Esports: Saudi Arabia, the new hub for gaming? 

    Esports has gained significant popularity in most of the world, with internet services becoming easily accessible, resulting in access to global technology

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    Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is also one country that makes good internet services accessible to its citizens. With an increasing network of internet connections, the love for esports has significantly risen in Saudi in the last few years.

    An expert predicted that if Saudi continues to go at the same pace, the popularity of esports in the country will increase by 250% in the next eight years.

    The reason why Saudi is mainly in the news these days w.r.t. Esports is because of a recent world forum that took place in Saudi where their Governor, Communications and Information Technology Commission, Mohammed Saud Al-Tamimi, announced that the country had become prominent in gaming and is going to increase its contribution to the GDP of the kingdom by 50 times by 2030.

    "Gaming and esports is a sector that lives at the crossroads of technology, telecommunications, storytelling and so much more," said Prince Faisal bin Bandar, chairman of the Saudi Esports Federation.

    You may find it surprising that Saudi is the seventh largest country in terms of its internet speed and broadband services.

    "We understand that gamers are using the mobile for networks. Over the last 12 months, with the partnership with telecom operators, we increased and improved the latency, which is the average response time, by more than 82 percent," said Al-Tamimi in the forum.

    While talking about how Saudi has become an esports hub and the pace at which it will grow in the future, Al-Tamimi said, "The question should not be 'Why Saudi?' It should now be 'Why not Saudi?' The passionate gaming community is there, we have hosted global events, we have all the abilities to compete and our young community — men and women — have shown the world what they can do. What's next? Saudi will become one of the global hubs for gaming and esports."

    Many foreign delegates were present at the forum, along with many international experts and specialists in the industry, such as Stephan Fox, president of United Through Sports and Chester King, CEO of British Esports. 

    All international delegates were of the view that Saudi has the potential to become one of the biggest esports markets and a global gaming hub. Brian Ward, CEO of Savvy Gaming Group, said, "I think Saudi Arabia will be the fastest-growing global games hub ever."

     

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