Saudi Arabia goes into ‘Game Mode’ to enhance booming gaming sector

Saudi Arabia goes into ‘Game Mode’ to enhance booming gaming sector

Saudi Arabia's communications regulator has launched a new initiative aimed at enhancing the country's booming gaming sector which is forecast to nearly quadruple in size by 2030.

The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has launched the Game Mode initiative, within the framework of its work to encourage healthy competition among telecom operators.

The kingdom is currently the 19th biggest gaming market in the world and is experiencing massive growth of 41.1 percent year-on-year, with more than 21.2 million gamers across the country

Telcos are being pushed to provide the best experience for gamers, raise the level of transparency in the market and enable investors and the public with key data and indicators on the sector's performance.

The Game Mode initiative includes the launch of a quarterly award for the internet service provider with the best response time for video gaming, a key indicator of the network's performance, according to Saudi Press Agency.

In addition, the commission will start the publication of quarterly reports comparing response times among service providers across some of the most popular video games in the kingdom.

The initiative comes as Saudi Arabia's current gaming market size is estimated at SR2.6 billion but is expected to reach SR9.5 billion by 2030.

The Saudi