A look at how Saudi Arabia's gaming scene has dramatically evolved, especially for women, as the country loosens gender restrictions on esports
Mehr Nadeem / Rest of World : Tweets: @mehrnadeem3 , @ahmed , @mehrnadeem3 , @telliotter , @mehrnadeem3 , @moncherrriii , @mehrnadeem3 , @cengizyar , @mehrnadeem3 , and @mehrnadeem3 Tweets: Mehr Nadeem / @mehrnadeem3 : This is their story. Incredibly excited to have written about a story close to home for my first piece for @restofworld. Check it out! https://restofworld.org/... Ahmed Al Omran / @ahmed : Meet Saudi Arabia's female gamers (feat. excellent photos by @tasneemalsultan) https://restofworld.org/... Mehr Nadeem / @mehrnadeem3 : Following MbS arrival, laws around gender segregation began loosening and the country, now outward-looking, began developing an economic policy that was oriented towards its future generation. Within 10 years, Saudi hopes that gaming/esports revenue will constitute 1% of the GDP. https://twitter.com/... Tori Elliott / @telliotter : I love stories that subvert our expectations, and @mehrnadeem3's piece this week paints an intimate picture of how Saudi girls are creating their own gaming culture. @restofworld https://restofworld.org/... Mehr Nadeem / @mehrnadeem3 : In the first year, close to 3000 Saudi women attended GCON and over the next few years, the convention held a unique place for Saudi's community of female gamers. For the likes of @moncherriii and @wafamss1, it was a rare chance to cosplay and meet a community of gamers like them @moncherrriii : I'm so happy to be featured in this article written about female Saudi gamers and dreamers ♥️ It's still a huge dream of mine to pursue VA and give young Saudi girls someone to look up to. The world is changing and so are we! You can, girl! ♥️♥️ https://restofworld.org/... Mehr Nadeem / @mehrnadeem3 : In 2012, three female students at Prince Sultan University - @Frelkitsune, Najla and Tess - decided that they were tired of being excluded from the annual Gamers Day convention and launched the first ever gaming convention exclusively for girls in Saudi @GCONEvents. https://twitter.com/... Cengiz / @cengizyar : Roughly 70% of Saudi Arabia's population is under 30, and gaming is an emblem of a generation. Now women are fighting for their turn at the controller, and the region's booming video game industry has taken notice. @mehrnadeem3 reports + 📸@tasneemalsultan https://restofworld.org/... https://twitter.com/... Mehr Nadeem / @mehrnadeem3 : The place and experience of Saudi female gamers has subsequently shifted in this new landscape. @GSMoqbel, who attended her first GCON in 2013, now leads the organization, charting the path for Saudi girl gamers in a terrain distinctly different than what her predecessors faced. https://twitter.com/... Mehr Nadeem / @mehrnadeem3 : My childhood in Riyadh was marked by two things: the wave pool in my compound, and Pac-Man World. Growing up in Saudi in the early 2000s, video games were a staple, especially on hot days. However, since then, both Saudi Arabia and gaming have changed dramatically. https://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
This 2020 feature captured the ground floor of what later coverage shows becoming a state project. Grassroots venues like GCON — launched in 2012 by three Prince Sultan University students and drawing roughly 3,000 women in its first year — emerged as gender segregation rules loosened after MbS's arrival, turning gaming into one of the few public spaces where Saudi women could compete and organize.
First-order effects
- Saudi women gain sanctioned competitive venues: with gender restrictions eased, events like GCON — now led by GSMoqbel — move from workaround institutions to mainstream parts of the esports calendar.
Second-order effects
- The state converts this domestic participation base into economic policy: the 1%-of-GDP target and hub ambitions give publishers and tournament operators a funded new market, while critics abroad reframe every deal through the sportswashing lens.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, esports becomes a template for how Gulf states buy cultural industries outright — social liberalization at home deployed as legitimacy abroad, with global gaming's ownership structure tilting toward PIF-backed capital.
The trend: Saudi Arabia is converting a domestically grown gaming culture — notably its female players — into a state-directed esports industry and soft-power instrument, with the pace set by royal policy rather than grassroots demand.