Saudi Crown Prince unveils National Gaming and Esports Strategy

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud unveiled the National Gaming and Esports Strategy on Thursday. The strategy marks the beginning of a new era towards leading the sector and making the country a global hub for the gaming industry by 2030, according to state news agency SPA.

It also serves the Saudi Vision 2030 objectives, which aim to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy, create new job opportunities in different industries and ‘provide world-class entertainment’ to residents and visitors. “The National Gaming and Esports Strategy is driven by the creativity and energy of our citizens and gamers, who are at the heart of the strategy,” said the Crown Prince.

Raising the quality of life by improving players’ experience, providing new entertainment opportunities, and achieving an economic impact by contributing to the GDP by about 50 billion riyals are the strategy’s three main objectives. SPA’s report also suggests that this will lead to the creation of 39,000 new job opportunities by 2030.

Saudi Arabia aims to produce more than 30 competitive games in the Kingdom’s studios and become one of the top three countries containing the highest number of professional esports players. The country intends to implement the strategy through 86 initiatives covering the entire value chain, which was launched and managed by more than 20 government and private entities.

These initiatives are divided into eight focus areas, which include technology and hardware development, game production, e-sports, additional services, and other aspects such as infrastructure, regulations, education and talent acquisition. The gaming and esports sector is considered the fastest growing among all media sectors,