RIYADH — Figures issued by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology show that 48 percent of the Kingdom’s gamers are women.

With 23.5 million gamers in Saudi Arabia – nearly 70 percent of the Kingdom’s population – the popularity and potential of the gaming and esports sector in the Kingdom is enormous.

In addition, research produced this summer from consultants Redseer indicated that 69 percent of online women in the Kingdom are gamers – one percent more than their male counterparts.

With gaming consumption in Saudi Arabia projected to reach $6.8 billion by 2030, up from $959 million in 2020 according to a Boston Consulting Group report, the nation’s women will play a huge part in that figure being met.

Ghada Almoqbel, owner and CEO of GCON, which stands for Girls Convention, the first convention for women in gaming and esports in the Kingdom, has witnessed firsthand the rise of Saudi women in the industry. Set up in 2012, annual GCON conventions now attract around 20,000 female attendees.

Almoqbel said: “GCON contributes to building the gaming ecosystem by managing projects in the entertainment, game development, and esports sectors. Our focus is on being an ecosystem catalyst and community lead. We aim to make a change in the industry through our research and understanding of the community and, furthermore, we focus on empowering and supporting women in the gaming and esports industry.”

On Wednesday, a Devs Talk event will be held at Alfaisal University in Riyadh as part of Gamers8, the biggest esports and gaming event worldwide.

The Devs Talk panel event will be held under the title ‘The Art Behind Music Composing in Video Games’ and features David Wise, the British video game music composer and musician. Wise gained a following for his work on games such as Nintendo's Donkey Kong Country series and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

Almoqbel said: “We are delighted to be working with Alfaisal University under Gamers8 to organize this Devs Talk event. Devs Talk is a regular GCON event that provides both educational and social platforms to game developers through a panel about different subjects on game development. It also stands as an exhibition to showcase the works of everyone in the game development scene – be they programmers, designers, voice actors, artists, or many more.” — SG