Egypt’s Anubis Gaming wins inaugural Riot Games’ Intel Arabian Cup

Anubis Gaming from Egypt is the winner of the inaugural Intel Arabian Cup (IAC), beating eight other teams in the final of the League of Legends competition.

The tournament was organised by League of Legends publisher Riot Games in partnership with Intel and Lenovo. The final, the culmination of a seven-month contest, was streamed live on Twitch, Facebook and YouTube and watched by more than 22,000 viewers across MENA.

eGz Esports from Saudi Arabia finished second while Fox Gaming, representing Morocco, took the third spot.

Open to players from Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and the UAE, the tournament saw more than 1,000 teams and 5,000 players taking part in three different stages.

Read: What does the future hold for the GCC’s gaming industry?

Amateur and professional gamers participated, an effort by the organisers to recognise and nurture local talent as well as develop the regional gaming landscape.

“As the first edition of the tournament, we could not have been more pleased with the buzz that Intel Arabian Cup has created,” said Ali Muslumanoglu, general manager of Riot Games MENA.

“Having 22,000 viewers watching the final matches live is incredible and reflects how popular gaming is in this region. At the same time, it also proves the depth of talent that we have in the MENA region and a competition like this can only bridge the gap between other regions.”

League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game developed and published by Riot Games. The game is the world’s largest esport, with a highly competitive international circuit. The 2019 League of Legends World Championship had over 100 million unique viewers, peaking at a concurrent viewership of 44 million, with a minimum prize pool of US$2.5m.