The financial turbulence within Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has once again called into question the stability of several high-profile esports projects — from the Esports World Cup to the ESL FACEIT Group. Despite assurances of “strategic investments,” NYT sources report a shortage of resources and internal restructuring within the fund, directly affecting the ecosystem PIF has been actively building in recent years.
PIF faces financial difficulties: what this means for EWC, ESL FACEIT Group, and Falcons
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which in recent years has become the primary financial engine of global esports, has found itself at the center of a major investigation by The New York Times. Sources cited by the publication describe the situation as “a lack of liquid capital for new investments” and speak of a large-scale restructuring of the fund, directly affecting all projects where PIF is the main donor.
According to the NYT, part of the fund’s most ambitious initiatives have failed to generate the expected profit — from national mega-projects such as NEOM to commercial ventures intended to become flagships of Vision 2030. Against this backdrop, the fund, according to six NYT sources, has already informed foreign investors that it “cannot allocate new funds for the foreseeable future.”
This raises questions about the future of esports properties directly dependent on PIF: the Esports World Cup, the Esports Nations Cup, the ESL FACEIT Group, and several other structures fully integrated into the Saudi “sports rebranding” system.
Despite this, PIF’s official representatives deny any claims of crisis, stating that the fund has more than $60 billion in liquidity and will continue long-term investments. But NYT’s sources emphasize: the issue is not bankruptcy — the problem is that a large share of the fund’s portfolio is tied to assets that cannot be quickly converted into cash without significant losses.
How this could affect esports
If investments are reduced, several directions may be at risk:
- the continued expansion of the EWC, which in 2024–2025 became a key showcase for the PIF ecosystem;
- the ESL FACEIT Group, which expanded its tournament infrastructure dramatically over the past two years thanks to Saudi capital;
- the Esports Nations Cup, whose funding is almost entirely provided by PIF.
Further ambiguity surrounds the Falcons organization — a club often associated with the Saudi fund in media discussions. Falcons insist they have private investors and do not rely on state financing, but part of the community remains skeptical in light of the new publications.
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Broader context: why PIF found itself in this situation
It’s important to highlight the environment in which the fund operates. Over the past several years, PIF has spent hundreds of billions across dozens of sectors — from aviation to automotive development, from Red Sea giga-projects to mass construction of infrastructure for Vision 2030. Some of these directions still do not generate profit, while others have faced significant delays or partial freezes.
At the same time, PIF continues to invest in artificial intelligence, acquire stakes in global corporations, and diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy in an attempt to reduce the country’s reliance on oil. Such scale and rapid modernization sometimes create a gap between investment commitments and actual liquidity — which has now surfaced as the current crisis.
