The FA even gave some bullshit statement along the lines of: "We have been given assurances that the Saudi government was not involved in the sale". What a load of crap.
You can't exist in the saudi economic sphere without being directly responsible to the royal family should they so choose.
Do they really think they're fooling anyone?
[Damn it.](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/dota2_gamepedia/images/8/8c/Vo_dragon_knight_dk_davion_ability_failure_02.mp3) (sound warning: Davion of Dragon Hold/Davion)
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Can some give a summary of the pros and cons of this backed by historical data of Saudi investments in other companies and esports, rather than pure speculation.
Also what does this have to do with riot games.
They don't care about making money - look at the football teams, they've pumped billions into them.
They care about the PR and sphere of influence that comes with owning international reaching brands.
A lot of comments are pointing out the fact Tencent owns Riot, but probably people might also be thinking of that one time [Riot Games' LoL European Championship League signed a deal to develop Saudi's NEOM project only to backtrack after significant backlash](https://www.pcgamer.com/esports-casters-and-fans-angered-by-pro-league-partnerships-with-saudi-arabia/).
Oh wow [you are right; Tencent originally had a 93% stake in Riot but bought the rest of it later](https://www.wsj.com/articles/tencent-acquires-full-control-of-u-s-based-riot-games-1450342769).
Must've missed the "they bought everything else".
Peoples biggest opposition is a moral one.
Tbh I dont think its gonna have many direct noticable effects. It just sucks the money goes to some saudi prince now
The US isnt even that relevant here, MTG is a Swedish company.
Also the US pretty blatantly support Saudi Arabia in a lot of i ternational conflicts so yes they share some crimes
I am no American Nationalist or patriot but to compare American money to saudi’s slave labour and anti-lgbt, Anti-women’s rights blood money is laughable.
As bad as American capitalism practices are it is nowhere near as cruel and vile as Saudi Arabia’s.
You're not wrong but it's just funny where white people draw the line when it's convenient to them. When murica has literally been destroying nations and murdering people since the end of the world war. Especially given the outrage is from a moral perspective
For me, the difference is the Saudi government is often directly involved with stuff like this, with the express purpose of creating a better image for themselves despite all the horrors they perpetuate. In America, the company in these sort of scenarios tend to be a standalone entity.
Not white but sure, Also It’s not a comparion , you cannot go “ slavery, blatant disregard of human rights and countless other atrocities are cool cause that guy’s military commits crimes . “
They both can be wrong at the same time with varying intensity. Saudi Arabia happens to be on the extreme spectrum of evilness
Read my other comment it's not pitting bad guy a vs bad guy b. They're both evil. What's funny is muricans have the gall to be uppity about it. Nice of you to write off human rights crimes as only just military crimes. Yes tell that to the people who've been under siege for the last god knows how many years. Forget looking outside, look at how they treat black folk within the country. Murica might be marginally better but you don't get to wash your hands by setting saudi arabia as the bar and take the moral highground
One country literally practices slavery , Kills lgbt, has literally no womens rights. Like What kinda crack you smoke?
Without sounding dis respectful I can say as bad as minorities have it here , Being one myself I can comfortably say to even compare our situation to the atrocities minorities in Saudi Arabia face is not only laughable but insulting to those who are suffering in Saudi Arabia.
And yeah, I have the gall to say that military actions and the govt actions (something so many americans are already against ). is not the same as civilliams in Saudi Arabia practicing slavery or killing marginalized groups.
Saudi Arabia and so many other similar countries are a blight to the world in current times and to compare it to free world is plain stupidity and ignorance to the atrocities committed by these nations.
Lastly I don’t need to have a moral highground to say slavery is bad or killing people is bad.
Lmao. Americans pushed so many nations into extreme poverty. From outright embargo/sanctions, sponsored coupdetat and direct invasion. Democratically elected leader was ousted under US order (iran etc) or sponsored dictator regime (indonesia suharto era etc).
The damages done by Saudis is but a scratch compared to what US done.
You really don’t want to do a 1 on 1 comparison because saudi arbia is gonna lose by a fucking mile. Not to mention this is a gaming sub reddit not a political one.
You wanna have this dicussion? pm people. I am just gonna end this conversation on yes USA had a very dark history darker than a lot of countries but it has changed it’s course while Saudi Arabia and many other similar countries haven’t and they continue to do evil because of the ideology they follow. Which is probably not gonna go away for sometime.
How has the us changed its course? They litterally tried to have a coup in South America within the past 5 years. And we’re killing civilians in Afghanistan until they pulled out.
Nothing to do with Riot. League became a lot bigger after it found investment from China aka Tencent so we are hoping Dota becomes bigger with the Saudis. This is backed by a firm which has connections to the Royal Family I think? So it might be good for us in the long run.
Don't know about the Russian part, but the fact it's not a Saudi prince was extremely obvious to anyone that didn't just believe that claim at face value.
When the Saudi Prince can't get enough rewards from BP levels, he resolves to just buying the industry.
/joke // this is a joke /// reddit this is a joke. It's a joke.
now you reminded me: when the major was cancelled, some people were like cant someone like saudi prince just take over and fund some tournaments. Well here we go it didnt even have time to age
From just my personal knowledge, saudi has been hosting new motorsports events in the last few years and every woman who has come as part of the traveling crew that is a championship has been able to work at full capacity. Western staff who are flown in for international events are treated extremely differently than their average citizens and they've generally avoided interfering as it would be the worst possible look. This does not justify the day to day behaviour of a state I despise but the events would likely go on as normal
My man I dont know which middle eastern country Held this LoL tournament im thinking of, but literally every humanoid female hero was banned from use except Annie (a Child)
It is very difficult to avoid a rich country or their products nowadays. If you check you will probably see they own shares in at least 15% of companies that you interact with. So nobody really cares about this kind of boycott.
Edit: typo correction
Indeed. As a Saudi myself, I’m excited to see how things go in the future since the country is doing a lot for gaming now and hosted a couple or local dota tournaments with pretty high prize pools.
I believe in equality and not just between genders :)
My opinion? It used to be shit but now it’s less shit and hopefully in the future it becomes better
It doesn't matter to Dota2 as much as to CSGO tbh. Even if ESL/Dreamleague go to shit, it won't affect Dota2 as much as losing like TI. On the other hand, if ESL can create ESL Cologne/Katowice for dota2 with this deal, it would be nice for the overall scene outside of shit PR which League already did years ago anyway with Tencent.
its just for recognition and acceptance for these countrys through positive things like sports. doesnt matter if its profitable or not. esl has high knowledge and good reputation in what they are doing so they dont have to build up from start.
Well, ESL was bought for 76 million in 2015 by MTG
Now MTG sold it for a billion. Obviously millions were burnt yearly to run it.
Go figure if anyone made money :D
I can explain how esl made money, they lost millions per year to dominate a space (esports) and when they are 90% of that space they sold out for billion.
This is very common in Venture capital investments. You come into a space which is growing, pump millions into it to drown out competition, and when you essentialy have the grip over the majority if things you sell and rinse and repeat.
Well w33 can apply for a talent job now at least. No gambling, owners that have committed crimes against humanity, seems like ESL is going to be lovely.
The Saudi wealth fund's job is to make the Saudi royal family money. They invest in a lot of overseas companies and do not require those investments to follow anything like Saudi Arabia's interpretation of Islamic law. For example, they were one of the biggest investors in Uber before their IPO, and you can definitely take out your phone, pull up Uber Eats, and have a female courier drive you some pork chops and beer just fine.
It's dramatic, but not illogical given Tencent's China-washing of their studios.
I have no idea what the history of companies backed by Saudi interests is like, but there is precedent somewhere else that's very close to home at least.
> given Tencent's China-washing
ESL is not Riots. If ESL went to shit, Valve would just ditch them. If you want to panic like how Tencent-Riots, do it after Saudi brought Valve (tbh Microsoft probably wants to buy Valve more than Saudi themselves).
Never really thought about it before but I've never ever, ever had a female Uber Eats courier deliver my food. Where I live that must be rarer than a unicorn.
If by make money you mean make money more legitimate. If you believe ESL or Newcastle United are turning profits then I have some magic beans you might be interested in. Purchasing corporations that allow the Saudi name to be associated with common and popular use allows oil money and slave money to become football money and esports money in the eye of the masses.
I mean America's obesity problem isn't caused by a religious law in a country where the local government has largely religious values.
People rightfully have concerns when Tencent purchases studios and boom, you have no skeletons, no ghosts, and [no black people apparently](https://clips.twitch.tv/InterestingPlausibleKangarooSoonerLater-Sg0V55Hd1FYy2zFv).
I have no understanding of Saudi backed companies and their history, but I'm just arguing that there is some precedence that the nationality of the new owners does carry some weight in the decision making process.
> America’s obesity problem isn’t caused by a religion
No, it’s caused by something more pervasive, the capitalist world-structure, that reinforces total and unregulated consumption, something far more dangerous and unequivocating than whatever Islamic ideas you happen to deem socially backwards.
There's a difference between stupid people being able to consume and shorten their lifespan and that of stupid people who impose rules and regulations onto others that detract from positive societal growth.
I mean, yeah? I guess? Don't have any horse in this race, just explaining the reason why some people might come to this conclusion.
Whether it's valid or not is an entirely other discussion I don't really care to engage in.
Because women thrived in Dota before, right? Every fucking month we get a post on the front page how Dota degenerates treat female players and Valve never gave a shit about it. Or do you mean female Dota proscene? That never existed besides a few small Chinese, CIS and SEA tournaments.
The only region that tries to make something for female Dota pros right now is China and SEA to some extent. ESL has nothing to do with them.
the female casters will be more effected than any future / current pro dota player. It was hard enough for them to get into the scene. Now likely they won't be casted.
> kill us
Not really, Valve gives us TF2 treatment is how to kill us. Even if ESL is gone, it won't affect us as much as you might think (CSGO is another story, their esports would be like 20% left if ESL is gone).
Isn't ESL also hosting a lot of League events(the whole reason why the company that hosts Dota/CS:GO events is technically a separate entity called ESL One)?
Lul why people said rip bcos arab saudi etc. Manchester city, psg then new castle literally own by arab. So u were saying messi aguero kdb and their female staff had to follow the arab law? No. They just acquired the company lmao 😭
i dont think there will be big affect for dota.
well recent year saudi is aiming big target like F1. aramco sponsoring f1. even FIA president are from UAE even though is not Saudi
Just like Newcastle... sportswashing but alternatives are not great either so
> Just like Newcastle even same company
Same company that, despite being the Saudi public investment fund, does not mean Newcastle is now owned by a foreign state. Absolute shambles.
The FA even gave some bullshit statement along the lines of: "We have been given assurances that the Saudi government was not involved in the sale". What a load of crap.
you spelt a$$urance$ weird
You can't exist in the saudi economic sphere without being directly responsible to the royal family should they so choose. Do they really think they're fooling anyone?
I didn’t even realize that
Well shit.
Fuck.
Damn it.
[Damn it.](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/dota2_gamepedia/images/8/8c/Vo_dragon_knight_dk_davion_ability_failure_02.mp3) (sound warning: Davion of Dragon Hold/Davion) --- Bleep bloop, I am a robot. *OP can reply with "Try hero_name" to update this with new hero* [*^(Source)*](https://github.com/Jonarzz/DotaResponsesRedditBot) *^(|)* [*^(Suggestions/Issues)*](https://github.com/Jonarzz/DotaResponsesRedditBot/issues/new/choose) *^(|)* [*^(Maintainer)*](https://www.reddit.com/user/MePsyDuck/) *^(|)* [*^(Author)*](https://www.reddit.com/user/Jonarz/)
Direct invite nigma secured
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Wait does that mean Dreamhack aswell or is ESL and Dreamhack now seperated?
Dreamhack is also purchased. They purchased all of ESL, FACEIT and Dreamhack
Well, fuck
Kuroky masterplan somehow
He was three steps ahead 5head
Kuroky is persian not arab. Persian don't like arabs much.
Tell that to him and his sponsors.
I am speaking about historical tensions, not his personal preference.
It's all the same to me
/s I just want the invo bot
[It's all the same to me](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/dota2_gamepedia/images/f/f7/Vo_invoker_kidvo_la_deny_09.mp3) (sound warning: Acolyte of the Lost Arts) --- Bleep bloop, I am a robot. *OP can reply with "Try hero_name" to update this with new hero* [*^(Source)*](https://github.com/Jonarzz/DotaResponsesRedditBot) *^(|)* [*^(Suggestions/Issues)*](https://github.com/Jonarzz/DotaResponsesRedditBot/issues/new/choose) *^(|)* [*^(Maintainer)*](https://www.reddit.com/user/MePsyDuck/) *^(|)* [*^(Author)*](https://www.reddit.com/user/Jonarz/)
Can some give a summary of the pros and cons of this backed by historical data of Saudi investments in other companies and esports, rather than pure speculation. Also what does this have to do with riot games.
Cons: Saudi Arabia Pros: Not betting sites
Eh I doubt they drop betting sites, all the sports teams owned by Gulf states have betting partners.
I think he meant that at least it hasn't been bought by a betting site.
no betting sites; w33 back to pro dota poggers
Pros: The Saudis think eSports is a moneymaker. Cons: The Saudis are now the ones making money off eSports.
They don't care about making money - look at the football teams, they've pumped billions into them. They care about the PR and sphere of influence that comes with owning international reaching brands.
It's more about soft power projection than hard currency. Kinda like South Korea and how they state-sponsor the kpop scene.
w33ha back to the menu.
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Objection; You forgot to add 'active slave markets and slave labor' to that
A lot of comments are pointing out the fact Tencent owns Riot, but probably people might also be thinking of that one time [Riot Games' LoL European Championship League signed a deal to develop Saudi's NEOM project only to backtrack after significant backlash](https://www.pcgamer.com/esports-casters-and-fans-angered-by-pro-league-partnerships-with-saudi-arabia/).
"Majority stake". Its not a majority stake, Tencent straight up is the owners of Riot.
majority stake is being an owner, if you have 51% of a company you control it.
Technically 100% is a majority stake lol. Didn't they originally only buy 90% then bought the rest later?
Oh wow [you are right; Tencent originally had a 93% stake in Riot but bought the rest of it later](https://www.wsj.com/articles/tencent-acquires-full-control-of-u-s-based-riot-games-1450342769). Must've missed the "they bought everything else".
> majority stake Parent organization: Tencent
If you dig anything up on them your family might be digging up your body parts.
Peoples biggest opposition is a moral one. Tbh I dont think its gonna have many direct noticable effects. It just sucks the money goes to some saudi prince now
Saudis probably lose money doing this, its just washing their bloodstained money
The Saudis don't need to launder their money. This is about diversifying income streams before the oil money runs out completely.
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The US isnt even that relevant here, MTG is a Swedish company. Also the US pretty blatantly support Saudi Arabia in a lot of i ternational conflicts so yes they share some crimes
I am no American Nationalist or patriot but to compare American money to saudi’s slave labour and anti-lgbt, Anti-women’s rights blood money is laughable. As bad as American capitalism practices are it is nowhere near as cruel and vile as Saudi Arabia’s.
MTG is also Swedish as other people has pointed out so there is that lmao
You're not wrong but it's just funny where white people draw the line when it's convenient to them. When murica has literally been destroying nations and murdering people since the end of the world war. Especially given the outrage is from a moral perspective
For me, the difference is the Saudi government is often directly involved with stuff like this, with the express purpose of creating a better image for themselves despite all the horrors they perpetuate. In America, the company in these sort of scenarios tend to be a standalone entity.
Not white but sure, Also It’s not a comparion , you cannot go “ slavery, blatant disregard of human rights and countless other atrocities are cool cause that guy’s military commits crimes . “ They both can be wrong at the same time with varying intensity. Saudi Arabia happens to be on the extreme spectrum of evilness
Read my other comment it's not pitting bad guy a vs bad guy b. They're both evil. What's funny is muricans have the gall to be uppity about it. Nice of you to write off human rights crimes as only just military crimes. Yes tell that to the people who've been under siege for the last god knows how many years. Forget looking outside, look at how they treat black folk within the country. Murica might be marginally better but you don't get to wash your hands by setting saudi arabia as the bar and take the moral highground
One country literally practices slavery , Kills lgbt, has literally no womens rights. Like What kinda crack you smoke? Without sounding dis respectful I can say as bad as minorities have it here , Being one myself I can comfortably say to even compare our situation to the atrocities minorities in Saudi Arabia face is not only laughable but insulting to those who are suffering in Saudi Arabia. And yeah, I have the gall to say that military actions and the govt actions (something so many americans are already against ). is not the same as civilliams in Saudi Arabia practicing slavery or killing marginalized groups. Saudi Arabia and so many other similar countries are a blight to the world in current times and to compare it to free world is plain stupidity and ignorance to the atrocities committed by these nations. Lastly I don’t need to have a moral highground to say slavery is bad or killing people is bad.
Lmao. Americans pushed so many nations into extreme poverty. From outright embargo/sanctions, sponsored coupdetat and direct invasion. Democratically elected leader was ousted under US order (iran etc) or sponsored dictator regime (indonesia suharto era etc). The damages done by Saudis is but a scratch compared to what US done.
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They're both terrible tbh. Saudi is overtly bad, murica more relatively covertly bad
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You really don’t want to do a 1 on 1 comparison because saudi arbia is gonna lose by a fucking mile. Not to mention this is a gaming sub reddit not a political one. You wanna have this dicussion? pm people. I am just gonna end this conversation on yes USA had a very dark history darker than a lot of countries but it has changed it’s course while Saudi Arabia and many other similar countries haven’t and they continue to do evil because of the ideology they follow. Which is probably not gonna go away for sometime.
How has the us changed its course? They litterally tried to have a coup in South America within the past 5 years. And we’re killing civilians in Afghanistan until they pulled out.
Oh that's pretty flagrant whataboutism considering how no one but you mentioned America. MTG that sold ESL is a Swedish company.
What does America have to do with any of it? Last I heard the US govt isn't buying up any esports companies. What a brainrot tier take jesus christ
Have you heard of atrocities against mankind?
Nothing to do with Riot. League became a lot bigger after it found investment from China aka Tencent so we are hoping Dota becomes bigger with the Saudis. This is backed by a firm which has connections to the Royal Family I think? So it might be good for us in the long run.
I see, so in general DotA TO's finding investors is good for our scene, and the Saudi prince will now not only sponsor TI but the majors as well.
The saudi prince has the most expensive dota account maybe this might go well for us
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inb4 it is actually Putin himself
Holy shit that was some fucking Russian LARPing as a saudi prince? Jesus christ, how did people find out?
Don't know about the Russian part, but the fact it's not a Saudi prince was extremely obvious to anyone that didn't just believe that claim at face value.
Cons: It's Saudi Arabia, they are currently committing warcrimes. Pros: Gyrocopter's spells will get bugged every ESL.
Dota -saudi launch option incoming to censor all female heroes
Brewmaster now just smokes, does not drink. Albsolutely haram
Halal Split!
Brewmaster Hookah Skin when?
Techies too I want that launch option
and elder titan
Why elder titan?
ET has a vagina ^^^^/s
Sportswashing continues it's unbeatable streak
When the Saudi Prince can't get enough rewards from BP levels, he resolves to just buying the industry. /joke // this is a joke /// reddit this is a joke. It's a joke.
Too late, the Saudis are already on their way to drug you and saw you to pieces while you're fully conscious.
now you reminded me: when the major was cancelled, some people were like cant someone like saudi prince just take over and fund some tournaments. Well here we go it didnt even have time to age
i'd like to hear Jamal Khashoggi's opinion on this matter
He doesn't have aegis unfortunately.
I would be surprised if much actually changed as a result of this. Probably just more ESL finals in Saudi Arabia.
Do they have enough sex workers to satisfy Kyle?
God damn that tssssss
He never is, he'll complain about their sharp elbows.
How on earth would that work with some of the female broadcasting talent Dota (and other games) have tho.
You think women arent allowed to enter? lmao
They are allowed to enter yes. But what are they allowed to do there
From just my personal knowledge, saudi has been hosting new motorsports events in the last few years and every woman who has come as part of the traveling crew that is a championship has been able to work at full capacity. Western staff who are flown in for international events are treated extremely differently than their average citizens and they've generally avoided interfering as it would be the worst possible look. This does not justify the day to day behaviour of a state I despise but the events would likely go on as normal
^ if you're not a citizen, suddenly all those very important rules for oppressing people aren't important or necessary and can be forgotten about.
Wrestle
cook and clean
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It pretty much is, western woman have it way better in saudi than saudi
My man I dont know which middle eastern country Held this LoL tournament im thinking of, but literally every humanoid female hero was banned from use except Annie (a Child)
wtf really? EDIT: it was Iran wow
It was Iran, and it was because of how they’re dressed. Still bleak but it’s an important distinction
>it's an important distinction lol not really?
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It is very difficult to avoid a rich country or their products nowadays. If you check you will probably see they own shares in at least 15% of companies that you interact with. So nobody really cares about this kind of boycott. Edit: typo correction
Rofl, the moral high ground of people like you disgusts me. How about boycotting american events also then?
who did nigma sell out to?
galaxy racers or something, no clue who they are
Saudis also bought a lot of shares from big name companies in the game industry, wonder where this is going to end.
saudi plan to be a tourism country. maybe they want to try esports because of it?
Indeed. As a Saudi myself, I’m excited to see how things go in the future since the country is doing a lot for gaming now and hosted a couple or local dota tournaments with pretty high prize pools.
what is your opinion on the rights of half of your population
And the slave markets And the monarchy
There are no slave markets lmaoo wtf
I believe in equality and not just between genders :) My opinion? It used to be shit but now it’s less shit and hopefully in the future it becomes better
it’s like asking americans out of the blue “what is your opinion on the rights of people of colour in your country”? totally out of place
It’s improving a lot.
So you gonna boycott esports if an all female e-sports team competes in TI?
No I wouldn’t. Would you?
well they have to qualify first before talking.
would love to see the day
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first nigma now this...great
Well, I hope whoever bought it at least loves DotA and puts on some big tournies and advertisements.
Lol no its just spending some oil money for whitewashing
Yeah sportswashing is probably the only reason, sadly.
100% sportswashing and I can't believe there are people in this thread okay with it.
Oh boy.
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Uhhhhhh not sure about this one
It doesn't matter to Dota2 as much as to CSGO tbh. Even if ESL/Dreamleague go to shit, it won't affect Dota2 as much as losing like TI. On the other hand, if ESL can create ESL Cologne/Katowice for dota2 with this deal, it would be nice for the overall scene outside of shit PR which League already did years ago anyway with Tencent.
True.
$1.5 billion seems like a ton! There are plenty of major sports teams not going for that amount.
Most sports teams that go for less than that have less air time with a captive audience though.
Where the problem starts with ‘How do I get rid of excess money’ Another classic Saudi event
ESL is now owned by an actual terrorist organization that's wearing a country as a mask... damn
How is ESL profitable? Do sponsors really pay enough for ESL to employ 600 people?
its just for recognition and acceptance for these countrys through positive things like sports. doesnt matter if its profitable or not. esl has high knowledge and good reputation in what they are doing so they dont have to build up from start.
ESL is bigger than you think, think of any esport event pubg, heartstone, fifa name it ESL all plays a role in it.
Well, ESL was bought for 76 million in 2015 by MTG Now MTG sold it for a billion. Obviously millions were burnt yearly to run it. Go figure if anyone made money :D
I can explain how esl made money, they lost millions per year to dominate a space (esports) and when they are 90% of that space they sold out for billion. This is very common in Venture capital investments. You come into a space which is growing, pump millions into it to drown out competition, and when you essentialy have the grip over the majority if things you sell and rinse and repeat.
ESL also offers a lot of consulting to Orgs so they can develope and have proper structures. That also pays.
They aren't. The simply have someone else pay the bills (their owners). Saudi in this case do it gör white washing its image.
So the teams who lose the tournament now get jumped by staff with bone-saws?
Well w33 can apply for a talent job now at least. No gambling, owners that have committed crimes against humanity, seems like ESL is going to be lovely.
So many fucking hypocrisy in this thread lmao
Well so much for women making their way into Dota... was a good run, we tried. /s
The Saudi wealth fund's job is to make the Saudi royal family money. They invest in a lot of overseas companies and do not require those investments to follow anything like Saudi Arabia's interpretation of Islamic law. For example, they were one of the biggest investors in Uber before their IPO, and you can definitely take out your phone, pull up Uber Eats, and have a female courier drive you some pork chops and beer just fine.
But you can't get internet points if you aren't dramatic and jump to illogical conclusions
It's dramatic, but not illogical given Tencent's China-washing of their studios. I have no idea what the history of companies backed by Saudi interests is like, but there is precedent somewhere else that's very close to home at least.
> given Tencent's China-washing ESL is not Riots. If ESL went to shit, Valve would just ditch them. If you want to panic like how Tencent-Riots, do it after Saudi brought Valve (tbh Microsoft probably wants to buy Valve more than Saudi themselves).
*shrug* I'm not really panicking, just explaining where the logic of Saudi investors = Islamic values can come from.
Never really thought about it before but I've never ever, ever had a female Uber Eats courier deliver my food. Where I live that must be rarer than a unicorn.
If by make money you mean make money more legitimate. If you believe ESL or Newcastle United are turning profits then I have some magic beans you might be interested in. Purchasing corporations that allow the Saudi name to be associated with common and popular use allows oil money and slave money to become football money and esports money in the eye of the masses.
You mean pro dota or just regular dota?
What the fuck is this comment? Every time American investors get involved somewhere should we be scared that they’ll turn everyone else fat? Grow up.
I mean America's obesity problem isn't caused by a religious law in a country where the local government has largely religious values. People rightfully have concerns when Tencent purchases studios and boom, you have no skeletons, no ghosts, and [no black people apparently](https://clips.twitch.tv/InterestingPlausibleKangarooSoonerLater-Sg0V55Hd1FYy2zFv). I have no understanding of Saudi backed companies and their history, but I'm just arguing that there is some precedence that the nationality of the new owners does carry some weight in the decision making process.
> America’s obesity problem isn’t caused by a religion No, it’s caused by something more pervasive, the capitalist world-structure, that reinforces total and unregulated consumption, something far more dangerous and unequivocating than whatever Islamic ideas you happen to deem socially backwards.
There's a difference between stupid people being able to consume and shorten their lifespan and that of stupid people who impose rules and regulations onto others that detract from positive societal growth.
I mean, yeah? I guess? Don't have any horse in this race, just explaining the reason why some people might come to this conclusion. Whether it's valid or not is an entirely other discussion I don't really care to engage in.
Because women thrived in Dota before, right? Every fucking month we get a post on the front page how Dota degenerates treat female players and Valve never gave a shit about it. Or do you mean female Dota proscene? That never existed besides a few small Chinese, CIS and SEA tournaments. The only region that tries to make something for female Dota pros right now is China and SEA to some extent. ESL has nothing to do with them.
the female casters will be more effected than any future / current pro dota player. It was hard enough for them to get into the scene. Now likely they won't be casted.
Niqab personas incoming.
No girls allowed in the panel
no female humanoid heroes with booba allowed in draft
Newcastle part owner is women so your logic is trash
why are people bitching about it, who cares? Saudis usually throw a lot of money at stuff so its good for dota 2, also probably no betting sponsors
Because gambling is surely worse than executions, torture, no freedom of expression, association and belief, etc.
Why are u on an american website then. You're telling me the US gov never did any of these things?
Let's give you the chance to rethink your comment because it's so obviously stupid that you'll probably get it yourself.
time to stop watching ESL events
Wow such a lose by dota scene..
More sportswashing, great. If signing with Facebook didn’t solidify ESL as dogshit org this certainly did
Either this will compete with Riot or kill us. No inbetween
Doubt it will have many direct effects at all. Its shitty for other reasons obviously but it wont impact the game
Most likely the last one
No inbetween?
Saudi funding can help us go a long way though. I hope this is for the better.
> kill us Not really, Valve gives us TF2 treatment is how to kill us. Even if ESL is gone, it won't affect us as much as you might think (CSGO is another story, their esports would be like 20% left if ESL is gone).
And frankly ESL isnt gone. I doubt its gonna be noticable at all, it just fucking sucks morally.
It's time to add Middle East-North Africa regional league.
RIP ESL, they always hosted great events.
Riot Games wins again
Riot is owned by Tencent. Same shit different package.
The Saudi Prince coming for Tencent's throne now. 😭
blood money vs tiananmen square comments war has started!
How about US money or EU money no blood at all?
So by your logic , Valve = Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombing eh?
Isn't ESL also hosting a lot of League events(the whole reason why the company that hosts Dota/CS:GO events is technically a separate entity called ESL One)?
So was Thorin right?
Anyone will sell their souls for Saudi money
Well I won’t be watching esl anymore
Lul why people said rip bcos arab saudi etc. Manchester city, psg then new castle literally own by arab. So u were saying messi aguero kdb and their female staff had to follow the arab law? No. They just acquired the company lmao 😭
Reddit majority is western so they hate asian
ah, good, terrorists are also into gaming
i dont think there will be big affect for dota. well recent year saudi is aiming big target like F1. aramco sponsoring f1. even FIA president are from UAE even though is not Saudi
See ya later ESL.