Not that it should come as a surprise to anyone at this point, but ESL have announced that ESL Pro League Season 25 will be hosted in Saudi Arabia.

People aren’t happy about this, as is to be expected, but ignoring the political aspect of it all - allow us to play devil’s advocate.

We all know that the money in esports is never fantastic, and with Saudi (sorry, Savvy Games Group) owning ESL, running an event in the nation makes it far cheaper than any European country where they’d have to rent an arena for the weekend.

So, while it might not be ideal timezone-wise for many people, and while it might lead to a playoffs played in front of about 200 people who have all been paid to be there…

Is it that much of a bad thing?

Especially when it’s just one event, and also an event that we all typically moan about anyway, we’re willing to give ESL a pass just this once.

Key word: once.