Saudi Arabia Sees Rapid Growth in Game Development Talent, But Bridging the Gap to Sustainable Businesses Remains the Ultimate Test

Saudi Arabia has experienced a surge of interest and capability in game development, with modern tools and educational resources enabling even high school students across the Kingdom to build working platformers or animate 3D characters in a digital space. However, transforming individual creativity and raw technical talent into a self-sustaining commercial enterprise that can weather realistic, highly competitive market conditions remains an entirely different challenge.

Closing this critical divide is the core mission of the Level Up Accelerator, a 12-month development programme established by NEOM and supported by the esteemed DigiPen Institute of Technology. Now operating in its third successful cohort, the initiative has provided vital funding and mentorship to 15 homegrown Saudi studios to date.

Ahead of Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan, scheduled for November 7th and 8th, we sat down with DigiPen Institute senior executive Raymond Yan to discuss what the organization looks for when evaluating gaming startups. The conversation also explored why emerging Saudi studios must urgently begin thinking like traditional businesses, and what it will realistically take for the Kingdom to build a thriving, independent games industry run by its own people.

From Making Games to Building Companies

Over the past six years, DigiPen has maintained a consistent presence in the Kingdom, delivering specialized workshops, masterclasses, incubators, and comprehensive accelerator programmes. According to Yan, the caliber and seriousness of the local talent pool have evolved dramatically over that timeframe. Yet, as the technical hurdles of game creation diminish, the core obstacles have shifted toward commercial viability.

"There is still a significant gap between being able to make a game and being able to build a sustainable game company," Yan explains.

Moving past a polished prototype or a vertical slice requires a profound depth of operational experience. Studios must develop robust system designs that scale efficiently, software code that performs reliably under pressure, and the capability to implement advertising, complex monetization models, and live-ops strategies while thoroughly understanding the ongoing costs required to maintain them.

"Then there’s the harder part: figuring out how to weave all of that into the actual design of the game rather than bolting it on," he elaborates, noting that many talented Saudi developers are encountering foundational aspects of corporate operations for the first time. As a result, certain critical decisions are inevitably made without the depth of information or experiential background found in more mature international markets.

At the same time, Yan emphasizes the positive trajectory of the ecosystem, pointing to established local success stories like Spoilz and Kamelna. These pioneers have cleared the path for a newer, highly ambitious wave of rising studios, including Starvania Studio, Ash Games Studio, and Fahy Studios.

"To me, that’s proof of what Saudi talent can do once it’s given time to develop," Yan affirms. "The business maturity gap is still the biggest lever left to pull, but the overall trajectory is clearly moving in the right direction."

Leaders, Not Committees

When DigiPen assesses prospective applicants for its accelerator programme, a compelling prototype is only part of the equation. Yan places significant emphasis on identifying at least one individual on the founding team who possesses credible business and operational acumen—or, at a minimum, demonstrates the genuine willingness and adaptability to grow rapidly into that demanding leadership role.

"This industry needs more than developers who love making the game," Yan stresses. "It needs people who take responsibility for understanding financing and investment, marketing and community building, data analytics, publishing, monetisation and even legal issues. Too often that’s missing entirely, or there’s one person who believes they can cover all of it themselves."

Conversely, Yan warns against the opposite organizational pitfall: studios operated entirely by committee, where every decision is deferred to exhaustive consensus and individual accountability is lost.

"Running a studio is a lot like producing a film," Yan explains, drawing a direct parallel to collaborative creative industries. "It takes many talented people, but there still has to be a clear chain of command with defined roles and responsibilities, or nothing moves with real conviction."

The most effective studio leaders, according to Yan, balance exceptionally high creative and operational standards with the personal humility to acknowledge what they do not know. In a volatile industry where consumer preferences shift rapidly and total certainty is an illusion, founders cannot afford to hesitate indefinitely. Furthermore, once a studio expands beyond its initial founding members, its leadership assumes direct responsibility for the livelihoods of its employees. The strongest leaders, Yan observes, treat the well-being of their team with the same gravity they apply to the development of the game itself.

The Missing Third Leg

Yan characterizes the developing Saudi gaming ecosystem as a metaphorical three-legged stool. The first leg consists of local talent willing to commit to a notoriously difficult and high-risk industry. The second leg is comprehensive government support designed to build and nurture a sustainable talent pipeline. The third leg is the commercial industry itself, which must provide mentorship, established publishing relationships, production expertise, and specialized business services.

While Yan believes the first two legs are substantially stronger today than they were just a few years ago—thanks to the coordinated efforts of organizations such as the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), NEOM, and venture capital firms like Merak Capital and Impact46—the third leg continues to present challenges.

"The government has did a good job supporting the entry points—things like incubators, accelerators and competitions," Yan notes. "What’s still missing is the next layer of support—real publishers and industry veterans who can step in right where government agencies need to step back once the grants stop and a studio is facing real market conditions for the first time."

In his view, persistent funding and marketing difficulties are often symptoms of this missing commercial infrastructure rather than isolated problems. He also cautions external partners entering the region against assuming that standard playbooks developed in Western or Asian markets can be transplanted wholesale without significant adaptation.

"What the ecosystem needs most are partners prepared to take the time to understand the Kingdom and develop solutions appropriate to its needs, rather than assuming that a model developed elsewhere can simply be transplanted here," he says.

Pitch the Business, Not the Game

When discussing the most frequent errors founders make when presenting to prospective investors, Yan points immediately to a universal misstep that extends far beyond the Middle East.

"The most common mistake, and this isn’t just a Saudi thing, is founders pitching the game instead of the business," Yan states. "A lot of energy goes into why the game is great, barely any into how it makes money, who the player actually is, or what happens after launch."

Founders frequently underestimate the protracted timelines associated with securing formal publishing and funding agreements, often relinquishing corporate equity prematurely simply to accelerate the process. Once capital is finally secured, many treat the funds as a temporary financial safety net rather than an aggressive tool to scale operations.

In addition, modern discoverability challenges mean that traditional community-building efforts are no longer sufficient; customer retention has become equally vital. This complex commercial reality is precisely where experienced publishers and industry advisors prove invaluable. For angel investors and venture capitalists, backing studios in emerging markets requires a long-term perspective. Investors are betting as much on the trajectory of the broader ecosystem as they are on the commercial prospects of a single title.

Measuring Success and Embracing Risk

Looking at the desired outcomes of a 12-month accelerator cohort, Yan argues that success should not be measured by a successful demo day presentation or the initial acquisition of funding. True success is defined by a studio remaining operational and actively releasing games two or more years after graduating from the programme.

Moreover, Yan suggests that the regional industry must become comfortable with the reality of commercial failure. If every studio participating in a government-backed accelerator were guaranteed perpetual survival shielded by grants, it would indicate an artificial market rather than a functioning commercial sector.

Rather than waiting for an impossible guarantee of success, founders must "earn the right to fail" by conducting thorough market research, listening intently to player feedback, and making disciplined, strategic decisions. When a game underperforms due to uncontrollable market variables, that outcome reflects a calculated business risk—a stark contrast to failure resulting from a lack of preparation.

Building for the Future

Addressing the ambitious targets outlined in Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 gaming strategy, Yan asserts that potential setbacks will not stem from a lack of financial backing, given the government’s demonstrated willingness to invest heavily in the sector. Instead, the ultimate challenge lies in ensuring that the emerging ecosystem is permanently staffed and driven by Saudi nationals rather than solely sustained by imported expertise.

"It would be if the ecosystem ends up mostly staffed and run by imported talent instead of Saudis themselves," Yan warns. "A gaming hub, like any industry hub, eventually must be built by and for the people of that country, not just hosted there."

Drawing comparisons to foundational national industries like energy and mining, where initial foreign partnerships eventually transitioned to full domestic ownership, Yan hopes to see the gaming sector follow a similar evolutionary path. To support this transition, DigiPen is currently offering full scholarships for up to 100 Saudi nationals to complete specialized game development degrees at its primary United States campus.

Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan is set to convene industry professionals next month on November 7th and 8th, providing another crucial platform for dialogue on the ongoing development of the regional games market.