What you’ll learn from this report:

This is Niko Partners’ second annual report covering the MENA (Middle East North Africa) region. The MENA games market has quickly emerged as a key growth region for the global video game industry.

To provide a representative overview of Arabic speaking markets, the report focuses on what we call the MENA-3: Saudi Arabia (KSA), the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Egypt. The report includes a comprehensive market model and 5-year forecast through 2026 by games segment, key data on game publishers, games rankings, growth drivers, and trends. This includes details on esports, product distribution, payments, financial transaction events, regulations, and qualitative and quantitative analysis on gamer demand, spending, and behavior, with gamer behavior based off a survey of 1,126 gamers across the three countries.

هذا التقرير متوفر باللغة الإنجليزية. إذا كنت مهتم بالحصول على نسخة باللغة العربية برجاء التواصل معنا.

PUBLISHED JANUARY 2023

$10,000

Key takeaways from the analysis:

  • MENA-3 games revenue is estimated to be $1.8 billion in 2022 rising to $2.8 billion in 2026 at a 5-year CAGR of nearly 10%, and 56% higher than the value at the end of 2022
  • MENA-3 gamers are estimated to number 67.4 million in 2022, rising to 87.3 million in 2026 at a 5-year CAGR of nearly 6% indicating ARPU will rise over time
  • Egypt has the largest gaming population and is the fastest growing market in the MENA-3 region. Saudi Arabia is the largest market by games revenue and is considered the gaming powerhouse of the region, while the UAE has the highest ARPU of the three markets
  • Growth will be driven by mobile gaming, public and private sector investment and esports, and likely to catapult the region alongside global esports giants such as Singapore and China
  • 76% of gamers in the MENA-3 region are under the age of 35, with Egypt having a significantly higher percentage of gamers under 25 years old—who are considered digital natives—compared to Saudi Arabia and UAE
  • 73% 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

What’s included:

  • A comprehensive market model and 5-year forecast through 2026 by games segment
  • Qualitative and quantitative analysis on gamer demand, behavior, and usage for mobile, PC, and console games, hardware, and accessories
  • Growth drivers and trends
  • Spotlights on Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Egypt
  • Top games and game rankings
  • Game publishers
  • Gamer demand, spending, influences, and behavior
  • Distribution
  • Payments
  • Esports
  • Hardware and accessories
  • M&A activity
  • Internet cafes
  • Regulations
  • 101 slides
  • 34 exhibits

Report contents:

  • Report Highlights
  • Video Games & Esports Overview
  • Market Model Overview
  • Regional Overview
  • MENA-3 Market Model
  • Growth Drivers
  • Growth Inhibitors
  • Saudi Arabia Overview
  • Saudi Arabia 2022 Highlight
  • Saudi Arabia Market Size and Forecast
  • UAE Overview
  • UAE 2022 Highlight
  • UAE Market Size and Forecast
  • Egypt Overview
  • Egypt 2022 Highlight
  • Egypt Market Size and Forecast
  • Gamer Survey Demographics
  • Gender & Age
  • Job & Salary
  • Gaming Time
  • Mobile Games Market
  • Overview
  • Market Model
    • Saudi Arabia
    • UAE
    • Egypt
  • Top Games
    • Saudi Arabia
    • UAE
    • Egypt
  • Top Mobile Games Publishers
    • Saudi Arabia
    • UAE
    • Egypt
  • Top Games and Genres
  • Time Spent for Gaming
  • Preferred Payment Method for IAP
  • Purchase Influences
  • Types of IAP Purchased
  • Purchase Drivers
  • Preferred App for Game Downloads
  • PC Games Market
  • Overview
  • Market Model
    • Saudi Arabia
    • UAE
    • Egypt
  • Top Genres
  • Time Spent for Gaming
  • Preferred Payment Method for IAP
  • Spending Behavior
  • Purchase Drivers
  • Purchase Influences
  • Preferred Game Distribution Platform
  • Console Games Market
  • Overview
  • Market Model
    • Saudi Arabia
    • UAE
    • Egypt
  • Top Games
  • Time Spent for Gaming
  • Spending Behavior
  • Type of Console Owned
  • Internet Cafes
  • Overview
  • Visitation Frequency and Drivers
  • Hours Spent Playing by Location
  • Reasons for Internet Cafe Gaming
  • Esports and Livestreaming
  • Overview
  • Growth Drivers
  • Engagement with Esports
  • Top Platforms for Gaming Content and Livestreaming
  • Time Spent for Viewing Gaming Content and Livestreaming
  • Hardware, Network and Technology
  • Gaming Hardware, Network and Infrastructure
  • Popular PC Brands
  • Popular Smartphone Brands
  • Cloud Gaming Experience
  • Investment in New Technologies
  • Interest in New Technologies
  • Localization and Payments
  • Localization and Culturalization in MENA-3
  • Attitude towards Video Game Localization
  • Attitude towards Online Gaming and Using Voice Chat
  • Payment Options in MENA-3
  • Regulations & M&A
  • Saudi Arabia’s Regulatory Environment
  • Game Approval Regulations in Saudi Arabia and UAE
  • UAE’s Regulatory Environment
  • Egypt’s Regulatory Environment
  • M&A and Investment Activity in MENA-3 2021-2022
  • Appendix (Methodology, Genre List and Glossary)

Companies mentioned in the report:

Asus

Acer

Activision Blizzard

Alienware

Amanotes

Amazon

American Express

Apple

AppLovin Corp

Bandai Namco

BME

BOOYAH

Capcom

Dell

Dream Games

Du Telecom

Electronic Arts

Electronic Gaming Development Company (EGDC)

Embracer Group

Epic Games

ESL

Etisalat by e&

FACEIT

Fujitsu

FunPlus

Galagtech

Galaxy Racer

Gameberry Labs

Gametion

Garena / Sea

GB Arena

Geekay

Google

Honor

HP

Huawei

IGG

Infinix

Jawaker

Koei Tecmo

Kooapps

Krafton

Lenovo

LG

Lilith Games

Long Tech

Master Card

Meta

Miniclip (Sybo)

Mobily

Moon Active

MSI

NCSoft

Nexon

Nimo TV

Nintendo

Nokia

Noon

ONEMT

ONESOFT Global

Oppo

Orange

Outfit7

Playrix

PlayStation

Quint

Razer

Riot Games

River Games

Roblox Corp

ROG

Royex Metaverse

Samsung

Sand Soft Games

Savvy Games Group

Sawa Game

SayGames

SNK

Sony

Spoilz Games

STC

Stillfront Group

Suffescom Solutions

Supercell

Supersonic Studios

Take Two

Tamatem

Telecom Egypt

Tencent

The Tiny Digital Factory

Twitch

TwoFour54

Ubisoft

Unity

Valve (Steam)

Virgin Mobile

Vivo

Vodafone

Xiaomi

Yalla Technology

YouTube

Zain Telecom