The Middle East’s gaming market is growing fast and in Abu Dhabi, new initiatives are incentivizing international esports organizations to shift to the Emirates’ capital.

Abu Dhabi

The Middle East, particularly Abu Dhabi, is emerging as a significant hub for esports organizations due to its high digital penetration, youthful population, and robust growth in the gaming sector. The region's gaming market is projected to grow at 9.4% annually through 2030, with the Middle East and Africa showing the highest year-on-year growth rates globally.

Organizations such as Nygma Galaxy and Ninjas in Pyjamas have relocated their headquarters to Abu Dhabi, citing supportive government initiatives and advanced infrastructure as key factors. These organizations are also engaging with local educational institutions and communities to promote esports as a viable career path, further fueling the sector's expansion in the region.

Why esports organizations are shifting to Abu Dhabi

This region is known for high mobile and digital penetration rates and its youthful population, which makes it a hotbed for gamers and publishers alike. In the Middle East, the gaming market is expected to grow at a rate of 9.4% from 2024 to 2030. In many of the sporting spheres, in many of the major events, the Middle East is punching well above its weight in terms of representation on the global scale. In Saudi Arabia, we are seeing this in real time as the Esports World Cup grows larger every year. We ran a survey across 22 countries in the region that covered Saudi Arabia and the UAE and the survey touched upon key statistics for individuals engaging in the Esports sector, engaging in gaming. There was a positive growth on every single metric over the last two years, whether that's in terms of those that understand what Esports is, those that watch Esports, those that participate in Esports. This change in the United Arab Emirates could be credited to a number of new gaming initiatives, especially in its capital Abu Dhabi. Compared to the West or any other country here in the UAE, things are a little bit different. When for example the leadership tries to do specific projects or things, they take their time actually. They have gaming initiatives like Abu Dhabi Gaming, they were able to set up a framework to support this eco-gaming system here in this country. Thanks to them, we were actually able to come here to set up our HQ and grow here as an Esports organisation. With professional gamers playing Dota 2, Nygma Galaxy moved to Abu Dhabi in 2022 and established this gaming cafe and training facility soon after. Nygma Galaxy is a global Esports organisation that competes internationally while also trying to focus here in the UAE and Abu Dhabi to facilitate and enhance educational aspects when it comes to gaming and Esports. For example, we are talking with specific schools throughout Abu Dhabi, Cranleigh and the West US American Academy to fit out their IT rooms. I think here people are way more open to gaming, especially here in our gaming facility. We see it all the time, parents come in with their kids to see is there actually any kind of career path in gaming, they are asking questions. While over half of the world's gamers come from the Asia-Pacific region, interestingly the Middle East and Africa sees the largest growth rates and expected 8.2% year-on-year increase. What is the potential for growth for gaming and Esports in the Middle East compared to what we're seeing globally? Do you think this is going to be a hub? Absolutely. There's so many young people. I've been trying to go to events and places where I can interact with young people and they're so hungry. They're hungry to learn, to know, to find out, to understand. Go to B! Free shots! Free shots! Ninjas in Pyjamas is one of the world's most well-known Esports organisations. Earlier this year it also shifted its headquarters to Abu Dhabi. Ninjas in Pyjamas has business in China, Ninjas in Pyjamas has business in Europe, Latin America. How do you aggregate all of those time zones in the Middle East? To build an industry you need to build it in pillars. There's like the bottom which is like infrastructure. If you don't have the building, you don't have the computers, you don't have the high-speed internet, you don't have a place where the community gets together. So that is the type of place that we need to build in Abu Dhabi. Not because it doesn't exist, but it's because someone like us, who has been alive for 25 years, we can actually bring that. We can bring all the knowledge that we have and share it. Because that is the cool part about having all this access to all the wonderful things that we do, being able to share it.

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