with more symbolism. And its fans and professionals are right to be nervous with the LIV Golf and Al-Hilal news.
In the not too distant future, esports could find itself plunged into a dire state by the exit of state backing. That time is likely not this year.
Stick with Jaxon.gg for more esports analysis and news.
Featured Image Credit: EWC Foundation
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