In the summer of 2023, countless esports professionals from an array of esports scenes flocked to Saudi Arabia to compete in the Gamers8 festival. This was a multiple week-long festival that saw a variety of tournaments played on an array of unique games, and offering massive cash prizes to boot. While it presented plenty of exciting competition, the event was also criticised for being the esports equivalent of sportswashing.
The Gamers8 festival was enough of a success however that it didn't take long before the Saudi Arabian state - who backs the event - announced that it would be returning in 2024 under the new namesake of the Esports World Cup, and it seems like the promise and allure of the event has increased enough to also attract the attention of Riot Games too.
Because esports reporter, Jacob Wolf, has revealed that a League of Legends event will be featured at the festival. It's unclear how it will be featured currently, other than the fact that there is mention it will take place on the first week of July, but LoL is now the first game confirmed to be appearing at the festival, which will kick off in July and offer what is rumoured to be the largest prize pool in esports history.
No doubt with this information now out in the wild, we'll start to hear more about the upcoming mega festival.
