Spoilz Games, a Saudi Arabian mobile gaming studio and publisher, has raised SR 2.6m ($693,000) in a pre-seed investment round that it will use to expand its portfolio.
Due to the high penetration of smartphones and the internet, gaming has evolved dramatically in the last decade, particularly in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, referred to as MENA-3, where games revenue accounted for $1.76bn in 2021.
Since its inception back in 2020, Spoilz has set its sights on this growing market. It has built partnerships with publishers and studios and invested in a talent pool across the community to publish fun games for a fast-growing population of gamers. This has earned the company an award in KAUST’s Game Jam for excellence in the narrative for its Re-Train game, and allowed it to become the major creator in the industry.
Musab Almalki, CEO of Spoilz, said: “MENA’s gaming industry is expected to grow rapidly in the next few months, creating a need for quality content to meet users’ expectations. This fund will enable us to grow and publish games that compete globally.”
Saudi Arabia’s games market accounted for the highest value among Arab Gulf countries in 2021, aptly positioning the kingdom as the gaming powerhouse of Arabic speaking nations in the MENA region. This growth was driven by the government’s support of this sector, as it seeks to diversify its predominantly oil-dependent economy. To this end, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has launched Savvy Gaming Group (SGG), to “create opportunities for the growth and diversification of Saudi Arabia’s economy, to help achieve the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.”