Games 13 in Dubai to be ‘bigger and better’

Dubai: The biggest gaming event in the region - Games 13 – will be bigger and better than last year, organizer of the show told Gulf News.

“The gaming industry in the UAE is growing exponentially due to the youth population amid low penetration rates compared to the Western world,” said Nitin Mathew, CEO of Cygnus Communications.

The sixth edition will be held from September 26 to 28 at Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The gaming market in the Middle East is estimated to be worth $1 billion including hardware, software and accessories while the global industry is valued at around $70 billion.

“The industry may be small, but it is growing in double digits,” said Kishan Deepak Palija, Managing Director of Geekay Games, one of the biggest games distributors in the UAE.

Mathew said the biggest names in video games like Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation, Activision, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Warner Bros, etc., are participating this year.

The three-day event will let gamers have their fingers on the some of the latest gaming technologies and titles.

In the past, Palija said that the region did not have a proper gaming event, so this is very important and one of the big event in the gaming industry. It will attract between 30,000 and 50,000 within a span of three days.

Last year’s event attracted 23,000 gamers.

Dubai World Game Expo, a leading platform for developers, publishers, service providers and telecom operators across the Mena region will be held on November 18-19 at Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Apart from the developers and publishers, telecom operators like etisalat, du, STC, Qtel and Zain are likely to take part.

“There is an event called Saudi Gamer’s Day. But due to the restriction where you cannot have lot of people under one roof and things like that, it cannot compete with the scale of Dubai event. Dubai is a very event-friendly place and government is supportive of such initiatives,” Palija said.

Mathew said a lot of people are coming from all over the Gulf to take part, so it is no more a Dubai event.

“This is the only place in the Middle East where gamers can try the games much before the release. These things we see happen only in America and in Europe. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are most likely to be displayed at the event,” Palija said.