DUBAI: Spotify has joined Insomnia, Egypt’s biggest gaming festival, as its official audio streaming partner for this year’s event, which takes place in Cairo from Feb. 16 to 18.
Nicole Aoun, Spotify’s marketing manager for the Middle East and North Africa region, told Arab News: “We aim to always be our listeners’ audio companion. So, when you think gaming, you think music — the perfect company.”
Spotify and Insomnia have co-curated an official playlist for this year, which features 50 tracks, as part of the partnership. Digital creator Marwan Serry and gaming video creators Marwan Rehan and Bugza will take over the official playlist during the three-day gaming festival.
Additionally, Spotify has created a new playlist “Gamers Clan,” especially for Egypt’s gaming community.
Aoun added: “Knowing gamers’ love for local hip-hop, we put together custom-made playlists for the tournament and the Egyptian community to elevate their gaming experience.”
Currently valued at $1.78 billion, the gaming market in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt is expected to reach $3.14 billion by 2025, according to the “Middle East North Africa Games Market” report.
Egypt was reported to be the largest market among the three countries, based on the number of gamers.
Music is the soulmate of games for this community, with Spotify witnessing a 279 percent increase in video music streaming among the gaming community in Egypt between 2019 and 2022, and a 61 percent increase in the last year alone.
Egypt also ranks among the top 10 countries in the MENA region to stream video game soundtracks.
Nicole Aoun, Spotify’s marketing manager for MENA. (Supplied)
Aoun said: “How many times have we imagined ourselves in a situation and added a soundtrack to it in our heads?
“It’s natural for us to dream of live audio experiences to enhance the moments we’re experiencing, and the same goes for gaming and music.”
With music being such an essential part of the gaming experience, event organizer BME has released an official anthem for the festival called “GG,” which is an abbreviation of the gaming phrase “good game.”
Featuring some of Egypt’s most popular artists, Abo El Anwar, Ahmed Santa and Lil Baba, the anthem first dropped on Spotify before being released on other platforms.
Aoun added: “It is wonderful to see the gaming scene in Egypt gain momentum, and our partnership with Insomnia Egypt is a celebration of the country’s growing and diverse gaming community.
“The beauty of Spotify in this scenario is that you can get the soundtrack for your gaming experience in real time with our playlists.”
