For transparency: Esports News UK editor Dom Sacco used to work full-time for British Esports between September 2016 and February 2021, and currently does some freelance work for them, producing their weekly email newsletter.
Abdiqani ‘Ab’ Ahmed (aka Abdi), the CEO of UK-based esports organisation Lionscreed, will be speaking at the Leap conference next month.
Also on the speaker line-up is British Esports senior education advisor Tom Dore, as well as a string of big names from the sports, tech and gaming sectors.
They will be talking on a panel at the tech-focused Leap conference, a well-known event that takes place from February 6th to 9th 2023 at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The panel is titled ‘The Esports Revolution’ and will also include speakers Matt Pickering of Powerleague Gaming, Abdallah AlGhifari from Level Infinite MENA, Tencent Games Global, and Yassine Jaada from PSG.
Related article: Lionscreed are levelling up: here’s why they’re one to watch
This Leap conference panel takes place on Monday February 6th 2023 from 10.40am to 11.40am Saudi time.
The panel will aim to cover topics including the following:
- Current struggles around esports
- Business model and monetisation innovation
- Esports opportunity in the GCC – specifically the impact KSA will have on the industry
- What are the opportunities that exist here that don’t exist elsewhere?
- Profitability of amateur vs college vs pro esports
- Major slowdown / cancellations of esports arenas in the US
- Shift to online
- Performance of publicly-traded esports companies
Other big-name speakers at the event include Steven Bartlett, founder of Social Chain, West Ham United vice chairman Baroness Karren Brady, former footballers Thierry Henry, Carlos Puyol and more.
A full list of speakers can be found on the Leap conference website.
Leap conference is the latest Saudi Arabia tech and gaming initiative
Saudi Arabia has made a big entry into esports in recent years.
This time last year, esports tournament organisers ESL and Faceit joined forces after being acquired by Savvy Gaming Group (SGG), which is 100% owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund – its government’s Public Investment Fund.
Over the past year, Saudi has held several esports events, including Gamers8 tournaments, with a Fortnite one won by a duo from UK esports orgs Tundra and Guild, Gamers Without Borders Rocket League tournaments and more.
Saudi Esports president Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud spoke at the Commonwealth Esports Forum in Birmingham.
There have also been controversies. Moist Esports declined to play at Saudi’s GWB Rocket League event, with Moist’s UK coach Noah Hinder publishing a tweet saying he ‘will not associate with a country that doesn’t recognise LGBTQ+ people as human beings’.
And in 2020, Riot Games came under fire for its partnership with Saudi Arabia tech city NEOM – a deal that was cut short within a day of its initial announcement.
Some have also accused Saudi Arabia of sportswashing/esportswashing – using esports and charity initiatives to generate positive PR and detract from their human rights record.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
