Riot Games' LEC Partnership With Saudi City Fiercely Criticized

Riot Games is facing criticism after announcing that the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) will partner with Neom, a $500 billion, smart-city founded by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Muhammad bin Salman. Although touted as a city of the future in a press release announcing news of the partnership, Neom has been reportedly built atop forced evictions. This is on top of existing criticism against the Saudi Arabian government in regards to its treatment of LGBT peoples, as well as bin Salman’s links to the assassination of a Washington Post journalist. All of this has led to the swift condemnation of the sponsorship from high-profile voices in the League of Legends community, as well as from Riot employees.

This is disappointing because this is the LEC. It's my team, my product, my managers, my office.

My family. My home. This isn't someone far away in HQ that I don't know. This is devastating because I know who made these choices and I feel silenced. — Froskurinn (@Froskurinn) July 29, 2020

“Incredibly disappointed in Riot today and am baffled at how we could possibly support this,” tweeted Alex Shahmiri, brand lead for Arcane, Riot’s upcoming animated series. “[The partnership] does not reflect the company that I started at six years ago and goes against so much of the progress we’ve been trying to make in the last few years.”

Incredibly disappointed in Riot today and am baffled at how we could support this, does not reflect the company that I started at six years ago and goes against so much of the progress that we’ve been trying to make in the last few years. https://t.co/R9N7d09NnS

— alex shahmiri (@RiotAstryx) July 29, 2020

The Rioters Against Forced Arbitration group, which was started following the allegations that Riot fostered a toxic and sexist workplace, also tweeted out against the partnership.

Riot’s decision to partner with NEOM flies in the face of all the progress that Rioters have worked hard to make over the past few years. Please join us in voicing your support for ending this partnership at #NoToNEOM #RiotGames

— Rioters Against Forced Arbitration (@RiotersAFA) July 29, 2020

IGN has reached out to Riot for a comment. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.