RIYADH: Artificial intelligence is becoming a central force in Saudi Arabia’s rapidly expanding gaming and esports sector, shaping everything from game development and publishing to player analysis and competitive tournaments.
As Saudi Arabia accelerates its ambitions under Vision 2030, AI is increasingly being deployed not only as a technology tool but also as a strategic driver of industry growth and global competitiveness.
Saudi Arabia is integrating AI across studios, publishing platforms, and esports operations to improve efficiency, expand local content production, attract international investment, and streamline tournament management. The broader goal is to position Saudi Arabia not only as one of the world’s largest gaming markets, but also as a global hub for gaming development and esports infrastructure.
According to Saudi Arabia’s National Gaming and Esports Strategy, Saudi Arabia is home to more than 23.5 million gamers, approximately 67 percent of the population. Market revenue is projected to reach $1.36 billion by 2026. By 2030, the sector aims to contribute more than 50 billion riyals to the national GDP and create around 39,000 jobs.
Women make up 42 percent of gamers and 18 percent of esports players, the highest participation rates in the region.
The Public Investment Fund, through its games division, Savvy Games Group, has invested billions of dollars in game studios, publishers, and esports platforms around the world. The investment aims to strengthen local content production while attracting developers and investors from around the world to Saudi Arabia.
innumbers
23.5 million Gamers in Saudi Arabia account for approximately 67% of the population
$1.36 billion Revenue the Saudi gaming market is expected to reach by 2026
50 billion riyals The amount the gaming and esports sector aims to add to GDP to create 39,000 jobs by 2030
A Savvy Games Group spokesperson told Arab News that AI is already integrated across the company’s portfolio, particularly within the ESL FACEIT Group.
“AI is used throughout our business. At ESL FACEIT Group, AI is already integrated into our operations, particularly in data analysis and fair play,” a spokesperson told Arab News. “For example, EFG uses Minerva, an AI-powered moderation system that identifies and mitigates harmful and abusive behavior by analyzing player communication and behavior patterns at scale. This enables faster and more consistent decision-making and helps create a healthier competitive environment for players.”
But the spokesperson said AI itself does not automatically create a competitive advantage.
“AI tools are becoming increasingly accessible to studios everywhere. This means that AI tools themselves do not have a competitive advantage,” a spokesperson told Arab News. “This advantage comes from how clearly studios define their use cases and how effectively they apply AI to support their goals.”
For Saudi studios seeking a global audience, understanding how AI systems produce results is also critical to maintaining the cultural accuracy and relevance of game content.
Within development studios, AI helps accelerate production while reducing costs. AI-powered tools can help with concept art, 3D modeling, animation, and world design, and automated testing systems can simulate thousands of gameplay scenarios to identify bugs and balance issues before release.
For example, Steer Studios is applying AI to its asset creation and testing workflows. By automating repetitive tasks, creative teams can spend more time on storytelling, gameplay design, and world-building, the key elements that distinguish successful games.
AI is also playing a key role in localizing content for Arabic-speaking audiences. Studios such as Fahy Studios, Starvania Studio, and Lobah Game Studio are using AI for dialogue generation, translation, and other localization tasks, helping Saudi-developed games reach global markets faster without losing their cultural context.
For live service and mobile games, keeping players engaged is critical to long-term revenue. AI systems track player behavior in real-time, adjust difficulty, improve matchmaking systems, and personalize the in-game experience.
Publishing platforms like Nine66 and Sandsoft also rely on AI-driven analytics to support developers. These tools help predict player lifetime value, optimize marketing campaigns, and manage online gaming communities.
“Our approach is closely aligned with KSA’s focus on digital transformation, innovation and long-term capacity building under Vision 2030,” a Savvy Games Group spokesperson told Arab News. “We believe AI is an enabler of productivity, operational efficiency, and ecosystem sustainability.”
The spokesperson added that partnerships, including one with Humane, will enable the Saudi company to explore scalable and responsible AI applications across its studios.
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“We take a pragmatic approach,” a spokesperson told Arab News. “We are focused on technology that delivers real benefits. The AI solutions we use must improve efficiency and make daily work easier.”
Artificial intelligence is also transforming the esports ecosystem.
Esports Infra — a platform created by Singapore-based Samarium in partnership with Saudi AI company Wakeb — is designed to streamline management for players, teams, and content creators.
“Esports is suffering from fragmentation,” Jonas Moaz, founder of Esports Infrastructure, told Arab News. “Talented players often don’t have a clear path to professional success. Organizations have a hard time finding players, and content creators lack the tools to connect with their audiences.”
The platform uses machine learning to categorize a player’s skill level, computer vision to analyze gameplay, and predictive analytics to predict growth potential.
“We expect to increase the efficiency of building esports organizations by up to 50 percent, especially in talent discovery and time management,” Moaz told Arab News.
In addition to player analytics, the platform helps with scheduling, contract management, and sponsorship evaluation, giving teams and brands clearer insight into performance and commercial value.
Despite the growing role of AI, its use in esports competition itself remains highly regulated. Organizations such as the International Esports Federation prohibit AI from influencing live matches.
“We fully respect those regulations,” Moaz told Arab News. “Our tools support analytics, but they don’t play for the players. The AI works outside of game time, or as a statistics layer.”
Protecting player data and ensuring fairness remains a key priority for developers and platform providers.
“This is a top priority for us,” Moaz told Arab News. “Player data is encrypted and used only to improve your experience. To ensure fairness, we regularly audit our algorithms to prevent bias.”
Saudi Arabia’s gaming sector is steadily evolving from a consumer-driven market to a hub for game production and esports infrastructure. AI is embedded throughout this transformation, from accelerating game development and localization to analyzing player behavior to professionalizing competitive games.
If the goals outlined in Vision 2030 are achieved, AI will play a decisive role in not only improving industry operations but also enabling Saudi Arabia to compete globally in a field increasingly driven by data, efficiency and advanced technology.
