Kingdom of Gaming event to debut in Saudi Arabia with state backing
Saudi Arabia will play host to a new video game conference next year that has been organized, in part, by an investment fund established by the region's controversial ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The event has been dubbed Kingdom of Gaming and will take place in Riyadh from December 1 to December 3, 2026.
"Kingdom of Gaming will serve as a global platform, connecting the developers, studios, and investors who are shaping what the world will play next. It will accelerate the growth of a world-class game creation ecosystem in Saudi Arabia and across the Global South," reads a press release.
The inaugural event will be co-located with Black Hat MEA 2026 (a global cybersecurity conference) and purportedly welcome over 20,000 guests, 300 exhibitors and sponsors, and 500 participating studios and developers.
Kingdom of Gaming is being launched by Tahaluf, a joint venture between Game Developer parent company Informa; the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones; and the Events Investment Fund (EIF).
Sela, the event production company owned by Saudi Arabia's sovereign Public Investment Fund (PIF), is also set to join the venture.
The EIF was launched in 2023 by Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is the de-facto ruler of Saudi Arabia and chairman of PIF—which is currently attempting to take EA private for $55 billion as part of a investor consortium.
PIF will own 93.4 percent of the U.S. based Battlefield publisher if the deal is approved.
Saudi Arabia's aggressive investment into the video game industry has drawn criticism due to bin Salman's widely-reported links to the murder of The Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi (via The BBC) and accusations of human rights abuses within the country.
Game Developer has reached out to Tahaluf for comment.
Game Developer and Tahaluf are sibling organizations under Informa.
