The Saudi Arabian Federation for Electronic and Intellectual Sports (SAFEIS) has announced the “Rise to the Challenge” tournament in partnership with the STC Group, the tournament’s digital enabler. The competition will target all age groups and

will include three popular games — FIFA, PUBG and Fortnite — with financial prizes up to SR500,000 ($133,000).

The tournament will be held under the patronage of the Sports Ministry and Prince Abdul Aziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, minister of sports and chairman of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee.

Prince Faisal bin Bandar, president of SAFEIS, said the tournament has been launched at this time so that citizens and residents can make use of the lockdown period.

“It is an initiative launched by the SAFEIS and STC Group following many initiatives launched by several government and private entities in response to the novel coronavirus, considering that staying home is key to combating the spread of this virus,” he said.

“We expect the tournament to succeed in achieving its goals and in benefitting the youth, especially the 21 percent who, prior to the current crisis, played electronic games on a weekly basis. We naturally expect this number to rise in light of the government’s instructions to remain home for unusually longer periods of time, encouraging people to play electronic games in a competitive and organized setting, in line with the aspirations of the Kingdom’s leadership,” Prince Faisal added.

NUMBER

256% 
— increase in demand for gaming platforms has been reported during the lockdown period. 


Othman bin Dahash Al-Dahash, VP of corporate development at STC, said: “The STC Group’s participation as a digital enabler for the ‘Rise to the Challenge’ tournament is in line with the group’s belief in the importance of such sports and their popularity among passionate youth, and aims to support the directives of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, to employ fiber services at homes that can easily provide the speeds needed for such electronic games, which has been made possible thanks to the STC Group’s great infrastructure, especially in relation to fiber and 5G services.”

“This collaboration is a continuation of the STC network’s success in accommodating the huge growth currently witnessed by the Kingdom, especially in terms of supporting distance learning, telecommuting and health care applications,” he added.

The telecom operator has reported a 256 percent increase in demand for gaming platforms during this period.