Gamers Without Borders

Gamers Without Borders is a global charity entertainment competition in the field of esports. Its first season was launched virtually in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2020 during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over its first four editions, it awarded approximately SAR150 million in prizes, which were donated to global charitable organizations to support vaccination efforts and contribute to combating COVID-19 and other humanitarian causes.

The Saudi Esports Federation organizes the Gamers Without Borders tournament, where professional esports players from around the world compete in a live broadcast. Players face off in more than thirty electronic games, including Fortnite, FIFA 20, Dota 2, and Rocket League.

In the first and second editions of the Gamers Without Borders tournament in 2020 and 2021, donations amounting to approximately SAR75 million were dedicated to combating the spread of COVID-19 and distributing vaccines. The winners of the live broadcast chose to donate their prizes to one of several international humanitarian and charitable organizations, including the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the International Medical Corps, and Direct Relief.

In the third edition of the tournament in 2022, donations were allocated to various global humanitarian causes, organized and managed by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center. These causes included supporting and protecting children affected by conflicts and wars in partnership with UNICEF, aiding refugees and displaced persons worldwide in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), providing medicine to at-risk populations in one hundred countries through Direct Relief, emergency response in cases of natural disasters and emergencies via the International Medical Corps, and assisting unvaccinated children in low-income countries in partnership with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). The total donations in the third edition amounted to approximately SAR37.5 million.

The first edition of the Gamers Without Borders tournament in 2020 set record-breaking numbers in live stream viewership, with approximately 14.56 million views and around 4.88 million hours watched. About 380 professional players from fifty-six countries competed, with the participation of 117 commentators and analysts. The tournament offered prizes totaling around SAR4.8 million, while global donations reached approximately SAR37.5 million, all of which were given to seven global charitable organizations selected by the winners.

The first edition of the tournament also introduced educational initiatives in game development and innovation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. These initiatives included the "Hope Hackathon", where fifteen teams won with the support of sixty local and global mentors in the gaming field. The Junior Game Development Competition, part of the "Make It and Play It" initiative, offered SAR100,000 in prizes. Approximately 3,400 participants took part in the competition, with around three hundred games uploaded to the competition's website. Additionally, around 20,000 trainees from eighty countries registered in the Gamers Without Borders Academy.

The second season of the Gamers Without Borders tournament was launched in 2021, in collaboration with ESL, a company specialized in esports, under the slogan "One World: One Body". Local and international professional players competed over nine weeks in several games, including PUBG, Fortnite, Rocket League, and Call of Duty. More than 450,000 players participated, with audience prizes totaling over SAR3 million. The tournament also featured global music concerts and gaming-related events as part of it.

The second season of the Gamers Without Borders tournament achieved approximately thirty million livestream views, with over 127 hours of live broadcast. More than five hundred professional players from seventy countries around the world competed in the tournament.

This season included the "Live It Without Borders" initiative, which brought together stars from the entertainment industry, social media influencers, football players, and esports professionals. It was managed by the General Entertainment Authority, in partnership with the Saudi Esports Federation. The initiative featured the FIFA 21 tournament, which lasted four days and included 1,024 players across sixteen teams, each led by a celebrity from the Arab world. The competition was broadcast live virtually on Gamers Without Borders channels, and the tournament's prizes, totaling approximately SAR37.5 million, were donated to global charitable organizations to support COVID-19 vaccine distribution in several countries, organized by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center.

The second edition also saw the launch of the Developers Zone competition, focused on mobile game development. A total prize of SAR375,000 was awarded to ten winners from participating countries.

The third edition of the Gamers Without Borders tournament took place in 2022 under the theme "United for Good". In collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the tournament saw the launch of the Saudi Esports Academy, where experts and elite trainers in esports provided training materials to enthusiasts of electronic games.

In this edition, around 1.5 million players from ninety-eight countries participated. There were approximately 1,400 competitions, with over 20,000 winners receiving more than SAR 1.4 million in prizes. The tournament featured about thirty-two different games across twelve local and international platforms. The live stream garnered approximately 271.8 million views, broadcast in ten different languages, and benefited around 1,374 male and female learners.

The fourth edition of the Gamers Without Borders tournament was held from April 10 to May 18, 2023. During this time, SAR37.5 million were donated to support and address various urgent humanitarian needs worldwide.

This edition carried the theme "United for Good", with the goal of reaching a total of SAR150 million in humanitarian aid by supporting global charitable organizations. Over six weeks, elite players and teams from around the world competed in tournaments for electronic games such as StarCraft, CS Go (with separate tournaments for women and men), and Rocket League.