The crew behind GeoGuessr is withdrawing the location-guessing recreation from the Esports World Cup (EWC) after followers protested its resolution to take part within the occasion. Neighborhood members pulled many common customized maps from the sport after it emerged the sport’s writer, GeoGuessr AB, was going to carry a event on the EWC, which takes place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in July.
Map creators who eliminated their group creations from GeoGuessr claimed that the EWC is “a sportswashing device utilized by the federal government of Saudi Arabia to distract from and conceal its horrific human rights document.” Many different outstanding recreation franchises might be featured on the occasion, together with Name of Responsibility, Overwatch, Rocket League, Avenue Fighter and EA Sports activities FC.
In a press release posted on X and Reddit, GeoGuessr AB CEO and co-founder Daniel Antell mentioned the group acknowledged loud and clear that the choice to participate within the EWC “doesn’t align with what GeoGuessr stands for.” As such, the crew is pulling out of the occasion.
Right here is Antell’s full assertion:
Hello everybody,
I’ve seen your reactions over the previous few days concerning our resolution to take part within the Esports World Cup in Riyadh. After we made that call, it was with constructive intentions. To interact with our group within the Center East and to unfold GeoGuessr’s core mission of let everybody Discover the World.
Since Erland, Anton, and I based GeoGuessr in 2013, we’ve at all times strived to be a community-first recreation. Everybody right here on the Stockholm workplace is a passionate GeoGuessr fan, doing our greatest to construct one thing significant, with you and for you.
That mentioned, you – our group – have made it clear that this resolution doesn’t align with what GeoGuessr stands for.
So, while you inform us we’ve obtained it flawed we take it significantly. That’s why we’ve made the choice to withdraw from collaborating within the Esports World Cup in Riyadh.
We’ll come again with data on how the wildcards might be distributed as quickly as potential.
Thanks for talking up and sharing your ideas.
/Daniel
