Saudi Arabia recently announced an esports city planned to be built in capital city Riyadh and is expected to have a budget of over $500 million. This comes as another of the major announcements since Saudi has already started preparations to become a major video-game hub for the world.
The announcement was done by CEO of Saudi Arabia Holding Co, Mohammed AlQahtani, who revealed their plans to build a city-within-a-city in Riyadh. The project is expected to finish sometime in 2024 and plans on hosting several major esports tournaments and attract esports players. As per reports, the newly built esports city is expected to have a 20,000 spectator capacity.
“The esports city is expected to attract major esports teams and players from around the world. It will also provide a platform for local talent to develop and compete on the global stage,” AlQahtani said in a statement as quoted by talkesport.
🇸🇦 Here we go again.
Saudi Arabia has announced the creation of an esports city within Riyadh !
This city-within-a-city is a mega esports project that is estimated around
500,000,000 USD 🤯The Riyadh esports city aims to foster the growth of local talent while also… pic.twitter.com/xcpApVJXth
— BassyS 🇲🇦 (@BassySaad) June 18, 2023
Saudi to invest heavily in esports projects
Saudi Arabian government themselves is also heavily focusing on the esports aspect and recently announced to invest around $38 billion in the sector to become one of the major gaming hub around the world.
The country is investing in firms that are aiming for the growth of esports talent in the region. The earlier investment was done in Savvy Games Group (SGG) who is overseeing the development of high-quality AAA games.
SGG has also acquired ESL and Faceit, one of the biggest esports organizer and community. Saudi has already hosted many esports events to kick off this year. The qualifier for upcoming 15th World Esports Championships (WEC) in Iași, Romania are also being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Both Male and Female India CS:GO roster have already secured a spot in the upcoming qualifiers that will be held from July 10-17 and will have to face teams around the world to secure a spot for the grand finals.