JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has launched its “ThinkTech” initiative to support the e-gaming sector by sharing expertise from around the world.
In partnership with the Saudi Esports Federation and Zain, the ministry held a virtual forum on Saturday where five new initiatives were launched as part of the “Gamers Without Borders” tournament announcement.
Last year, over 15,000 coders, engineers and designers from 80 countries joined The Global Hack as part of the Gamers Without Borders initiative. It trained more than 3,400 people in game development through the “Make and Play” competition.
The fourth initiative, “ThinkTech Talk,” targets experts in game development, investors, and business entrepreneurs in the sector. It revealed the ideas and expertise of developers, who spoke about their experiences in creating e-games while contributing to spreading awareness about the industry and development of e-games.

The virtual forum comes amid a sudden rise in the e-game industry in the Kingdom, which has jumped 4.1 percent in the last year, making it 19th among the largest gaming markets in the world. Saudi Arabia is home to 21.2 million gamers.
The event was also attended by the Deputy Minister for Future Jobs and Digital Entrepreneurship Dr. Ahmed Al-Thunayan and the CEO of the Saudi Federation for Electronic and Intellectual Sports Turki Al-Fawzan.
Dr. Al-Thunayan said the e-gaming industry was one of the emerging creative industries that is pumping more investments into economies, adding that it has the potential to add substantial growth with the Kingdom possessing many creative young talents.
He said that these meetings will provide opportunities for creative talents and enable them to launch their businesses with a supportive digital environment.