What you’ll learn from this report:
The gaming industry in the MENA-3 region has experienced significant growth over the past few years, and video game revenue is projected to add $1 billion since 2022 by 2027 to surpass $2.65 billion. Fueled by increasing public and private investment in the games industry, high disposable income, and rising demand from its young population, MENA has quickly emerged as a notable region to watch in the global video games industry. This report is an essential guide to navigate your way in three leading markets in the region: Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Egypt.
This third annual MENA-3 video games market report includes a comprehensive market model and 5-year forecast through 2027 by games segment with key data on game publishers, games rankings, growth drivers, and trends. This includes detailed breakdowns for esports, product distribution, payments, financial transaction events, and regulations as well as qualitative and quantitative analysis on gamer demand, spending, and behavior, based on our survey of 1,160 gamers across the three countries.
Key takeaways from the analysis:
- The MENA-3 video game market generated total revenue of $1.92 billion in 2023, up 7.8% YoY, rising to $2.65 billion in 2027 at a 5-year CAGR of 8.2%. Games markets in all 3 countries we track grew in 2023.
- Total number of gamers reached 68.4 million in 2023, up 2.9% YoY, rising to 79.6 million in 2027 (5-year CAGR 3.7%).
- 71.5% of gamers in MENA-3 engage with esports in some capacity such as watching esports content, playing esports games, or competing in amateur or professional tournaments. Government support for esports is a major growth driver in the region.
- Saudi Arabia (KSA) is the largest market by games revenue in MENA-3 and is considered the gaming powerhouse of the region, generating more than half the regional revenue in 2023.
- Smartphones are both the most used devices for playing games in MENA-3 (87.2% of gamers) and have the highest average hours played each week (8.7 hours).
- The top 3 most played IPs in the MENA-3 region (PUBG, EA Sports FC, and Call of Duty) are played by two-thirds of all gamers, based on the survey results.
Table of Contents
- Report Highlights
- Market Size, Forecast, and Macroeconomic Trends
- Regional Overview
- Gamer Behavior and Survey Results
- Mobile Games Market
- PC Games Market
- Console Games Market
- Internet Cafes
- Esports and Livestreaming
- Infrastructure, Network and Technology
- Localization and Payments
- Regulations and M&A
- Other MENA Markets
- Appendix (Methodology, Genre List and Glossary)
List of Exhibits
- Exhibit 1: Saudi Arabia male to female ratio
- Exhibit 2: UAE male to female ratio
- Exhibit 3: Egypt to male to female ratio
- Exhibit 4: Gamers demographics
- Exhibit 5: Occupation of MENA-3 Gamers by market
- Exhibit 6: Salary of MENA-3 gamers across all markets
- Exhibit 7: Average hours per week
- Exhibit 8: MENA-3 gamers device ownership
- Exhibit 9: Top IPs in MENA Across All Platforms
- Exhibit 10: Time spent on video games per week
- Exhibit 11: Amount spent on video games per month
- Exhibit 12: Reason for spending in Mobile games
- Exhibit 12: Mobile Games in-game items purchase
- Exhibit 13: Smartphone brand for gaming
- Exhibit 14: Tablet brand for gaming
- Exhibit 15: Smartphone store for gaming
- Exhibit 16: Tablet store for gaming
- Exhibit 17: Most played PC Games in MENA-3
- Exhibit 18: Sources for obtaining new PC game info
- Exhibit 19: Time spent on PC Games per week in Saudi Arabia
- Exhibit 20: Time spent on PC Games per week in UAE
- Exhibit 21: Time spent on PC Games per week in Egypt
- Exhibit 22: Money spent on PC Games in Egypt
- Exhibit 23: Money spent on PC Games in UAE
- Exhibit 24: Money spent on PC Games in Saudi Arabia
- Exhibit 25: Items purchased in PC Games in Egypt
- Exhibit 26: Items purchased in PC Games in UAE
- Exhibit 27: Items purchased in PC Games in Saudi Arabia
- Exhibit 28: Desktop brand for gaming
- Exhibit 29: Laptop brand for gaming
- Exhibit 30: PC Store by user share
- Exhibit 31: PC Store by average downloads
- Exhibit 32: Console ownership in MENA-3
- Exhibit 33: Console games purchased per year in MENA-3
- Exhibit 34: Time spent playing console games in Egypt
- Exhibit 35: Time spent playing console games in UAE
- Exhibit 36: Time spent playing console games in Saudi Arabia
- Exhibit 37: Average spend per month on console games in UAE
- Exhibit 38: Average spend per month on console games in Egypt
- Exhibit 39: Average spend per month on console games in Saudi Arabia
- Exhibit 40: Reason to spend money on Console IAP
- Exhibit 41: Sources for obtaining console game info
- Exhibit 42: Next console purchase
- Exhibit 43: Most used console game subscription services
- Exhibit 44: Internet cafe usage
- Exhibit 45: Favorite place for gaming
- Exhibit 46: Primary reason for attending internet cafes
- Exhibit 47: Gamers8 Awareness among gamers
- Exhibit 48: Esports engagement in MENA-3
- Exhibit49: Platforms for watching gaming content
- Exhibit 50: Hours per week watching game related content
- Exhibit 51: Awareness of video game related technology/concepts
- Exhibit 52: Interest in video game related technology/concepts
- Exhibit 53: Text voice localization priority
- Exhibit 54: Playing online/social games preferences
- Exhibit 55: voice chat usage preferences
Companies Mentioned
- Acer
- Activision Blizzard
- AD Gaming
- Advanced Initiative Company (AIC)
- Aman
- Amanotes
- Animoca Brands
- Apple
- Applovin Corp
- Artisan Studio
- Asteer Entertainment
- Asus
- Azur Interactive Games
- Bandai Namco
- Bathesda
- Bigo.Live
- Blacknut
- BME
- Bungie
- Bytedance
- Century Games
- Continental investment
- Dell
- Dream Games
- Electronic Arts
- ELEX
- Epic Games
- Falafel Games
- Farcana
- Fawry
- Fenbishi Capital
- Funplus
- Galactech
- GAM3S.GG
- Gameberry Labs
- Gametion Global
- Garena Games Online
- GB Arena
- Hexacore
- Honor
- Hoplay
- HP
- HTC VIVE
- Huawei
- Huuuge Games SP
- Infinix
- Instapay
- Kakao Entertainment
- Kamagames
- KFC Middle East
- Konami
- Kooapps
- Last Resort esports
- Lenovo
- Level Infinate
- LG
- Likecard
- Lilith Games
- Manga Productions
- Mango
- Mashreq Bank
- Master Card
- Mayaslward
- Mechanism Capital
- Meta
- Microsoft
- Miniclip
- Moon Active
- MSI
- Natify
- NEOM
- Nexon
- Nifty Crafts
- Nimo TV
- Nine66
- Nintendo
- Nuqtah
- ONEMT
- Oneplus
- OPPO
- Outfit7
- Pixoul Gaming
- Planet X
- Playtrix
- Poco
- Proxy Planet
- Public Investment Fund
- Qiddiah
- Rababa Games
- Raidan Arc
- Razer
- Realme
- REKT Studios
- Remal Information Technology
- Remedy Entertainment
- Roblox Corporation
- Robocom VR
- Samsung
- Sand Soft Games
- Saudi National Development Fund
- Saudia Airlines
- Savvy games Group
- SAWA Group
- Saygames
- Scalo technologies
- Scoplay
- Skgames
- Social Development Bank of Saudi Arabia
- Sony
- STC
- STC Play
- Stillfront Group
- Superscell
- SUPERSONIC STUDIOS
- Take- Two Interactive
- Tamatem Games
- Telecom Egypt
- Tencent
- The Tiny Digital Factory
- Timi Studios
- True Gamers
- Twitch
- Ubisoft
- Unity
- VIVO
- Voodoo
- VOV Gaming
- VSPO
- Wildlife Studios
- Xiaomi
- Yalla Technology
- Yavy Games
- Youtube
- ZTE
