Gamers8 Putting KSA on the Esports Map

The Saudi Arabian Esports sector continues to grow in 2022, thanks to the ambitious National Gaming and Esports Strategy which was announced by the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and which aims to position Saudi Arabia as ‘the global hub’ for sports and gaming by 2030.

Gamers8, the global gaming and Esports festival, was held over the period of eight weeks during the summer of 2022.

As a result, Ipsos conducted this report by crawling of online social data using Ipsos’ social listening tool, Synthesio between 1st June – 10th September 2022. This report gauged the core online conversations people discussed, what aspects of the festival gained the highest attention and excitement and how is the event reshaping people’s perspective toward Saudi Arabia globally.

Gamers8 was established to bring the virtual world of gaming and Esports out into the physical realm of Riyadh, the festival featured competitive tournaments, entertainment, activities and attractions, incredible music concerts and shows, and more. The elite gaming competitions hosted the biggest Esports teams in the world across five different titles with a total prize pool of $15 million.