55 billion dollars. That is the amount the Saudi sovereign wealth fund just spent to buy Electronic Arts, the publisher of FIFA and The Sims. An acquisition that goes far beyond simple technological investment: by controlling game publishers, Riyadh is taking control of the rules of the game itself.
Esports becomes the first major sport governed by private companies rather than public institutions. While the International Olympic Committee loses control of this new form of competition, Saudi Arabia is organizing its own Nations Cup in November 2026 and already controls a growing number of international esports federations.
The Essentials
- The Saudi sovereign wealth fund buys Electronic Arts for 55 billion dollars, roughly 40% of Kenya’s GDP (136.45 billion USD)
- Saudi Arabia is organizing the Esports Nations Cup in November 2026 and controls several global federations
- The IOC abandons esports after disagreement over violent games, leaving the field open to private actors
- 640.8 million spectators watch esports in 2025
Game Publishers Become the New Sports Federations
The acquisition of Electronic Arts by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund marks a historic turning point. Unlike football, where FIFA regulates a sport played with equipment produced by various brands, esports depends entirely on its publishers. Controlling Riot Games (League of Legends), Valve (Counter-Strike), or Electronic Arts (FIFA) amounts to controlling the rules, competitions, and revenues of entire disciplines.
This concentration is accelerating. Tencent already owns Riot Games and holds 40% of Epic Games (Fortnite). Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard for 69 billion dollars. Sony controls Bungie and its licenses. Saudi Arabia completes this puzzle by adding Electronic Arts to its portfolio, after already investing in Capcom, Nexon, and Nintendo.
The economic model explains this concentration. While football generates 28 billion dollars annually distributed among clubs, federations, and broadcasters, esports generates approximately 4.78 billion dollars in revenue in 2025 concentrated among publishers who profit from game sales, microtransactions, broadcasting rights, and tournament organization.
The IOC Abandons Esports to Private Companies
The break between the Olympic movement and esports confirms this privatization. In September 2025, the IOC announces the end of its Olympic Esports Series program after two disappointing editions. Official reason: incompatibility between Olympic values and games involving violence or war.
This decision reveals the impotence of traditional sports institutions. When FIFA bans a gesture or modifies a rule, it applies worldwide. When the IOC asks publishers to modify their games to make them “Olympic,” they refuse. Riot Games explicitly rejected any censorship of League of Legends for hypothetical Olympic inclusion.
Saudi Arabia capitalizes on this institutional void. Its Esports Nations Cup, scheduled for November 2026, brings together 34 countries across 21 disciplines. Unlike Olympic attempts centered on watered-down games, the Saudi competition includes Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, and League of Legends in their original versions. AI transforms anti-doping efforts and sports justice in traditional sports, but esports still escapes these regulatory mechanisms.
640 Million Spectators Redefine Sports Economics
Esports audiences reach remarkable levels. The 640.8 million spectators watching esports in 2025 represent a considerable market. The finals of the League of Legends World Championship attract approximately 6.9 million simultaneous spectators at peak, roughly 17 times fewer than the Super Bowl.
This audience power transforms economic models. While football’s TV rights stagnate in some regions, esports grows 15% annually. Specialized streaming platforms (Twitch, YouTube Gaming) generate 4.2 billion hours of monthly viewing, creating advertising ecosystems that traditional media struggles to match.
Saudi Arabia is betting on this attention economy. Its investments are not limited to acquisitions: the kingdom finances teams (Team Falcons), tournaments (Gamers8), and infrastructure (Qiddiya esports complex). This vertical strategy ensures it controls the value chain, from content creation to distribution.
Geopolitics Through Pixels Replaces Diplomacy Through Sports
Esports becomes a vector of geopolitical influence. Unlike the Olympics where nations compete according to rules established by century-old institutions, esports allows states to create their own competitions with their own rules.
China already bans certain Western games on its territory while exporting its own titles. Tencent uses its platforms to promote a Chinese vision of gaming, while the United States attempts to limit TikTok, a major esports promotion platform. Saudi Arabia bypasses these tensions by becoming the owner of the publishers themselves.
This evolution worries European sports authorities. The European Commission is studying specific regulations for esports, fearing industrial concentration will limit competition diversity. But the lack of international coordination facilitates influence strategies through direct investment.
National Federations Lose Their Regulatory Monopoly
In France, the situation illustrates this transformation. The French Esports Federation, created in 2016, controls neither the games, nor their publishers, nor the main competitions. It merely selects national teams for tournaments whose rules it does not set.
This impotence contrasts with traditional federations that regulate training, competitions, and professionalization. In esports, these functions are distributed among private publishers (game rules), streaming platforms (distribution), and sponsors (team financing).
Saudi Arabia exploits this fragmentation. By buying the publishers, it can now directly influence which players participate in major competitions, which nations are invited, and even which content is promoted. An influence that states have never had over traditional sports.
A Laboratory for Tomorrow’s Sports Governance
This privatization of esports may foreshadow the evolution of other disciplines. Private leagues (NBA, NFL, Premier League) are gaining autonomy from national federations. Short formats (T20 cricket, NextGen tennis) are challenging century-old rules.
Esports tests full-scale what entirely private sports governance looks like, where companies set the rules, organize competitions, and control revenues. The results of this experiment will determine whether other sports follow this path or whether public regulation mechanisms will be imposed.
Saudi Arabia, by investing 55 billion in this transformation, is betting that the future of sport will resemble Silicon Valley more than the IOC headquarters in Lausanne. The 640.8 million esports spectators seem to be proving it right.