Riyadh - Sharikat Mubasher: The gaming landscape in Saudi Arabia is experiencing a fundamental transformation fueled by a profound cultural embrace of gaming as a premier form of entertainment.

The Kingdom ranked first among regional gaming markets by value, with an annual spending of nearly $1 billion, and the highest average revenue per user (ARPU) of $393 in the Middle East, according to a recent study conducted by Galal & Karawi Management Consulting (G&K), in collaboration with Orient Planet Group.

The study showed that the Kingdom’s spending on video-on-demand services recorded $310 million, while expenditure on digital music reached nearly $140 million.

Within the categories analyzed, the Kingdom also accounted for about 69% of total consumer expenditure on digital media.

Asem Galal, Co-Founder of Galal & Karawi Management Consulting, stated that the findings highlight that the video games sector has become one of the key drivers of the content economy in the region, creating an integrated ecosystem of opportunities in design, storytelling, creative production, and digital marketing, along with virtual community management and intellectual property (IP) governance.

For his part, Nidal Abou Zaki, Managing Director of Orient Planet Group, commented: “The Arab world’s youth make the gaming industry more attractive and offer game publishers and content creators a significant competitive advantage on a global scale, as approximately 62.8% of the population is under 35.”

The study compiled data from accredited and reliable sources, most notably Statista and DataReportal, as well as key partners such as GSMA Intelligence and SimilarWeb. It focused on trends related to video games, video-on-demand, and digital music in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt.