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Doha: With a tech-savvy young population, the gaming market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is a booming sector, especially in the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) countries.
The market is expected to register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.88% between 2022-2027, reaching over $5bn by 2025.
In the GCC, more than half the population is under 30 years, according to statistics, and there is a visible opportunity to create localised gaming content. No doubt, Saudi Arabia is the biggest market in the region, with a gaming portfolio valued at around $1bn in 2021. Regardless, the investments by other countries like Qatar and the UAE have also seen participation in e-sports increase.
Besides, the projected rise in revenue and value draws more intentional players, publishers and development companies, local telecommunications companies, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders to the region.
In Qatar, establishing the Qatar E-Sports Federation under the QOC umbrella has further accelerated the country’s growth in the sector. Additionally, centres like Virtuocity and Gaming District by Quests Esports and the investment by telecoms giant Ooredoo via its Ooredoo Nation platform have increased the sector’s popularity.
“Gaming is huge in the Middle East, especially in the Gulf region,” Bachar Al Kayal, a gamer and Youtuber popularly known as ‘Basharkk’, told The Peninsula. He has nearly 1.5 million subscribers and over 150 million total views on his gaming channel on Youtube. According to Basharkk, a large part of the population born in the 1980s grew up with gaming.
“If you look at the biggest YouTube channels in the Middle East, almost all are gaming channels. Also, in the last couple of years, many gaming tournaments/championships have been held in the Middle East. So, I would say, gaming is huge in the region, and many companies realise that, and they are starting to focus more on the region.”
According to reports, the MENA region’s domestic market is the fastest growing globally, with over 377 million estimated players – almost as many as Europe combined (386 million) and more than America (210 million). Despite the numbers, Basharkk insists many things could be done to make the sport more mainstream in the region.
“The most important thing is to make video games available to everyone and on every platform. One way is making more ‘Free to play’ video games. There are many great games in the industry, but almost all are behind a paywall, limiting the game’s popularity,” Basharkk said.
He cited an example of the popular game Fortnite, launched in 2017 by Epic Games. The free-to-play game saw its stock grow and is now one of the biggest games ever, with over 350 million registered users in 2020, rising to 400 million by 2021.
Yet, for all its promises, gaming usually gets a bad rap in the region. The older generation sometimes sees it as unproductive or an unserious profession, with some cases of addiction also recorded. Another issue is the need for more localised games. Many games are tailored to the West and other parts of Asia with content that may not be suitable to the Middle East culture.
“There are, of course, instances where excessive gaming becomes a problem, and cases of addiction are not unheard of,” Basharkk noted, adding that it is a constructive and safe pastime in most cases.
On the average income a professional gamer can make, Basharkk stressed there is no stable income, but it depends on how many tournaments a gamer participates in and how many they would win.
“However, a professional gamer can always make an income from other ways, such as streaming and making videos on YouTube. A successful streamer or a YouTuber could make between $1,000 to $20,000 every month,” he disclosed.
