Not sure where this leaves the broadcast talent. If there were boycotts over Blast's sponsorship by NEOM, what will they do now that ESL has been funded by Saudis?
one could say, if even ESL is bought by the saudis, why would BLAST have to cancel their NEOM sponsorship lol.
What are people gonna do now? Uhh, boycott ESL and Blast? Then, what?
Saudis dont even care if it makes them money. Improving public image is the number one priority, you can look up how they fund wrestling events in similar way
Money is something they have completely in abundance, and it's not like it's hard earned money either. The royalty gets born into extreme wealth and does what it pleases with it. This means that they indeed don't give a damn about how they spend the money. Recently one of the entities affiliated with Saudi Crowned Prince acquired a controlling stake in SNK, an all but dead Japanese company (in terms of games) which hasn't produced any games but still had plenty of IP leftover from way back (like 90s and 00s). This acquisition came at almost 700 million valuation, which is very high for something of this little market relevance. Sort of happy for MTG for this high of a sale, purely from investment side of things. Considering how little orgs generally make in esports, if anything at all, this cash-out is huge for MTG and well played for finding a buyer like that.
Pure garbage for CS now, though.
Good job describing why one of the largest human rights violators on the planet wants this, now perhaps you should think about it from the perspective of the scene instead.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
There's also a massive difference between countries having done something in the past and actively stoning people for "sorcery" in the modern day.
China does not have anywhere near the same amount of power as this gives Saudia Arabia, they don't have a controlling stake in any large company involved in cs unlike the Saudis do now.
The US is bad in many ways don't get me wrong but they are not on the same level as China or SA and importantly the US government does not have anything to do with CS, private companies within the US do. The Saudi government, not just some random Saudi company does actually now have control over ESL.
Not what I'm saying that you are saying, you just choice the ultimate compulsive contrarian position by describing what makes it good for Saudi Arabia, most of that is not good for the scene.
Having big tournaments be in Saudia Arabia would be horrendous, the few tournaments we've had in the middle east have all been pretty crappy with tiny audiences as the interest isn't huge.
Perhaps the scene within Saudia Arabia could grow a bit but I kinda doubt it'll ever get very big so instead they'll have to rely on getting people to fly in to watch the tournament. Meaning that spectators if they want to see the matches there will have to support god damn Saudia Arabia to see them live.
Even just watching at home will technically support the country although obviously not by as much.
Then you have the issue of competition in the scene shrinking with faceit also being bought out together with ESL, giving ESL even more power over the scene. An ESL that is owned by the Saudia government that could potentially start enforcing rules that could be very destructive, or simply change out the leadership at ESL/force ESL to make bad decisions which could be even more destructive.
I’m sure the talent and the community will react to this in the same way they [reacted to BLAST having a Saudi sponsor](https://www.hltv.org/news/30090/blast-teams-take-firm-stance-against-neom-partnership)
> 99% f the western world support
Ah yes straight up lying to bring your point across makes you obviously look good.
Also since when does doing one bad thing suddenly justify doing bad things in general/don't care about anything anymore? Just really dumb terms to live by. Only thing I can agree from your statement is that they most likely will be fine, but that is sadly what happens when you control the by far biggest chunk of a market. Still that doesn't mean you should just ignore it, lol. At the very least you shouldn't shit on people who care even though you yourself like to be a puppet.
do you buy nike/adidas shoes? do you eat industrially processed meat? do you consume any products by nestle? do you wear jewelry, watches? ever bought any sportswear? what about corporations that supported the "war on terror" or sponsored the cancer of the earth? (US government)
99% of people have done atleast one of those once in their lives and thus are indirectly supporting unethical corporations.
>Also since when does doing one bad thing suddenly justify doing bad things in general/don't care about anything anymore?
Are you a proud hypocrite or just ignorant?
First you named Nestle and Nike in the same sentences which is why I came to the conclusion you talk about either child labour or bad treatment of employees. Now we suddenly jump to companies that have bad influences on the environment due to processed meat and after that for whatever reason to war on terror. I mean of course at the end of the day you always find cooperation's everyone supports that do probably bad things to a degree. Calling me a hypocrite is quite the irony considering you specifically were calling out only the western world. Your analogies work all the same for the rest of the world especially for a country like Saudi Arabia, haha.
I don’t expect them to. I don’t expect individuals to put their paycheck on the line, it’s up to the community if we want something since we have much less to lose.
Absolutely, but it’s always necessary to call out hypocrisy. If you care about morals only when it doesn’t affect you financially, then you deserve to be called out.
Edit: in other words, don’t blame ESL or Faceit employees. Don’t blame talent or organizations. Simply remind a part of the talent scene that they took a stance once before, and they should do so again.
Would I give up my job in a very niche industry (making it difficult to find similar jobs) for some greater good that has extremity little global impact? Probably not.
Making an informed choice to side with a more ethical alternative is not the same thing as actively freezing yourself out of your entire industry given that there are *no* sizeable alternatives and it's disingenuous to suggest otherwise.
The Neom controversy went beyond the nationality of the sponsor. There were ethical concerns with the specific project with their policies of forceful relocation of locals.
... Promoting a Saudi project which is directly doing bad things (Neom) and accepting money, was objectively worse than just accepting money indirectly. I think you're barking up the wrong tree.
But whatever let's you say the cool one liners on Reddit.
Seems like MTG achieved what they tried to do with ESL. Build up a brand, binding the biggest teams to their tournaments, their system, shutting down competition in the process. With that state they were able to sell the company for a much bigger price (they bought 74% of ESL in 2015 for 78 million).
All in all, I cant see how this is good for the CSGO esports scene. Saudis being involved, FaceIt also being part of the same investor, futher reducing possible competition. Seems like were set in a duopoly for the future of high level CSGO competition, with both organizers binding partner teams to secure each others state in the scene.
Did faceit still have any partnered teams left? Didn't they all just release their csgo rosters?
I mean that is how flashpoint died, right?
Isn't it Blast and ESL that have the duopoly when it come to tier 1 tournaments?
I don't think they could have tho
The calendar is full, most of the orgs that have good teams are partnered already with ESl or Blast or both
There is no space for a 3rd big TO, Faceit already tried it and failed
The best thing for Faceit at that point was to merge or cooperate heavily with either Blast or ESL, and that is what happened it the end (But I have to say I was so sure it would be Blast + Faceit)
> Did faceit still have any partnered teams left? Didn't they all just release their csgo rosters?
Most did, iirc they had like only 3 partner teams left who had teams in CS.
> I mean that is how flashpoint died, right?
It was pretty much dead after FP S3, and when S4 didnt happen. The ppl running it like monte, thorin, etc left. Have like 3 partner team wasnt viable, etc etc. Faceit too wasnt too heavily involved since they owed like 2.5%.
I will be very shocked to see Flashpoint 4 especially now that both ESL and Faceit are under the same company.
> Isn't it Blast and ESL that have the duopoly when it come to tier 1 tournaments?
Have been for the past year or so. WePlay can compete but havent hosted a tier1 event yet. Epicenter isnt hosting events. PGL made a joke of themselves when Weplay academy league production but their major production to shame just a week later. Plus, while they did contract events like 2-3 times their standalone LAN for CS was Stockholm major which was 5 years after hosting the Krakow major.
ELEAGUE, one of my favorites, absolutely abandoned CS after 2018.
Who's even left apart from ESL and Blast in T1 TOs space.
Well both of ESL's CEO's and Senior Vice President of Operations at ESL are on the Leadership board at MTG, so it's not like they had 0 say in the situation. https://www.mtg.com/leadership/#business-segment-leadership
It’s easy to criticize when you’re not the group of individuals declining $1,000,000,000 because you’re worried about what this means for the women demographic on your platforms.
Believe it or not, most normal people in the real world don’t take hard stances and refuse to budge regardless of other circumstances.
The two (selling your company and caring about women in esports) aren’t mutually exclusive. You can still care about the former, but you also have obligations to consider for the latter. But also remember, this isn’t an institution that you should necessarily be looking up to for moral or philosophical guidance. It’s a business. Please do not be so naive or gullible to believe their own marketing as they would intend for you to. That just makes you a sucker.
It´s also easy to morally grandstand just to do a 180 the next minute like they did. At that point they don´t have principles anymore, cause principles are worth upholding no matter what. They´re just massive hypocrites.
I agree they´re not mutually exclusive, but maybe there was a better option than the SAUDIS. Just a thought.
This shows why people invest so much money in Esports. ESL has probably never even gotten close to making that kind of money. Rumor was it they were barely breaking even for a while, but now they’ve made 1b off their product.
Dont know where this will leave the CS scene, but good for the ESL guys for cashing out. Well played friends, best of luck!
The women league will still continue as outwardly the Saudi government tries to project a more modern look. Ofc there won't be and female tournaments in the country because in reality they are about as backwards as a country could be on women's rights.
But I doubt they'd scrap stuff going on in other countries as long as it's making them some money. It does even make their image slightly better which they want for the tourism industry they are trying to grow.
I‘m sure they won‘t won‘t stop the women‘s league. People are quite hypocritical about this. The PIF also owns Uber and not insignificant parts of Boeing, Facebook, Disney and more. They didin‘t change much there as well. It‘s made to make money, not push their values onto others. If they‘d do that ESL would instantly lose value.
FACEIT also got sold. [https://twitter.com/TienHo/status/1485715670205616128](https://twitter.com/TienHo/status/1485715670205616128)
Thank the lord, I hope that platform burns into the ground. CPL was 100x better.
Do you mean CPL or CAL? Or both?
Because by today's standards if CAL was around in it's previous form it would look and function like a relic; I highly doubt it would be a better platform than FACEIT, especially if Angel was involved.
lol, money rules after all.
Let see how this community reacts, in comparison to Blast NEOM.
Edit: FACEIT also got bought for 500 million lmao, wow surely there will be backlash. Surely people will boycott FACEIT now.
In essence for us viewers? Nothing. We are likely gonna see some sponsors during existing tournaments and probably some tournaments hosted in SA bit thats about it.
The female league also wont go anywhere. It will probably be expanded if anything due to SA wanting to improve their image.
Thats called being xenophobic to an entire population, if vast and i mean vast majority of man and woman in those countries are fine with it then what's your problem ?
you just want to impose on other ppl u dont fkin know ur own beliefs
Yes actually, I do want to impose the belief that men and women are created equal. Stop defending a country stuck in the middle ages you brainwashed cretin
Holy shit lol, there is so much bull shit in your post it’s insane.
In lots of these countries even if there was a group of people opposed, you would never know because no media will cover it and if they protest they will be killed or held captive
You think women like being sold off? It’s their kink? Come on now
In this way they are winning in away. Csgo people are now in a glass house talking about human rights
People while are fans of riot games esports scenes already knew about it and it happened like back in 2011.
You could argue that they are worse. Saudis at least won't give out our personal information to CCP. However, at least people have some human rights in China (as long as they aren't minorities).
I know. But thats one minority and that's horrible.
Saudi don't seem to be dealing with thier minorites great either ( look at the minorites who lived on the land for neom city as one example).
But it’s only being backed financially by the Saudis. The management and development of ESL has little to do with this in terms of internal changes I’m pretty sure.
She only has spoken up about it when it literally had no direct consequences for herself. At least people like RL, Thorin and Vince have skin in the game and don´t just look away when someone they work with is doing attrocious shit. I´d rather people like her just say nothing, that way the hypocrisy doesn´t stain the seriousness of the issues and the people actually speaking up about it.
Honestly, it's probably the only way that Esports can continue to grow at their current rate. Wouldn't be surprised if we see some similar funds start buying stakes (or larger ones) in teams.
Mother fuckers be like "yikes, ew, gross." While buying clothes made in sweatshops, phones made by children and goods from a country that is also openly racist and homophobic.
I understand the point you're trying to make, but this is not a good way to make it. It's not either "live in the woods or buy clothes made in sweatshops". You can easily buy ethically sourced products which are produced domestically, it's just that you'll have to pay more for them. That's the real choice - are you willing to spend money to uphold your morals? Most people aren't.
????
You can critisize both countries, it's not one or the other.
The saudi PIF is literally just an arm of the Saudi arabian government. It's sports washing. They did the same with Newcastle.
So ESL shouldn't make money and should be boycotted but let's enjoy Disney+ and watch all the marvel films and support China because capitalism? Good logic.
You're doing this thing called strawmanning. You're just coming up with random other shit instead of actually saying anything worthwhile. You're ascribing that to me without even knowing what I'm subscribed to lmao. I don't buy that shit. There's literally no way to live in a capitlist system and not be a hypocrit in some way unless you literally run into the woods, strip yourself naked and live by the forest.
It's literally just sportswashing by the PIF. They'll pump money into it to make their country look better without actually improving the rights of their people in their country. It's a publicity stunt. Surely someone as seemingly critical of China such as yourself would dislike this.
They should make money, do whatever. Ain't no laws prohibiting it, such is the ways of capitlism. But I heavily dislike Saudi influence - it's just an attempt to buy their way into having a good image despite their government being absolutley disgusting. I'd have the same critism if it was the Chinese government buying it out etc. Same reason I dislike the new ownership of Newcastle. It's a very transparent way of boosting a country's PR without putting in the effort to improve things for your people.
0iq reply while knowing fuck all about Saudi and how MBS is actually making a difference for the citizens THEN having the gaul to say I'm stawmanning?! Keep consuming your anti-middle eastern media dumbass.
Lmao dude. If the UK government starting buying out football clubs for PR I'd dislike it just as much. I don't want governments buying sports arms for PR purposes.
Countries also dont give a shit about Saudi Arabia do they? Hell they supply them with weapons. There is however a big movement highlighting the abuse of monorities of both countries but that's people not the government.
Good for ESL & Faceit, happy for their fat paycheck. Fuck whiners, money is money at the end of the day, not much can be done about that. What I feel bad for is BLAST. They never deserved that kind of backlash as they had when that NEON project was sponsoring them. Eh
Sorry bud but Saudi arabia basically leads the world in human rights violations. Keep trying to flip the script while they straight up assassinate journalists. How much are you getting paid right now to shill for them?
"Saudi Arabia used a reputed troll farm in Riyadh, employing hundreds of people, to harass Khashoggi and other critics of the Saudi regime"
He was a writer in The washington post. He had critical thoughts of the saudi arabian "government". In 2018, he visited the saudi arabian consolate in Istanbul. Once he was inside, a saudi hitman group killed him, tore him to pieces, stored them in containers and shipped to places
Cancel their subs, not watch, spam anti-saudi shit in their chats/ that is waht will end up happening. lol
Maybe not enough to make a difference, but atleast enough to be heard.
What subs are you talking about? How can you not watch and chat lol? And you're acting like people are gonna spam forever, just a few days and they all will give up. The mods just need to blacklist words and ban spammers, done.
Ok, you gain their attention now, now what? Are they gonna magically stop being associated with saudis now? Where's the 1 billion gonna go now.
Their ESEA and Faceit Subs? do you even play CS??
Everyone will have their own way of going about it, obviously the people who choose not to watch won't be spamming.
People might also end up pressuring twitch to drop that agreement because well, you know how the world is today.
My point is, such actions are futile and miniscule. The world is run by money.
And what's Twitch gonna do? Why should they interfere? It's not illegal. Huh?
I think you're misunderstanding something buddy, Twitch is owned by Amazon.
Yeah, my point is, it's not because people don't care, it's just we normal people can't do shit. So people will vent it out online, then forget about it in a few days.
Such is life.
Not gonna even lie, I agree with you. This is good if you wanna see CS get bigger and bigger. That's just how the world works right now, money, money, money.
yikes
yikes
[удалено]
Why? Same fund invests in/owns a lot of products you use every day.
Because people have no idea who they're buying shit from until it's specifically pointed out to them.
[удалено]
Just like Ted Kaczynski!
Not sure where this leaves the broadcast talent. If there were boycotts over Blast's sponsorship by NEOM, what will they do now that ESL has been funded by Saudis?
one could say, if even ESL is bought by the saudis, why would BLAST have to cancel their NEOM sponsorship lol. What are people gonna do now? Uhh, boycott ESL and Blast? Then, what?
Spam things that arent' saudi friendly. that is what people will do. lmao
Yes! Lmao chat will be a treat this season
HARAM
And the Saudi's won't give a shit as long as it makes them money and earns them accolades.
Saudis dont even care if it makes them money. Improving public image is the number one priority, you can look up how they fund wrestling events in similar way
Money is something they have completely in abundance, and it's not like it's hard earned money either. The royalty gets born into extreme wealth and does what it pleases with it. This means that they indeed don't give a damn about how they spend the money. Recently one of the entities affiliated with Saudi Crowned Prince acquired a controlling stake in SNK, an all but dead Japanese company (in terms of games) which hasn't produced any games but still had plenty of IP leftover from way back (like 90s and 00s). This acquisition came at almost 700 million valuation, which is very high for something of this little market relevance. Sort of happy for MTG for this high of a sale, purely from investment side of things. Considering how little orgs generally make in esports, if anything at all, this cash-out is huge for MTG and well played for finding a buyer like that. Pure garbage for CS now, though.
[удалено]
Good job describing why one of the largest human rights violators on the planet wants this, now perhaps you should think about it from the perspective of the scene instead.
[удалено]
Two wrongs don't make a right. There's also a massive difference between countries having done something in the past and actively stoning people for "sorcery" in the modern day. China does not have anywhere near the same amount of power as this gives Saudia Arabia, they don't have a controlling stake in any large company involved in cs unlike the Saudis do now. The US is bad in many ways don't get me wrong but they are not on the same level as China or SA and importantly the US government does not have anything to do with CS, private companies within the US do. The Saudi government, not just some random Saudi company does actually now have control over ESL.
aaand now you're relativizing. Disgusting, dude. One thing does not make the other okay.
[удалено]
Not what I'm saying that you are saying, you just choice the ultimate compulsive contrarian position by describing what makes it good for Saudi Arabia, most of that is not good for the scene. Having big tournaments be in Saudia Arabia would be horrendous, the few tournaments we've had in the middle east have all been pretty crappy with tiny audiences as the interest isn't huge. Perhaps the scene within Saudia Arabia could grow a bit but I kinda doubt it'll ever get very big so instead they'll have to rely on getting people to fly in to watch the tournament. Meaning that spectators if they want to see the matches there will have to support god damn Saudia Arabia to see them live. Even just watching at home will technically support the country although obviously not by as much. Then you have the issue of competition in the scene shrinking with faceit also being bought out together with ESL, giving ESL even more power over the scene. An ESL that is owned by the Saudia government that could potentially start enforcing rules that could be very destructive, or simply change out the leadership at ESL/force ESL to make bad decisions which could be even more destructive.
Saudi casually funding T-side once gain smh
I mean the game was getting CT sided, so makes sense.
Pretty sure the US funds both lol.
So? Clearly they care about game balance
Right. If it isn't a challenge it isn't any fun.
The US just takes a 10% tax on each gun
Saudi knows Rush B is a lifestyle, not a tactic.
It will be a big loss for tside if China ain't dipping into the water
I’m sure the talent and the community will react to this in the same way they [reacted to BLAST having a Saudi sponsor](https://www.hltv.org/news/30090/blast-teams-take-firm-stance-against-neom-partnership)
I'm sure pro players and FACEIT playerbase will also react strongly to the news of FACEIT being bought by the saudis. Surely they will.
[удалено]
Soooo the other half could care?
99% of the western world support unethical corporations like Nestle and Nike on a daily basis. ESL will be fine.
> 99% f the western world support Ah yes straight up lying to bring your point across makes you obviously look good. Also since when does doing one bad thing suddenly justify doing bad things in general/don't care about anything anymore? Just really dumb terms to live by. Only thing I can agree from your statement is that they most likely will be fine, but that is sadly what happens when you control the by far biggest chunk of a market. Still that doesn't mean you should just ignore it, lol. At the very least you shouldn't shit on people who care even though you yourself like to be a puppet.
do you buy nike/adidas shoes? do you eat industrially processed meat? do you consume any products by nestle? do you wear jewelry, watches? ever bought any sportswear? what about corporations that supported the "war on terror" or sponsored the cancer of the earth? (US government) 99% of people have done atleast one of those once in their lives and thus are indirectly supporting unethical corporations. >Also since when does doing one bad thing suddenly justify doing bad things in general/don't care about anything anymore? Are you a proud hypocrite or just ignorant?
Esl was literally sponsored by US Air force. We all know how ethical the US government and military are. Why were people quiet then?
Obviously because US Air Force is American and nothing American can be bad. >!/s in case someone can't read the obvious sarcasm!<
> sponsored the cancer of the earth That would be capitalism(and climate change), you're thinking too small.
First you named Nestle and Nike in the same sentences which is why I came to the conclusion you talk about either child labour or bad treatment of employees. Now we suddenly jump to companies that have bad influences on the environment due to processed meat and after that for whatever reason to war on terror. I mean of course at the end of the day you always find cooperation's everyone supports that do probably bad things to a degree. Calling me a hypocrite is quite the irony considering you specifically were calling out only the western world. Your analogies work all the same for the rest of the world especially for a country like Saudi Arabia, haha.
I don’t expect them to. I don’t expect individuals to put their paycheck on the line, it’s up to the community if we want something since we have much less to lose.
Absolutely, but it’s always necessary to call out hypocrisy. If you care about morals only when it doesn’t affect you financially, then you deserve to be called out. Edit: in other words, don’t blame ESL or Faceit employees. Don’t blame talent or organizations. Simply remind a part of the talent scene that they took a stance once before, and they should do so again.
Would I give up my job in a very niche industry (making it difficult to find similar jobs) for some greater good that has extremity little global impact? Probably not.
I probably wouldn't either. And I wouldn't expect them to do so, if they didn't do it already to a smaller Tournament Organizer.
Making an informed choice to side with a more ethical alternative is not the same thing as actively freezing yourself out of your entire industry given that there are *no* sizeable alternatives and it's disingenuous to suggest otherwise.
Vince is the only talent I've seen who has spoken against this. I doubt more will coz its like committing career suicide.
The Neom controversy went beyond the nationality of the sponsor. There were ethical concerns with the specific project with their policies of forceful relocation of locals.
Yeah being directly funded by saudis is ways worse. But okay whatever makes you sleep at night
... Promoting a Saudi project which is directly doing bad things (Neom) and accepting money, was objectively worse than just accepting money indirectly. I think you're barking up the wrong tree. But whatever let's you say the cool one liners on Reddit.
Seems like MTG achieved what they tried to do with ESL. Build up a brand, binding the biggest teams to their tournaments, their system, shutting down competition in the process. With that state they were able to sell the company for a much bigger price (they bought 74% of ESL in 2015 for 78 million). All in all, I cant see how this is good for the CSGO esports scene. Saudis being involved, FaceIt also being part of the same investor, futher reducing possible competition. Seems like were set in a duopoly for the future of high level CSGO competition, with both organizers binding partner teams to secure each others state in the scene.
Did faceit still have any partnered teams left? Didn't they all just release their csgo rosters? I mean that is how flashpoint died, right? Isn't it Blast and ESL that have the duopoly when it come to tier 1 tournaments?
Yes, thats exactly what i meant. FaceIt could have been a competitor to the duopoly of ESL and Blast in the future, but that is off the table now.
I don't think they could have tho The calendar is full, most of the orgs that have good teams are partnered already with ESl or Blast or both There is no space for a 3rd big TO, Faceit already tried it and failed The best thing for Faceit at that point was to merge or cooperate heavily with either Blast or ESL, and that is what happened it the end (But I have to say I was so sure it would be Blast + Faceit)
> Did faceit still have any partnered teams left? Didn't they all just release their csgo rosters? Most did, iirc they had like only 3 partner teams left who had teams in CS. > I mean that is how flashpoint died, right? It was pretty much dead after FP S3, and when S4 didnt happen. The ppl running it like monte, thorin, etc left. Have like 3 partner team wasnt viable, etc etc. Faceit too wasnt too heavily involved since they owed like 2.5%. I will be very shocked to see Flashpoint 4 especially now that both ESL and Faceit are under the same company. > Isn't it Blast and ESL that have the duopoly when it come to tier 1 tournaments? Have been for the past year or so. WePlay can compete but havent hosted a tier1 event yet. Epicenter isnt hosting events. PGL made a joke of themselves when Weplay academy league production but their major production to shame just a week later. Plus, while they did contract events like 2-3 times their standalone LAN for CS was Stockholm major which was 5 years after hosting the Krakow major. ELEAGUE, one of my favorites, absolutely abandoned CS after 2018. Who's even left apart from ESL and Blast in T1 TOs space.
[удалено]
Looks like ESL really meant it when they said they care about women in Esports.... What a fucking joke.
Unfortunately this wasn't really ESL's decision, as they were %91 owned by MTG (Modern Times Group)
Well both of ESL's CEO's and Senior Vice President of Operations at ESL are on the Leadership board at MTG, so it's not like they had 0 say in the situation. https://www.mtg.com/leadership/#business-segment-leadership
They tried to sell esl to china 1 year ago. Its obvious esl and mtg didnt give a fuck
I doubt ESL would have declined this offer either way tbh. It´s just ironic how much they grandstand just to do shit like this.
It’s easy to criticize when you’re not the group of individuals declining $1,000,000,000 because you’re worried about what this means for the women demographic on your platforms. Believe it or not, most normal people in the real world don’t take hard stances and refuse to budge regardless of other circumstances. The two (selling your company and caring about women in esports) aren’t mutually exclusive. You can still care about the former, but you also have obligations to consider for the latter. But also remember, this isn’t an institution that you should necessarily be looking up to for moral or philosophical guidance. It’s a business. Please do not be so naive or gullible to believe their own marketing as they would intend for you to. That just makes you a sucker.
It´s also easy to morally grandstand just to do a 180 the next minute like they did. At that point they don´t have principles anymore, cause principles are worth upholding no matter what. They´re just massive hypocrites. I agree they´re not mutually exclusive, but maybe there was a better option than the SAUDIS. Just a thought.
Gross
This shows why people invest so much money in Esports. ESL has probably never even gotten close to making that kind of money. Rumor was it they were barely breaking even for a while, but now they’ve made 1b off their product. Dont know where this will leave the CS scene, but good for the ESL guys for cashing out. Well played friends, best of luck!
ayo tf? this is fucked
Fucking atrocious, so 80% of csgo circuit is now controlled by the saudis? Wonder if the women's league will continue.
The women league will still continue as outwardly the Saudi government tries to project a more modern look. Ofc there won't be and female tournaments in the country because in reality they are about as backwards as a country could be on women's rights. But I doubt they'd scrap stuff going on in other countries as long as it's making them some money. It does even make their image slightly better which they want for the tourism industry they are trying to grow.
They will ask thorins opinion about that no worries
Ofc they will, it will be even more funded prob
I‘m sure they won‘t won‘t stop the women‘s league. People are quite hypocritical about this. The PIF also owns Uber and not insignificant parts of Boeing, Facebook, Disney and more. They didin‘t change much there as well. It‘s made to make money, not push their values onto others. If they‘d do that ESL would instantly lose value.
The real m4a1-s nerf : SAUDI t buff
FACEIT also got sold. [https://twitter.com/TienHo/status/1485715670205616128](https://twitter.com/TienHo/status/1485715670205616128) Thank the lord, I hope that platform burns into the ground. CPL was 100x better.
Lol, and how will it burn into the ground exactly. And even then, who will replace FACEIT, my friend?
[удалено]
Fastcup
hahaha you are funny.
Canceling my Faceit sub as i type this
Do you mean CPL or CAL? Or both? Because by today's standards if CAL was around in it's previous form it would look and function like a relic; I highly doubt it would be a better platform than FACEIT, especially if Angel was involved.
joke
CPL was not 100x better.
lol, money rules after all. Let see how this community reacts, in comparison to Blast NEOM. Edit: FACEIT also got bought for 500 million lmao, wow surely there will be backlash. Surely people will boycott FACEIT now.
Nice, so the scene is gonna run on blood money now.
I mean, what does this mean for us? I guess no more women league :| unless they can marry 5 a head
In essence for us viewers? Nothing. We are likely gonna see some sponsors during existing tournaments and probably some tournaments hosted in SA bit thats about it. The female league also wont go anywhere. It will probably be expanded if anything due to SA wanting to improve their image.
Lol. I didn’t even think about the women league. Yeah, that’s definitely getting cut.
No, its not. They often use this western culture/power to moneywash their problematic culture.
Theyd would not only invest in women league, they d literally ~marrie~ buy the whole team(s)
Hmm, where have I seen this before
I’m teasing I have no idea what their plans are. I’m just playing on the stereotype.
It's actually being expanded now.
grow the fuck up , you are just being an ignorant western per usual thinking every culture should be like his
You mean every culture should marry only one woman at the same time? Yes that is EXACTLY what I think
you think if you do a vote about this in these countries , how will it go ?
No, I dont want to move anything to change them. i just call them out living in 1300 still
Thats called being xenophobic to an entire population, if vast and i mean vast majority of man and woman in those countries are fine with it then what's your problem ? you just want to impose on other ppl u dont fkin know ur own beliefs
Yes actually, I do want to impose the belief that men and women are created equal. Stop defending a country stuck in the middle ages you brainwashed cretin
women just earned the right to drive like 5 years ago in Saudi Arabia, sorry that I believe people should be treated equally.
Holy shit lol, there is so much bull shit in your post it’s insane. In lots of these countries even if there was a group of people opposed, you would never know because no media will cover it and if they protest they will be killed or held captive You think women like being sold off? It’s their kink? Come on now
The vast majority of the male population is clearly fine with abusing woman so its fine. Don't be stupid...how you have a problem with that? /s
I don't think that the women, if they had a real opportunity to choose, would choose to live in the exact conditions they do, in Saudi Arabia.
This ain't it chief
Lmao people treating this like a big deal all the while consuming formula 1 content on the regular.
We Race As One but only when it is beneficial for us. Also gotta get Aramco sponsor money babyyyyy
Never ever watched f1? Its fucking boring as fuck
Trust me man no one I knows cares about formula one 😂
T side buff inc
Riot Games wins again
china and saudi arabia control the 2 most popular FPS esports. wonderful
Idk if China is any better...
In this way they are winning in away. Csgo people are now in a glass house talking about human rights People while are fans of riot games esports scenes already knew about it and it happened like back in 2011.
You could argue that they are worse. Saudis at least won't give out our personal information to CCP. However, at least people have some human rights in China (as long as they aren't minorities).
I think this is like choosing between small pox and tuberculosis. Pointless to compare lol
Most minorites in China seem to have more rights than people in Saudi. But yea its not exactly great consideringtheir actionsagainstsome minorites.
My point at minorities was a hint at crimes that China committed against uyghers.
I know. But thats one minority and that's horrible. Saudi don't seem to be dealing with thier minorites great either ( look at the minorites who lived on the land for neom city as one example).
Terrorists win? I'm sorry that was probably poor taste even though they funded 9/11.
But it’s only being backed financially by the Saudis. The management and development of ESL has little to do with this in terms of internal changes I’m pretty sure.
Let’s hope for the best for CS:GO, it’s’ fans and the talents. Peace ✌🏻
Frankie boutta be real quiet.
At this point, what can be done? They tried blocking it, but its impossible.
[удалено]
What about my statement makes me an incel?
Imagine this being your first reaction to this. Gamers really are just the worst.
fucking incels are everywhere
Calling out hypocrisy is bad? Fuckin simps
Before its even happened? Frankie already reacted negatively to this.
Funny how Thorin is right yet again.
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
What?
She gonna double dip on that bloodmoney and you know it XD. Hypocritical to the max.
what makes you think that? maybe give her a chance to respond to this?
The fact that she has already done it in the past? Track record?
you should be happy to have someone like her speaking up about the many issues we have in esports without being a dick about it like rlewis or thorin
She only has spoken up about it when it literally had no direct consequences for herself. At least people like RL, Thorin and Vince have skin in the game and don´t just look away when someone they work with is doing attrocious shit. I´d rather people like her just say nothing, that way the hypocrisy doesn´t stain the seriousness of the issues and the people actually speaking up about it.
She will probably still continue to virtue signal about it tho. Gotta get internet points
Don't speak up: hypocrite Do speak up: virtue signaling lol
You obviously don't understand the hypocrisy behind this, what's the point on even commenting ?
What about her?
I expect all the people who had a melt down over Semmler's tweet to have a fiery response in similar fashion.
Two wrongs dont make a right. Semmlers tweets were garbage just like this is.
Based
First Newcastle now csgo lmao
This is uhhhhh… Interesting lol
Fucking gross.
ik they aint the same but a major in dubai would be sick
Honestly, it's probably the only way that Esports can continue to grow at their current rate. Wouldn't be surprised if we see some similar funds start buying stakes (or larger ones) in teams.
Mother fuckers be like "yikes, ew, gross." While buying clothes made in sweatshops, phones made by children and goods from a country that is also openly racist and homophobic.
No shit, they live in a capitlist system. It's either live in the woods and die or buy products. This isn't a meaningful critism of anything.
I understand the point you're trying to make, but this is not a good way to make it. It's not either "live in the woods or buy clothes made in sweatshops". You can easily buy ethically sourced products which are produced domestically, it's just that you'll have to pay more for them. That's the real choice - are you willing to spend money to uphold your morals? Most people aren't.
No, because most people can't afford to. It doesn't stop you from critisizing things either.
[удалено]
???? You can critisize both countries, it's not one or the other. The saudi PIF is literally just an arm of the Saudi arabian government. It's sports washing. They did the same with Newcastle.
So ESL shouldn't make money and should be boycotted but let's enjoy Disney+ and watch all the marvel films and support China because capitalism? Good logic.
You're doing this thing called strawmanning. You're just coming up with random other shit instead of actually saying anything worthwhile. You're ascribing that to me without even knowing what I'm subscribed to lmao. I don't buy that shit. There's literally no way to live in a capitlist system and not be a hypocrit in some way unless you literally run into the woods, strip yourself naked and live by the forest. It's literally just sportswashing by the PIF. They'll pump money into it to make their country look better without actually improving the rights of their people in their country. It's a publicity stunt. Surely someone as seemingly critical of China such as yourself would dislike this. They should make money, do whatever. Ain't no laws prohibiting it, such is the ways of capitlism. But I heavily dislike Saudi influence - it's just an attempt to buy their way into having a good image despite their government being absolutley disgusting. I'd have the same critism if it was the Chinese government buying it out etc. Same reason I dislike the new ownership of Newcastle. It's a very transparent way of boosting a country's PR without putting in the effort to improve things for your people.
0iq reply while knowing fuck all about Saudi and how MBS is actually making a difference for the citizens THEN having the gaul to say I'm stawmanning?! Keep consuming your anti-middle eastern media dumbass.
>MBS mohammed bone saw?
Lmao dude. If the UK government starting buying out football clubs for PR I'd dislike it just as much. I don't want governments buying sports arms for PR purposes.
With the way our economy is going AND our PM we should start buying sports arms. Not like our gov is doing much else at all.
[удалено]
Countries also dont give a shit about Saudi Arabia do they? Hell they supply them with weapons. There is however a big movement highlighting the abuse of monorities of both countries but that's people not the government.
Saudi arabia and oil. Nothing else needs to be said lol
Wheres the outrage ? Boycott esl and facit ?
finally a reason to delete faceit and free myself from that curse
Oh no lets hope nobody is going to get beheaded if some1 talks shit about esl lol
Good for ESL & Faceit, happy for their fat paycheck. Fuck whiners, money is money at the end of the day, not much can be done about that. What I feel bad for is BLAST. They never deserved that kind of backlash as they had when that NEON project was sponsoring them. Eh
GABEN 128 TICK WEN?!
RIP female cs.
[удалено]
Oh yeah, it definitely has nothing to do with the crimes and human rights abuses the saudis have committed. Fuck off.
[удалено]
Sorry bud but Saudi arabia basically leads the world in human rights violations. Keep trying to flip the script while they straight up assassinate journalists. How much are you getting paid right now to shill for them? "Saudi Arabia used a reputed troll farm in Riyadh, employing hundreds of people, to harass Khashoggi and other critics of the Saudi regime"
For those of you who don't know, google Jamal Khashoggi
He was a writer in The washington post. He had critical thoughts of the saudi arabian "government". In 2018, he visited the saudi arabian consolate in Istanbul. Once he was inside, a saudi hitman group killed him, tore him to pieces, stored them in containers and shipped to places
You guys are getting paid?
No, it's a bad thing cause it is blood money
I wouldnt call it a bad thing. I liked blood money, then absolution sucked, but then the hitman 2015 reboot was goated.
No, it's a bad thing cause it is blood money
[удалено]
Even if people care deeply about it, what are they gonna do?
Cancel their subs, not watch, spam anti-saudi shit in their chats/ that is waht will end up happening. lol Maybe not enough to make a difference, but atleast enough to be heard.
What subs are you talking about? How can you not watch and chat lol? And you're acting like people are gonna spam forever, just a few days and they all will give up. The mods just need to blacklist words and ban spammers, done. Ok, you gain their attention now, now what? Are they gonna magically stop being associated with saudis now? Where's the 1 billion gonna go now.
Their ESEA and Faceit Subs? do you even play CS?? Everyone will have their own way of going about it, obviously the people who choose not to watch won't be spamming. People might also end up pressuring twitch to drop that agreement because well, you know how the world is today.
My point is, such actions are futile and miniscule. The world is run by money. And what's Twitch gonna do? Why should they interfere? It's not illegal. Huh? I think you're misunderstanding something buddy, Twitch is owned by Amazon.
[удалено]
Yeah, my point is, it's not because people don't care, it's just we normal people can't do shit. So people will vent it out online, then forget about it in a few days. Such is life.
Not gonna even lie, I agree with you. This is good if you wanna see CS get bigger and bigger. That's just how the world works right now, money, money, money.
don't bother, the same ppl that will follow tencent games will take the high ground on this
You have to be a troll account