The Esports World Cup is the largest esports event globally in terms of total prize money. Hosting such a big event comes with a unique set of operational and technological requirements, especially in a region where investors are still developing an appreciation for the booming esports and gaming industry.

We spoke with Mike McCabe, chief operating officer of the Esports World Cup Foundation, to discuss the evolution of esports in Saudi, the challenges of scaling such a massive event, and its broader cultural and economic impact. We discussed how the foundation measures success, its future plans for the event, and its role in the kingdom’s ambitious investment strategy for the gaming sector. Edited excerpts from our conversation:

EnterpriseAM: The Esports World Cup Foundation was established less than two years ago, yet you are already hosting the biggest esports event in the world. Can you walk us through that rapid evolution?

Mike McCabe: Absolutely. The foundation may have a relatively short history, but we’re built on a passion for gaming in the Kingdom that doesn’t exist anywhere else on the planet. When you have a very young population, with 75% under 35 years old, and nearly 70% of them identifying as gamers, you have a strong base. The Saudi Esports Federation was also operating for a number of years and held its own events, so we’re building on that incredible legacy.

In our second iteration, we’ve grown to 24 games with 25 separate tournaments, featuring over 2k players from 100 different countries representing more than 200 clubs. It is an incredible evolution, but it comes from that strong existing foundation.

E: The Foundation is actively engaged with many partners, from technological service providers to game publishers. How critical is that wider collaborative ecosystem to organizing the event?

MM: We are incredibly fortunate for the partnerships we have, not just with sponsors, but more broadly across the kingdom. Having the biggest commercial entities in the kingdom supporting us is vital.

We utilize a lot of backend infrastructure as one can imagine. Boulevard City is an incredible facility to use and build upon. We require immense power, both for core operations and for the redundancy systems we have in place.

Of course, there is no gaming without the internet. Our partner, STC, has been a great partner in not just bringing the necessary bandwidth to our various venues, but also ensuring the redundancy and stability we need to host and broadcast these events globally. We are streaming simultaneously across our own channels, on linear TV, and co-streaming with thousands of influencers around the world.

There is also really strong support from the government. The Saudi Tourism Authority helps bring tourists from all around the world, and the ability for us to have special Esports World Cup stamps in the passports for competitors shows a unique level of collaboration across the spectrum to welcome people here.

Finally, the publishers are key. Our event wouldn’t be possible without their support and partnership, as we are using their IP. We are continuously working to understand their priorities so we can help satisfy them while meeting our own objectives. It really is a multifaceted group that works together to make this a reality.

E: How do you measure the success of the event, both in terms of cultural impact and key performance indicators?

MM: Cultural impact is our first priority. Our work is a pillar of the National Gaming and Esports Strategy under Vision 2030, which aims to create close to 40k jobs in the sector by 2030. We are creating pathways for the competitive athletes at the pinnacle of their game, and also for the talent behind the scenes — technicians building and operating broadcast systems, the creatives, and the people building assets for social media.

For KPIs, we focus on viewership and attendance. We’ll be creating more than 7k hours of live content over the seven weeks of the event. We’re also investing in new broadcast capabilities like EWC Spotlight, which features some of the biggest names in entertainment and sports coming to Riyadh to share their journey. That content is broadcast on linear TV all around the world to help us bridge into new audiences.

Alongside the main tournament, we have the EWC Festival, running simultaneously across the seven weeks. This is a collection of experiences across 14 different venues here on site where people can connect with all elements of gaming. This includes everything from parents showing their kids the retro gaming consoles they played on, all the way up to cutting-edge racing simulators in partnership with Aramco.

E: What are the future plans for the foundation? Do you plan to take the event to other venues internationally?

MM: A show like this doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world, so right now we are focused on building that strong foundation here in Boulevard City. Are we open to hosting the event in different parts of the world? Absolutely. We will need to make sure that the infrastructure, demand, and other elements we can uniquely satisfy here can be met elsewhere.

We’ve had a whole host of delegations from all around the world who are intrigued by the idea, so the interest is definitely there. I’m sure we’ll have a rotation at some stage, but for the moment, we’re grounded here in Saudi Arabia.

E: The Kingdom is investing heavily in gaming, and we’re seeing new acquisitions and initiatives being rolled out. How do you see these investments vitalizing the industry?

MM: I think a balanced portfolio is the right way to go. There are high-risk, high-return options like creating the next Fortnite, which is where investments in game creation with companies like Scopely and Niantic have been focused.

But there are other essential pillars. The industry is a broad spectrum: at one end, you have content creation; at the other, you have events, which is where we live. In between, you have infrastructure, support services, and localization. I think the Kingdom has been really smart in placing investments across that broad spectrum of the portfolio to create a viable ecosystem.

E: What would you like to improve in the next iterations of the Esports World Cup?

MM: The sign of a good event is when during the event you’re planning the next one. We’re on a journey, and we are constantly looking at how we can innovate and push the boundaries of what’s possible, so there are always optimizations to be done.

The only thing we would love to work on more in partnership with the publishers is to support more competitive leagues for women to have a greater representation there. We had one for Mobile Legends last week, which was amazing, but we would love to build on that.

The Kingdom has equal investment in the men and women ecosystem, and greater representation for women than we see in many other places in the world. We want to work with esports organizations globally to build that competitive ecosystem more broadly so we can have more of those events here.

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