GeoGuessr Withdraws from Saudi Esports Event Amid Backlash

GeoGuessr, the popular geography game with 85 million users, has withdrawn from the Esports World Cup following widespread backlash from players and map creators. The game, which challenges players to identify their location after being dropped into random spots around the globe, features extensive customization options. These include choices on opponents, map settings, urban or rural environments, geographical restrictions, and toggles for movement, panning, and zooming capabilities, along with a variety of community-created custom maps. GeoGuessr has been a significant part of the esports scene for some time.

On May 22, Zemmip, representing a substantial group of GeoGuessr's map creators, initiated a "blackout" of their maps in protest against GeoGuessr's decision to host a World Championship wildcard tournament at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Zemmip's statement on the GeoGuessr subreddit highlighted the severe human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia against various groups, including women, the LGBTQ community, apostates, atheists, political dissenters, migrant workers, and religious minorities. The statement accused GeoGuessr of contributing to Saudi Arabia's sportswashing efforts by participating in the event.

The blackout involved numerous creators and their maps, including most of the top competitively relevant world maps, and was set to continue until GeoGuessr canceled its event in Saudi Arabia and pledged not to host events there as long as the oppressive regime persists. "You don't play games with human rights," the statement concluded.

Following the blackout and confusion among fans about why their maps were inaccessible, GeoGuessr issued a statement on May 22, announcing its withdrawal from the Esports World Cup. CEO and co-founder Daniel Antell explained that the initial decision to participate was made with positive intentions to engage with the Middle Eastern community and promote GeoGuessr’s mission of exploring the world. However, after hearing the community's strong opposition, the company decided to pull out. Antell emphasized GeoGuessr's commitment to being a community-first game and promised to provide information on wildcard distribution soon.

The GeoGuessr community's response on the subreddit was overwhelmingly positive, with top comments celebrating the decision and the community's impact. One user remarked, "Now that's a 5K," referring to the highest score achievable in the game, while another praised the community's unity and effectiveness in driving change.

IGN has reached out to the Esports World Cup for comment on GeoGuessr's withdrawal. Despite this, numerous other games and publishers, including Dota 2, Valorant, Apex Legends, League of Legends, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, and Rainbow Six Siege, among others, are still set to participate in the event in July.

Separately, GeoGuessr recently released on Steam, initially debuting as the second-worst-rated game of all time before improving to the seventh-worst-rated. Players have criticized the lack of features in the supposedly free-to-play version, including the inability to play solo or practice, the presence of bots in amateur mode, and the fact that paying for features on the browser version does not transfer to the Steam version.