Over 120,000 players from 72 countries have participated in the ongoing esports fundraiser that has already donated $6.5m to various charities that are fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fundraiser will conclude on June 7th, while the gamers will be competing for a total charity prize pool of $10m.
The Championship has recorded a total of 35 million views over social media channels, while the live broadcast has gathered over five million views.
The Saudi Arabian Federation for Electronic and Intellectual Sports organized the event for, and ESL is the technical support.
The tournament is organized in a two-tier system for all games. The first one are amateurs and gaming enthusiasts, while the second tier are professional esports athletes.
The next tournament that will feature professional players will be a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament. It will be a $2 million prize pool tournament that will take place on May 29-31. Five matches will be played in Europe and one showmatch in North America.
Source: inverse
This tournament is an excellent chance for Counter-Strike gambling enthusiasts bet on their favorite teams and earn some money while doing so. If you don’t like betting on teams, and simply want to get the same skins that the professionals are using, visit the site csbet.gg. It’s a secure website that allows you to open CS GO cases and earn the rarest ones a lot easier than through the game.
The full schedule has been released, and on Friday, we’ll be able to see G2 play against FaZe, while Fnatic will play against OG.
On Saturday, Natus Vincere will play against the winner of the match G2 vs. Faze, while mousesports will play against the winner of Fnatic vs. OG.
The second day is also when the North American showmatch takes place. Liquid will face 100 Thieves at 22:00.
The single-elimination bracket will be a competition of best of threes, as well as the showmatch.
The Grand Final will be a best of five maps.
What is exciting and different from other CS: GO tournaments is that this will be an MR12 tournament, which means the first team to reach 13 rounds wins the map.
In the end, the team that wins in the Grand Final will get $750,000 that they will donate to a charity of their picking to help fight the spread of COVID-19.
Why Is Gamers Without Borders Such A Success?
Source: etleboro
The answer is simple because everybody could compete in it. Over 120,000 gamers already participated in different tournaments so far. These gamers competed in games like Call of Duty, Rainbow Six: Siege, FIFA 20, CS: GO, Fortnite, and many others.
Over 4000 hours of gameplay was spent on these games, and the prizes and gifts so far exceeded $250,000.
As the tournament is entering its fifth week, esports fans can register on the official Gamers Without Borders site where they can find out about community tournaments and schedules.
We greet the Saudi Arabian Federation for Electronic and Intellectual Sports for organizing such a worldwide event and hope to see more of such charity events in the future.
Charity In Esports Is Not New, It’s How The Community Rolls
Source: steelseries
While video gaming may have been dismissed as a no-good of a pastime a decade ago, today gamers are not only young millionaires, they are also philanthropists who are prepared to use their name and popularity for the good of others, and not to cater to some hedonistic preference.
While Gamers Without Borders has been important in setting an example, there have been many success stories already. Blizzard Entertainment managed to raise $12.7 million through the sale of Pink Mercy skin in its popular fantasy shooter game, Overwatch.
The proceedings were forwarded to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation to bolster the organization’s efforts in tackling one of the deadliest diseases women in the world have faced.
During the 2017 LoL World Championship Series, Riot Games issued a challenge to players to purchase a special edition Championship Ashe skin and help the company raise funds for three charities.
The money raised as a result of the action amounted to $2.35 million. While esports personalities and players have played a huge role in their own way, companies have also been at the forefront of helping those in need.
Earlier this year, the Pokémon Company announced $5 million in donations for various non-for-profit organizations which could benefit from the move. Various other organizations have also done their best to use the power of gaming and esports to relief people.
One such intiative included the Stay in the Game Relief Fund, although the size of the donation was small, $100,000. Esports and League of Legends star Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok has vowed his own financial support to help fight COVID-19.
Back in March 2024, the player vowed $25,000 to help with the relief efforts against COVID-19, one of the many players from the Asian gaming community to seek and assist others.
Gaming and Entertainment Can Be Meaningful
Source: afkgaming
While the added-value of esports as a phenomenon is pure entertainment, the recent challenges the world has faced have been one example of how the esports community can help bring a positive change in the world.
Some colleges have even considered esports as a viable career path, offering easy admission to gifted players who can compete for their university or college and still benefit from participating in the curriculum and university life.
Meanwhile, careers in esports have become both more desirable and more popular. Today, being a social media manager or a job recruiter for the esports industry is both trying and requires a lot of skills.
Love for video games certainly comes first, and with most jobs concentrated in North America, there is a lack of globalization yet, but positive changes are underway. While landing a job or obtaining a scholarship in esports is still localized, the global push for solidarity showed by the esports community isn’t.
The gaming community truly has no borders.
