Saudi Arabian esports tournament organiser Gamers8, has announced a record $45 million prize pool for its upcoming 2023 event named The Land of Heroes.
This is the largest esports prize pool in history, dethroning Dota 2’s $40 million prize pool in 2021’s The International tournament.
After the event kicks off, Gamers8’s $45 million will be split between a group of esports titles. And although the games for this year’s event have not been officially announced, last year’s event featured tournaments in Fortnite, Rainbow Six Siege, PUBG Mobile, Rocket League and of course, Dota 2 which is the highest-paying esports game.
The biggest esports festival in the world returns!
— Gamers8 Esports (@Gamers8GG) March 7, 2023
Bigger, better, bolder than ever.
💰 $45,000,000
🌍 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
🗓️ July 6th, 2023#Gamers8 #TheLandofHeroes pic.twitter.com/EkwWvo6pwP
Initially, the KSA esports organisers announced a prize pool of $30 million in its 2023 promotion campaign in January but have now nearly doubled the previous amount. We’re promised that this year’s edition will be “bigger in every way” as more games will be added to the tournament.
Growing esports in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Esports Federation Chairman, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan commented in a press release via Esports Insider, “It is our great pleasure to once again welcome the elite of the esports world to Riyadh for Gamers8, the Land of Heroes, where the very best in esports shine and triumph. Our goal is to serve the global community of esports and gaming enthusiasts, and ultimately to develop the global ecosystem of esports.”
Did we say more than double? We meant triple!
— Gamers8 Esports (@Gamers8GG) March 7, 2023
45 MILLION DOLLARS
The largest in esports history.
This is #Gamers8!
This is #TheLandofHeroes! pic.twitter.com/qL7mRipR8K
After launching its gaming and esports strategy in late 2022, Saudi Arabia aims not only to become a global hub for the gaming and esports sector but its program is also projected to bring nearly 40,000 jobs to the country.
Data from research conducted by YouGov last year showed that gamers in KSA are interested in esports and attend live esports events as well as explore more opportunities in the space.
The study also finds that 78% of gamers said they were interested in esports while 38% said they were “very interested”. And now the KSA’s Gamers8 is kicking off its 2023 esports tournament with the largest prize pool ever, a good sign of how rapidly esports is growing in Saudi Arabia.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
