The Twitch streamer and eSports enthusiast HandofBlood has criticized the Esports World Cup, also pointing fingers at the involved German players.
What does Hänno say about the debate? In a new post on X.com, the Twitch streamer and founder of the eSports team Eintracht Spandau criticized the Esports World Cup. “Everything about the Esports World Cup annoys me indescribably […]” he writes in his post. In this post, he further talks about the “cognitive dissonance of the whole scene” and criticizes the spectators who do not approach the tournament critically enough.
But Hänno also expresses clear criticism of the organizations participating in the tournament in his tweet. In his opinion, eSports was built by “hard-working and committed people with conviction” and now they are “bending to the Saudis”. Furthermore, he claims that they are trying to sell all of this on the business platform LinkedIn as “something good”.
Here you can see how HandofBlood became the German champion with his team:
Is it all just sportswashing?
What could be so wrong with the Esports World Cup? The Esports World Cup in Riyadh has faced criticism since its announcement, as Esports Insider reports. One of the main accusations is the so-called “sportswashing”. This describes the attempt of a country to improve its international image by hosting major sporting events.
In the case of Saudi Arabia, there are significant criticisms. The country’s human rights situation is repeatedly criticized internationally (via ecdhr.org). Whether for the restriction of freedom of expression, the treatment of women and minorities, the use of the death penalty (via amnesty.de), or the alleged involvement in the murder of critical journalist Jamal Khashoggi (via reporter-ohne-grenzen.de).
The country’s position is also contrary to the open values that exist in eSports. Homosexuality is criminalized in the country (via lsvd.de), while eSports embodies the values of inclusion and diversity. Fragster.de reports censorship in a documentary where LGBTQ+ content was removed from the Saudi version.
A roughly two-minute segment, where Steve Arhancet, Co-CEO of Team Liquid, openly discusses his experiences as a gay man in eSports, was completely removed. Visual elements that indicate LGBTQ+ solidarity were also obscured through technical means.
Fragster.de
The background, according to Fragster.de, is the local legislation that prevents LGBTQ+ representations in media. In the international versions, the segment of the co-CEO is included.
How do the readers react? In the comments under his posts, the content creator receives a lot of support. For instance, fellow Twitch colleague Vlesk writes on X.com: “Anyone who only stands up for their values when they have to sacrifice nothing has no values.” Moreover, both posts collectively received over 1,500 likes within a few hours.
There are also attempts to explain. Users claim that eSports is currently in a difficult phase. We at MeinMMO have also reported repeatedly in the past about the consequences of the so-called “eSports winter”, a term that describes the economic slump in professional eSports. For example, for an important German caster in LoL.
For years, a lot of money flowed into eSports, but in recent years sponsors have been pulling back more and more, and the clubs and organizations are increasingly lacking funds (via kicker.de). Participating in the Esports World Cup could therefore seem more attractive for the organizations, as there are ultimately prize money in the millions in the disciplines (via esportsworldcup.com).
The Esports World Cup runs until August 24 and concludes with the grand final in Counter-Strike 2. League of Legends was also one of the disciplines of the tournament. There could soon be an important change in eSports here: Professionals from Europe praise the new format in LoL: It is the future of eSports
