Saudi Arabia has emerged as the leader in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) digital entertainment sector, securing 58% of the region’s revenues in 2022. According to a report from the Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the kingdom generated $2.1 billion out of the Gulf region’s total $3.7 billion in digital entertainment revenues.
A key contributor to this growth is Saudi Arabia’s booming video game sector, which saw revenues soar to $1.75 billion in 2022. Mobile phone games accounted for 80% of the total video game sector’s revenues, making them the top-performing category.
The report also highlighted the sharp increase in video-on-demand (VOD) platform users in the kingdom, with 12.9 million users in 2022, up from 9.5 million in 2017. VOD services deliver video content, such as films and TV shows, directly to users on demand.
Saudi Arabia’s commitment to digital transformation and its support for emerging technologies are driving its competitiveness in the digital sector. The size of the Saudi communications and IT market reached $42 billion in 2022.
In addition to its growth in digital entertainment, Saudi Arabia hosted the 2024 Esports World Cup (EWC) in Riyadh in July. The event, which concluded on August 25, attracted hundreds of competitors vying for a record-breaking $60 million prize pool. The GCC region includes Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar.
