DUBAI: Google has announced new programs that will see the company train game developers, students, content creators, and esports players in Saudi Arabia.
The training will be held in partnership with entities such as the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology’s Center for Digital Entrepreneurship, the GameFounders Program, the Ignite initiative, and the Saudi Esports Federation.
The Kingdom aims to create more than 39,000 jobs in game development, publishing, infrastructure, and other professions by 2030, according to Saudi Arabia’s National Gaming and Esports Strategy that was announced last year.
The Kingdom also aims to produce more than 30 competitive games in its studios while becoming one of the top three countries containing the highest number of professional esports players.
Anthony Nakache, Google’s managing director for the Middle East and North Africa, said: “There’s great momentum in building the local gaming ecosystem in Saudi Arabia, and we’re pleased to play our part in making this happen.”
Google’s training programs will support gaming talent in Saudi Arabia across development, publishing, distribution, and monetization.
Google Days for university students will see the company’s gaming experts and partners from the industry host training programs for over 250 students across Al-Ahsa, Abha, Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dammam from September, in partnership with CODE.
The programs will cover entrepreneurship strategies, gaming career opportunities, monetization through Google Ads solutions such as Performance Max and AdMob, and distribution best practices on Google products like Play, Cloud and YouTube.
Abdullah Alshamrani, general manager of CODE Centers, said: “The gaming industry in Saudi Arabia has tremendous potential for growth, and we are committed to supporting its development.”
Google will also hold workshops for game developers on topics such as Play’s pre-registration process that allows developers to understand demand as a result of pre-launch marketing efforts; setting benchmarks based on game genres and audience; and best practice for adverts.
Two of the initiatives will be hosted by YouTube, which has a strong gaming community. Total views for gaming-related content surpassed 2 trillion in 2022, and accounted for more than 500 million logged-in daily active viewers and over 120 billion hours of watch time on the platform as of December 2022, according to the company.
YouTube will host a workshop at the Saudi Esports Federation’s Gamers8 Conference for 50 Saudi-based creators and esports players.
It will focus on gaming content, channel optimization, audience development, and engagement with the gaming community on the platform.
It will also host a special “Ana Batala” session — part of the YouTube Batala program to empower female creators.
Google is set to host the first MENA Gaming Summit in Riyadh by the end of this year, bringing together experts, gaming veterans, investors and top regional talent.
The event will focus on industry trends, updates and best practices across Google Play, Ads, YouTube and Cloud, and aims to help build the gaming ecosystem in the Kingdom.
David Fernandez, CEO of Sandsoft, said that Google’s investment in local gaming talent “will provide an immeasurable boost, not only in terms of technical skill sets but also to self-belief and confidence.”
Yannick Theler, CEO of Savvy Games Studios, said that such initiatives “underline our commitment to making Saudi Arabia a global hub for games development, helping leading businesses such as Savvy Games Studios hire, train, and retain the brightest talent.”
