Saudi Arabia Wants to become the Hub of Worldwide Gaming by 2030: Next World Forum Summary

Riyadh – Next World Forum, the concluding event of the biggest esports tournament-series to ever be hosted, Gamers8, has gathered world leaders in gaming and esports with one overarching aim: Shaping the future of this industry.

Panel Fabian

With the video game industry, professional or casual, being the fastest growing entertainment industry in the world Saudi Arabia has made it his goal to lead the way and is already one of the big players in this market. Guided by Saudi Arabias Vision2030 the Saudi Esports Federation (SEF) is leading the way in revolutionizing the worldwide conception of the industry. We got the chance to speak to some of the SEF representatives and gathered an exclusive outlook into the future of gaming in Saudi-Arabia.

Where do you see esports evolving throughout the next years?

“Personally, I believe, in 5 years from now esports is going to be one of the top 2, if not 1, sports worldwide.” This determined answer by Faisal Binhomran, Head of Esports SEF, is not only an assumption but a goal the industry should focus on. Leaders like Faisal Binhomran are for sure paving the way into this direction.

Interview SEF

Why will Saudi Arabia be leading the future of gaming?

Omar Batterjee, Director of Corporate Communications & Public Relations at SEF gave us two answers to this question:

The economic answer: “We have all these facilities; we have all these programs – if you are from anywhere in the world, you can come and will find a lot of programs to help you.” The emotional answer: “Would you not want to be in a place with such ambition? We are not here to do one or two games; we are here to change the game!”

So why is Saudi-Arabia the future of gaming? (Our view)

Concluding you can say that the success of Saudi-Arabia in the gaming and esports industry has a mixture of reasons:

An overarching vision where they see the industry going, a well-structured multi-year plan, the willingness to invest time and resources in the market and most importantly the passion and fire we saw in the eyes of every SEF representative when talking about the future of gaming.

Pannel Danny Tang
Lars Levinger

Bullied by everyone for playing boomer-games but jokes on them I can do more push-ups than all of them so I legally own this company....