With Call of Duty fan Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed pouring US$38 billion into video game development, esports festival offers training

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said to be an avid player of Call of Duty, is investing US$38 billion to transform Saudi Arabia into a games developer

Gamers8, an eight-week festival of esports tournaments with US$45 million in prizes, is drawing young Saudis keen to learn coding and game animation skills

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Saudi Arabia is determined to become a centre for video games development, investing billions to attract and train coders and animators to create games that promote “Saudi and Arabic culture”. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:15pm, 7 Sep 2023Updated: 4:21pm, 7 Sep 2023

Young Saudis wander through a museum of video game history stretching from the original Pac-Man to PlayStation 5, a project intended to inspire them to create their own blockbuster titles.

The display of consoles and arcade machines from the past half-century is part of Gamers8, an eight-week festival of esports tournaments in the Gulf kingdom’s capital, Riyadh, with a prize pool totalling US$45 million.

Saudi Arabia has made no secret of its passion for gaming and esports, which is believed to come from the very top, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said to be an avid Call of Duty player.

Last year, the 38-year-old de facto ruler announced a US$38 billion investment strategy for the oil-rich kingdom’s Savvy Games Group, owned by the deep-pocketed Public Investment Fund.

People visit a display of video game history, part of Gamers8, an eight-week festival of eSports tournaments in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in August 2023. Photo: AFP

As it gathers momentum, the national gaming and esports strategy is placing growing emphasis on local game production, vowing in its official document to turn the kingdom into “an Eden for game developers” that can produce new titles “promoting Saudi and Arabic culture”.