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JEDDAH: The gaming and esports industry is growing rapidly in Saudi Arabia and the GCC, with major investments announced to support domestic game developers and world-class competitions in the region.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently announced the country’s ambition to see 30 competitive games developed by the kingdom’s companies by 2030 as part of the country’s national gaming and esports strategy.
Last week, Savvy Games Group, a company owned by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, announced an investment worth SAR 142 billion (1 Saudi riyal = 0.27 euros) aimed at transforming the kingdom into a global home with world-class gaming companies hub.
The investments will include the 70 billion riyal acquisition of several minority stakes in companies supporting Savvy’s game development plans, and the 50 billion riyal acquisition of a leading game publisher to become a strategic development partner.
Another 20 billion riyals will be invested in industrial partners, and 2 billion riyals will be earmarked for industry pioneers to develop early-stage gaming and e-sports businesses.
“Savvy Games Group is part of our ambitious strategy to make Saudi Arabia the ultimate global hub for the gaming and esports industry by 2030,” the crown prince said last week, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
Speaking at the Next World Forum in early September, Prince Faisal bin Bandar, president of the Saudi Esports Federation, mentioned the rise of the sports industry over the past five years, adding: One thing is you first introduce yourself to someone using their gaming skills, not based on their history, religion, skin color, background or gender.”
“This young community and people are really trying to take their place on the world stage. The ultimate goal is for Saudi Arabia to develop naturally on the global path of gaming and esports,” said the prince.
With this move, the government hopes to create 39,000 jobs, bring in 250 game developers and foster a thriving internal esports talent pool that will bring the industry’s contribution to the kingdom’s economy to 50 billion riyals. by 2030.
Dozens of domestic start-ups, as well as multinational developers, stand to benefit greatly from this new wave of investment.
Abderrahmane al-Soulaimani is an AI engineer and game designer who worked in Japan for 9 years before returning to the kingdom in 2020.
During his career, Al-Soulaimani has witnessed the amazing growth of the world-renowned Japanese gaming community. Seeing the same potential in his home country, he returned to set up his studio there.
Earlier this year, Al-Soulaimani launched AlBuraq Wings, a game studio for young gamers eager to learn design and programming.
“I wanted to help them bring them together under one roof, I created the studio with the aim of making games not only made by Saudis for Saudis, but also bringing the world to the world. The tremendous talent of our developers,” Al -Soulaimani told arab news.
Whether it’s a designer, developer, artist, voiceover, or whatever, game development isn’t a one-person thing. It’s a community of talented people who come together to try out new technological tools and come up with innovative game ideas.
AlBuraq Wings recently won third place at the Gamers8 XR Gameathon, a limited-time accelerated innovation event where gaming enthusiasts come together to develop a game prototype from scratch within a week.
“These games have prompted many Saudis to come forward and put their skills in the spotlight. I dare say that many Saudis have more skills than the Japanese,” Al-Soulaimani said.
He added: “Gaming events attract not only gamers, but three unique and important parts of the gaming community: programmers, designers and artists. If you get all three, you have a game. We went around One lap. »
Saudi Arabia has rapidly emerged as a major gaming hub, with local rivals achieving world-class results in global esports tournaments.
In 2018, Mosaad al-Dossary, known online as “Msdossary”, became the first Saudi citizen to win the FIFA Video Game World Cup – an event more than 20 million players tried to win. To confirm.
A year later, Saudi gamers were thrilled when Saudi Arabia was selected for the biggest gaming tournament to date in the region, PUBG Mobile Star.
The global esports market size was valued at USD 1.22 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach USD 1.44 billion in 2022. Fortune Business Insights predicts the market will reach $5.48 billion in 2029.
According to a Boston Consulting Group report earlier this year, Saudi Arabia now has 23.5 million gamers, about 67 percent of the kingdom’s mostly young population.
About 90 percent of these gamers are involved in esports as an amateur or semi-professional, while about 100 Saudi gamers are pursuing esports as a full-time career, the report said.
“If you think about Arab countries, Saudi Arabia is the number one destination for the Olympics,” he told arab newsSaudi gamer and content creator known as “PikaLoli”.
Like many Saudis, she grew up playing games and recently decided to make it her career. She discovered a platform where a growing community of gamers and developers could share ideas and feedback.
“I play various games and express my opinions on my social media pages,” revealed PikaLoli. “The interaction and engagement you find, even among young people, is amazing.”
“We’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time, and a community of thousands of people has been helping each other over the years. We have a common platform to communicate, share ideas, edit videos, play developer games and give feedback, and more,” she said. explained.
Newly graduated game designer Walid Abou Alkhayr found his career shortly after graduating from university and took part in Game Development Hima’s “intensive training”, which focuses on game development, by acquiring skills and interning at an international game company, Then got a job at an international game company. other.
he commissioned arab news Computer training courses as well as eSports and game development courses attracted him most, reinforcing the idea of becoming a game developer.
“I started playing games on the Sony Playstation 1 and haven’t stopped since. The love of gaming made me want to choose this career, but I didn’t see enough support until recently when the industry was growing at an unprecedented rate; I knew then that this was what I wanted to do,” he said.
Abou Alkhayr, also a member of AlBuraq Wings, points out that the rise of esports and game development is not just a fad, but something that has been brewing for years.
“Entities teaching programming and game development have numerous initiatives and programs and more resources, which provide opportunities and enhance the technical competitiveness of the community. The more talent is involved, the more the community can grow and contribute to the realization of what is proposed to us. vision to contribute,” he suggested.
For Al-Soulaimani, harnessing this energy, enthusiasm and raw talent is exactly what was needed to put Saudi Arabia on the global game map.
“The Kingdom nurtures local talent; it is poised to create a dynamic environment for esports, just as young people’s long-standing love and passion for video games has done,” he said.
« We are sharing our games and gaining support as game developers find our platform, but the recent announcement will provide more opportunities for the younger generation who want to dive into this interesting world, » said Al-Soulaimani.
This article is a translation of an article published on Arabnews.com
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