GeoGuessr, a popular geography game with 85 million users, has withdrawn from the Esports World Cup following significant backlash from its community. The game, which challenges players to identify their location from random spots around the world, offers extensive customization options. Players can choose their opponents, select specific maps, decide on urban or rural settings, and control movement and zooming capabilities, including a no-move, pan, or zoom (NMPZ) mode. The community has created a wealth of custom maps, making GeoGuessr a staple in the esports scene.
On May 22, Zemmip, representing a significant number of GeoGuessr's top map creators, initiated a "blackout" by making their maps unplayable. This protest was in response to GeoGuessr's decision to host a World Championship wildcard tournament at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Zemmip highlighted the severe human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia, affecting women, the LGBTQ community, apostates, atheists, political dissenters, migrant workers under the Kafala system, and religious minorities. "By participating in the EWC, GeoGuessr is contributing to that sportswashing agenda, which is designed to take attention away from Saudi Arabia's human rights violations," Zemmip stated on the GeoGuessr subreddit.
The blackout involved numerous creators and their maps, including most of the popular competitive world maps. The organizers vowed to continue the blackout until GeoGuessr canceled its event in Saudi Arabia and pledged not to host any events there while the oppressive regime persists. "You don't play games with human rights," concluded the statement.
Following the community's outcry, GeoGuessr announced its withdrawal from the Esports World Cup on May 22. 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. "When you tell us we've got it wrong, we take it seriously," Antell stated, emphasizing the company's commitment to its community. GeoGuessr promised to provide details on the distribution of the wildcards soon.
The community's response on the GeoGuessr subreddit was overwhelmingly positive. A top comment celebrated the community's success, likening it to achieving a perfect 5K score in the game. Another user praised the community's unity and determination in achieving their goal.
IGN has reached out to the Esports World Cup for comment. Despite GeoGuessr's withdrawal, the event in July will still feature numerous games and publishers, including Dota 2, Valorant, Apex Legends, League of Legends, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, and Rainbow Six Siege, among others.
Separately, GeoGuessr recently launched on Steam, initially receiving the second-worst rating on the platform. Although its rating has since improved to the seventh-worst, fans have criticized the lack of features in the ostensibly free-to-play version, such as the inability to play solo for practice. The free amateur mode appears to be populated mostly by bots, and paid features from the browser version do not transfer to the Steam version.
