Esports illustrated

GeoGuessr Drops Out of Esports World Cup After Fan Protest Blackout

Trent Murray

Geoguessr

After less than 24 hours of a widespread fan protest, GeoGuessr has officially withdrawn from the Esports World Cup. At around 4am ET on May 22, the official GeoGuessr social media accounts sent out a post announcing the decision along with a message from GeoGuessr CEO and Co-Founder Daniel Antell.

"...when you tell us we’ve got it wrong we take it seriously," said Antell in the statement. "That’s why we’ve made the decision to withdraw from participating in the Esports World Cup in Riyadh."

GeoGuessr will provide updates in the near future as to the new location/structure of the Wildcard event that would have taken place at the EWC. This event would have qualified a player to the World Championship.

In response to GeoGuessr's decision, the protesting creators provided the following statement to Esports Illustrated:

"We would like to thank the community for its overwhelming support of the blackout, and we would like to thank the Geoguessr team for making the right decision so swiftly.

What started as 5 people in a Discord, brainstorming what we could do to voice our dissatisfaction and moral concerns in a way that couldn't be ignored, has evolved into a movement that we wouldn't have dared to dream of. We had heard a lot of community members voicing concern about our favourite game hosting an event in a country that is known for its human rights violations. Solidarity and open-mindedness have always been at the heart of our community. So we started recruiting other mappers and came together as a community to take action. Although there were many differing opinions, we managed to all rally behind a joint statement and organized one of the biggest boycotts in esports history.

Once we went live, the support we received was beyond our wildest imagination. The press got involved, other esports communities commented that they'd love to see similar action in their esports, the support just didn't stop pouring in. We were told countless times that "protesting won't change anything", but look where we are now. These events have shown that there is a big dissatisfaction with sportswashing not just in the Geoguessr community but in esports in general, and that making your voice heard is worth it.

We would like to take the opportunity to remind other communities that collective action works. Please take the time to think about what you can do to help your communities stand for the right thing.

The maps are being republished (and await relisting): enjoy them, and let every beautiful location remind you that a better world is possible.

Sincerely, the mappers"

GeoGuessr Creators Protest in Synchronized Map Blackout

On May 21, A statement went out across social media from a number of popular map creators within the GeoGuessr community that called for the game to withdraw from the Esports World Cup. The statement cited concerns over human rights violations and alleged "sportswashing".

In protest, the creators disabled their maps, making them unplayable in GeoGuessr. This included some of the most popular "competitively-relevant" maps according to the statement.

Esports Illustrated has reached out to the map creators as well as the Esports World Cup.

The Esports World Cup is held annualy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and hosts tournaments for nearly every major esport from League of Legends to StarCraft 2 and offers a combined $70 million prize pool. This would have been GeoGuessr's first year as a discipline in the event.

Esports Community Reacts

While GeoGuessr fans within Saudi Arabia have expressed disappointment at the loss of a tournament in their region, the reaction to the news has been largely positive. Veteran esports commentator Montecristo also called for other developers to follow GeoGuessr's example.

Some also noted that the unique structure of GeoGuessr allowed the community protest to have a more direct impact than it could in other games. The game reportedly relies heavily on user-generated maps to supply its many game modes, including competitive modes. This allowed the community to take more direct action than a standard boycott or social media outcry.

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Trent Murray
TRENT MURRAY

Trent has covered esports since the birth of the LCS. He also led content strategy and served as Senior Writer for The Esports Observer and Sports Business Journal, and worked on the development team for Rushdown Revolt.

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