I’ve been involved in the competitive fighting game scene for 15 years now. I’ve made a lot of friends, been a lot of places and learned a lot of things as a result of that. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that to chase money in this hobby is a fool’s errand. It’s something I’ve said for years, even before I gained my trademark hatred for capitalism: if I wanted to play video games for money, I wouldn’t be playing fighting games. Fighting games are as grassroots you can get in this world of esports; all our major events are open brackets and all of our production outfits are hobbyists largely funded by Patreon and Twitch subscriptions, if they get any funding at all. This scene and this hobby are not about the money. They never have been, and as far as I’m concerned, they really shouldn’t be - especially if people need to be thrown under the bus in order to get it.
But we live in pretty shit times when it comes to hobbies that thrive in large offline spaces. Venues that can accommodate these kinds of hobbyist spaces are disappearing as governments cut funding to public services, businesses fail and the ones that remain standing charge a premium that most organisers - themselves just hobbyists - have no hope of affording without plunging themselves deep in the red. Putting on even a modestly-sized event in this economy is hardly tenable if you don’t have incredibly deep pockets, whether they be your own or someone else’s. And if you want to provide something for your community - because, you know, you care for that community and the people that make it what it is - someone offering their deep pockets to you in order to provide that space, that experience, is a tempting offer. Money talks.
The Saudi Arabian state has been sticking its fingers in a lot of different cultural pies. Under the de facto leader of the country, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a not-insignificant amount of funding from the country’s Public Investment Fund has been moving in the direction of all sorts of sports, including eSports. From the Esports World Cup (formerly Gamers8) in Riyadh to financial backing of events the world over, the Saudi Crown is really fixing to get involved in the eSports space, and particularly fighting games. This influence has been a known quantity for a long time, and it has been challenged for just about as long - we’re still seeing it even now, especially within the fighting game scene, as there are talks of a prospective Evo International event potentially taking place in Saudi Arabia, not to mention the money has been flowing from the Saudi PIF into all sorts of events, from Battle Arena Melbourne here in Australia to even Evo itself. And the Saudi Arabian state likely isn’t investing in the global eSports space, and particularly the fighting game space, just because MBS himself likes fighting games. Investments in anything aren’t made for no reason, especially not with the amounts of money that the Saudi state is pumping into a sphere as terminally unprofitable as eSports. So what’s the reason for all this investment? Again: money talks.
The Saudi Arabian government doesn’t exactly have a great track record when it comes to the rights of women and LGBT people, nor when it comes to things like freedom of the press or political expression. The Saudi state is an authoritarian and incredibly repressive one, and it’s that repression of all forms of personal and political expression that has sparked opposition to any Evo events taking place in the country, not to mention the horrific track record that the nation has on workers’ rights, especially with the Crown Prince’s plans for a future city involving the forceful expulsion of people living there already, as well as the abuse of migrant labour to even get the thing built. The Saudi state does not care about ordinary people, and its legal system is openly hostile to LGBTI people, who happen to make up a significant portion of the fighting game community globally. What the Saudi state is doing is an attempt to “sportswash” its political image, providing funding to competitive scenes that are largely in the red due to being funded by grassroots efforts. It’s working, to some degree - because money talks. But there’s been plenty of opposition, and even calls for a boycott of Evo events should the plans for an Evo event in Saudi Arabia go through. A huge section of our community would not be safe in that country, and that should be priority number one. As I said at the top, this scene is not about the money, especially if people need to be thrown under the bus in order to get it. Money talks. But so do principles.
To be against the Saudi Crown’s deepening involvement in our space is a principled position to take. It is one based on solidarity with ordinary people and the oppressed. It is principled to want the events that we congregate at, to celebrate a hobby we love with other people, to not accept blood money from a government that is openly hostile to the very existence of a huge portion of the people who attend these events. To call for a boycott of any event that chooses to accept this blood money or to otherwise affiliate itself with such a disgusting, repressive institution is not meaningless, nor is it culturally disrespectful. It is principled. Anyone with principles would understand that this not about wanting to be broke, this is not about punishing innocent people for innocent beliefs, and this is certainly not about Islamophobia. And to be quite frank, anyone with principles will have the good sense to ignore bad faith attempts at using identity politics to brow-beat people into accepting the existence of state-sanctioned queerphobia, just as they would not accept any involvement from the state that sanctions it. Certainly, anyone with principles would understand that this is about more than just a single nation in the Middle East, because anyone with principles would refuse to take money from the US military or a local arms manufacturer for the same reasons they would refuse to take money from the Saudi Crown - because money talks, but so do principles.
And it is principled to tell you to shut the fuck up if you would prioritise money over the dignity of the people around you. Money talks, but so do principles. And if you have any, then they should be louder than the chequebook.