Saudi Arabia's plan to become the crown prince of gaming - The Verge

Hosted by the Saudi Esports Federation, Next World Forum is a gaming and esports ecosystem gathering place designed to focus on the new horizons and opportunities around the burgeoning esports economy and gaming as the fastest growing media sub-sector globally. With distinct yet integrated ecosystems, gaming and esports are combining to present a sector that offers both rich opportunities for industry and governments – but also new expectations from gamers around business models.

The Forum also features a series of activations, bilateral meetings, and the game-changing opportunities that exist to fast-track sector growth through investment and collaboration, across two days.

With avowed ‘massive gamer’ Mohammed bin Salman at the helm, the kingdom’s insatiable appetite and bottomless riches are already remaking the global video game industry.

By Lewis Gordon

Dec 1, 2023, 8:00 AM PST

The spending spree isn’t limited to sports. In recent years, Saudi Arabia has invested in movies, establishing the Red Sea International Film Festival. The country hosts — in what feels like the final boss of late-stage capitalism — pay-per-view WWE events. Then there are video games, a global industry worth $187 billion that the kingdom is intent on muscling its way into, but with perhaps not quite the equivalent, naked levels of aggression that it has shown toward sports.