The Scene
Gaming is moving from the margins of Gulf marketing budgets toward the center. In Saudi Arabia, two-thirds of the population are active gamers and the state has committed more than $37 billion into games studios and esports through its Public Investment Fund-owned Savvy Games — including the Esports World Cup, currently being held in Paris. Numbers like that are persuading brands to start treating in-game ads and product placements as a serious channel rather than a spare-budget experiment.
The case is that gaming holds attention in ways other media no longer do, particularly “streamers” who can attract huge audiences while playing on platforms like Twitch or YouTube. Research firm Mordor Intelligence estimates the global in-game advertising market will be worth $131 billion this year, and could reach $217 billion by 2031 as brands shift budgets toward the immersive environments where young audiences spend their time.
Nabil Moutran, whose Dubai firm Division links brands with the region’s biggest players, paired the Saudi gamer ShongXBong with Nissan as a brand ambassador. The gamer integrates the company’s cars into his gameplay on a monthly, two-hour stream. In one instance, there was a 488% increase in applications for test drives on the day of the stream, Moutran told Semafor.
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Despite the large audiences — and some positive results — marketing spend in this area hasn’t reached the level of other advertising channels. Marketing teams are under pressure from their finance departments to deliver reliable, measurable returns and have little room to experiment. They “are very reluctant to look at new, innovative spaces,” said Moutran.
Gaming also rewards brands that stay: Players tend to embrace those that make a lasting commitment to the space and reject those that drop in purely to sell. “Don’t jump in and jump out. This has to be a strategic decision,” he adds. He credits Almarai, the Saudi dairy giant, with grasping that early; its head of marketing has said gaming ad spending in the region will grow twelvefold over the next decade.
Some are taking a long-term approach. According to Moutran, the luxury conglomerate LVMH and beauty brand Sephora are both courting gamers who cannot yet afford their products, on the basis that one day they will be able to and brand loyalty can be formed long before purchase.
Notable
- Gulf gamers spend big. The UAE’s average revenue per gamer hit $90 in 2025, among the world’s highest and ahead of Saudi Arabia’s $60, dwarfing Japan’s $11 and South Korea’s $30.