RIYADH — The opening weekend of the $10million COVID-19 charity esports event Gamers Without Borders By Saudi drew more than 5,000 players to its tournaments, as gamers from around the world began uniting online in the fight against coronavirus.

Nearly 4,000 players signed-up for the event’s launch weekend within just 12 hours of the gaming season being announcement last week, with the global gathering seeing a further 1,400 gamers push its opening tournaments to capacity by Friday.

The seven-week charity fundraiser gives gamers of all abilities the opportunity to get involved in some thrilling live solo and team tournaments, where they can bag prizes worth more than $1.3million while helping to save lives, stay safe and raise funds in the united fight against the spread of coronavirus: Gaming Without Borders By Saudi’s central goal.

The event will see a $10million prize fund shared between 12 different charities leading the fight against COVID-19. What money goes where will be decided by the winning players and teams in GWB’s International Elite events, which begin next week and will feature many of the world’s best esports athletes.

GWB’s Global Community are a daily schedule of Marathons, Games Of The Week and free-running play-as-you-go tournaments that gamers of all skill levels are invited to enjoy, and which began on Friday morning.

The Marathons launched on games including FIFA20, Fortnite and Clash Royale, while this week’s Games Of The Week are on titles such as Overwatch and Apex Legends.

Registration for all tournaments taking place this week are open now. For every other tournament taking place as part of GWB, sign-up will begin three days before their start time. All details can be found at www.gamerswithoutborders.com

Prince Faisal Bin Bandar Bin Sultan is chairman of the Saudi Arabian Federation for Electronic and Intellectual Sports (SAFEIS), who are behind Gamers Without Borders By Saudi. He said: “It is immensely exciting to see so many gamers unite so quickly to throw their support behind the global fight against COVID-19.

“Our global community schedule is open to all gamers, where worries about skill level or ability can be left at the door. Gamers Without Borders is for everybody, and the diversity of those registering and playing on the tournament’s first day already really emphasizes that point.

“After so much planning, we are delighted to be unde way with such a passionate backing from gamers across the world.” — SG