Market firm forecasts growth of 7.7% in player spending to reach $3.48 billion by 2028
A new report from Niko Partners, in partnership with the Saudi Esports Federation, says that markets in the Gulf Cooperation Council accounted for $2.24 billion in player spending in the Middle East and North Africa last year.
The Localisation in the MENA Region white paper provides “insights about approaches to localisation” in MENA countries, with a specific focus on GGC markets which include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
The report forecast that the compound annual growth rate of player spending will grow by 7.7% to reach $3.48 billion in 2028, while the number of gamers is estimated to reach 38.9 million with a growth rate of 2.9%.
It also predicted that Saudi Arabia and the UAE will be the fastest growing markets by revenue, and “will account for nearly 80% of all player spending across all six markets”.
Conducted in December 2023, the report surveyed 1,225 respondents and found that the majority of gamers play games on smartphone devices (91.7%), followed by PC (61.9%), and console (55.3%).
Focusing on localisation, 41% of respondents said they “only play games with an Arabic localisation or are more likely to play games with localisation”, with more than a quarter (27.4%) stating that they’d
Game Industry
