As sportswashing turns into an more and more highly effective pressure within the esports area, one Avenue Fighter 6 professional participant has come out and expressed his intent to keep away from taking part within the Saudi Arabia government-owned Esports World Cup via a prolonged social media assertion.
Christopher Hancock (higher often called ChrisCCH), an American Avenue Fighter 6 participant represented by Flyquest, earned a spot on the Esports World Cup via his efficiency on the Avenue Fighter League World Finals earlier this 12 months. Whereas attending the occasion would absolutely result in monetary achieve for the professional participant, ChrisCCH took the time to announce his intentions in addition to present some further context on his prior actions given the rising presence of Sportswashing ventures.
The put up reads as follows: “I’ve determined to say no the EWC qualification spot that I earned via the SFL world finals. I gave this determination quite a lot of thought and in the end determined that, because of the nature by which the occasion is funded and managed, I don’t really feel snug taking part in it.
“I beforehand declined to take part in Gamers8 2023 and didn’t take part in any EWC qualifiers in 2024. I deliberate to do the identical in 2025, however with the brand new CPT/EWC (Capcom Professional Tour / Esports World Cup) partnership, selecting to not take part in any EWC qualifiers would successfully imply retirement from competing. I discover it regrettable that this occasion has change into so deeply embedded within the FGC, however I’ve not but decided on whether or not I’ll cease competing in occasions related to it alltogether.
“Lastly, I need to say thanks to FlyQuest and my SFL teammates for an unbelievable season that introduced me to this spot to start with. Whereas I stand by my determination, I apolagize to them and everybody who was trying ahead to seeing me compete in EWC. I hope to see you all once more sooner or later.”
It is a lonely stance to take, in an area that sadly has embraced the EWC by and enormous. This assertion has been met with help from those that share Chris’ issues, together with his peer and Evo 2024 winner Punk. Nevertheless, others have been flippant of their dismissal of Chris’ determination.
For these unaware of what is going on on, the Esports World Cup is an enormous esports occasion hosted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund, making it authorities funded. It is the most recent in a spree of monetary outreach by the nation into international sports activities and leisure, together with Liv Golf, F1, Soccer, and – in fact – the world of video video games via esports and funding in online game corporations similar to Niantic, Scopely, and extra.
The rationale this must be trigger for concern is that the Esports World Cup, alongside different sportswashing ventures, is an try to enhance the worldwide standing of the nation within the wake of varied human rights abuses. Based on Amnesty Worldwide, the nation has killed migrants, nonetheless applies the loss of life penalty, and descriminates in opposition to girls and girls’s rights. Based on Stroll Free, Saudi Arabia ranks fourth on its international slavery index.
With this in thoughts you’d assume a boycot can be simple, nonetheless there are actual monetary and profession penalties for combating recreation professionals avoiding the Esports World Cup. As ChrisCCH talked about, not too long ago Capcom partnered with the Esports World Cup and has built-in lots of the largest Capcom Professional Tour tournaments into the EWC ecosystem, together with Evo Japan and Combo Breaker. To keep away from these can be to cripple your individual probabilities at being a Avenue Fighter professional.
As for funds, gamers are set to earn considerably extra from competing on the EWC than within the overwhelming majority of different tournaments. Only for displaying up, ChrisCCH would have taken dwelling a minimum of $5,000, and probably $300,000 for successful. For comparability, successful Avenue Fighter 6 at Evo (the biggest combating recreation event on the earth) final 12 months earned you roughly $21,000.
This stance that Chris has taken is a courageous one, and one that’s changing into more and more laborious to have as online game corporations and tournaments proceed to embrace the Esports World Cup regardless of moral issues. Whereas others have come out publically similar to Sajam and echoed such sentiments, and others have silently avoided Saudi Arabian owned esports ventures, it is changing into laborious and tougher to take action and keep within the area. Whether or not or not the FGC will stand behind him, tragically, isn’t a positive factor.
