MENA
MENA is the one market in this directory that cannot be sized. No free source with a stated methodology puts a number on regional revenue, and the figures in circulation trace to paid vendors or to parties invested in the region's growth. Saudi Arabia, the largest market in scope, claims 23.5 million game enthusiasts, though that is the state's own count and enthusiast is undefined. What can be verified is ownership. The Public Investment Fund bought Scopely for 4.9 billion dollars in 2023 and completed a 55 billion dollar purchase of Electronic Arts in August 2026, and it funds and runs the Esports World Cup in Riyadh. Read English language coverage of this market as promotional until you have checked who paid for it.
Market size
23.5m Saudi game enthusiasts2022
The largest national market in scope is Saudi Arabia, where the National Gaming and Esports Strategy states a base of 23.5 million game enthusiasts, 67 percent of the population, at the strategy launch in September 2022. No free revenue figure meeting sourcing standards exists for the market.
Source Saudi National Gaming and Esports Strategy launch coverage, Sabq, Saudi news outlet
Each market states its size in its own currency, for its own year, and on its own definition of what counts, which is consumer spending in some and industry revenue in others. These ten figures cannot be compared with one another.
Player population
Not recorded
- Not recorded
Each figure comes from a different source, a different year, and a different definition of a player. The bars show rough scale only. No free source measures every market on one method.
Trends here
Trends tagged to this market come first. Most trends in games are global, and those apply here too.
- Regulation, safety & ageChild safety enforcement in game platformsThe defining child safety story in games right now, and the wedge that will push age verification from platform policy into binding law, hardware, and parental trust for years.Dominant
- Geography & powerGulf capital & the leveraged EA buyoutSovereign capital is now the industry's biggest single buyer, and it arrived leveraged. Ownership questions touch labor, esports, and content decisions across the West.Dominant
- Culture & audienceEsports after the reckoningTwo traps. First, 2019-2021 "next NBA" content is worthless — but so is 2023-2024 "esports winter" content, which describes a collapse that already resolved. Second, sovereign capital is now the ecosystem's floor, which makes Gulf geopolitics a scheduling risk: the inaugural Esports Nations Cup just slipped a full year. Fans read consolidation and IPOs as founder exits, not growth.Receding
Research yourself
2 of 2 sources
These rows
| Name | What it lets you find out | Type | Cost | Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Niko Partners (Niko IQ) | The specialist source for China, SEA, and MENA games markets, with informative free summaries. Paid reports are expensive and the free layer is summary-level. Also tracks Chinese publishing licence approvals and explains regulation for outside readers, which pairs with the NPPA primary source. Enterprise pricing is custom. Free blog summaries. | Market research firm | Paid | CN, MENA, Asia |
| Power League Gaming (+ PLG × Ipsos studies) | Agency research with Ipsos on KSA/UAE esports and viewing behavior. TikTok LIVE's official gaming broadcast partner for MENA, making it the closest thing to a primary-access creator source in-region. Agency self-interest, and studies are audience-side more than creator rankings | Creator tracking | Free | MENA |