The biggest international esports competition has ended in Paris in the presence of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and French President Emmanuel Macron.
The visit by the two leaders highlights the importance given by states to securing a foothold in the growing video games industry that is closely linked to AI. Their appearance began an official two-day visit by Prince Mohammed to the French capital.
Mr Macron handed the winner's trophy to Chinese team AG.AL, which dethroned the two-time Saudi winner Team Falcons.
More than 2,000 players competed across 24 online games in the seven-week tournament that was organised by a Saudi non-profit organisation, the Esports Foundation.
"It illustrates the shared ambition of France and Saudi Arabia to make sport and culture vehicles for bringing them closer together," the Elysee Palace said in a statement.
While Europe has historically invested less in esports than the Gulf region or Asian countries such as South Korea, where its stars have celebrity status, the Esports World Cup's move outside Riyadh for its third event has cemented the industry's status as an international diplomatic tool.
The move to France, caused by worries over the impact of the US-Iran war, was a "natural fit", two years after France hosted the Olympic Games, Andy Miah, chairman of science communication and future media at the University of Salford in the UK, told The National.
Creative innovation
"There's an element of wanting to stay ahead of the curve on a whole range of economic factors related to the creative industries," Mr Miah said. "And esports themselves are a cauldron for creative innovation."
Speaking before the Prince Mohammed's visit, an adviser to Mr Macron said that that Riyadh was "very pleased" with its organisation in Paris, and that it was a "win-win for both our countries".
They added that Saudi organisers had been thinking of moving the world cup abroad even before the start of the regional war, to give it a more "international" status.
Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund was among a consortium of investors that bought US video game company Electronic Arts for $55 million, in its biggest push yet into the global gaming industry as it accelerates efforts to diversify its economy beyond oil. EA is best known for franchises including Battlefield, The Sims and EA Sports FC.
This type of investment gives access to esports titles and future audiences.
"Esports is part of that new innovation economy that is very much focusing the minds of all sort of governments to try to make sure they can be part of that AI superpower that we're seeing underpin the future of all computing," Mr Miah said.
US tech company Nvidia is among those developing AI chips and those used for gaming computers. "You can look at participation in the Esports World Cup as a route into becoming much closer to that AI superpower status," Mr Miah said.
