- Operators can minimise latency by deploying local gaming servers, edge computing infrastructure, and 5G SA to make games more responsive and smooth.
- The region has strong growth potential in terms of active gamers and e-sports participants.
Users in the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar got the best mobile gaming experience in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in the first half of the year.
According to Ookla’s Game Score, the UAE comes first with a Game Score of 83.49 on a 100-point scale (considering all mobile technologies), followed by Bahrain with a score of 83.24 and Qatar with a score of 82.81.
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Oman were further down the Game Score ranking, achieving scores of 80.41, 78.74, and 75.40, respectively.
According to the report, the region benefits from a large youth demographic, a growing casual gaming base, widespread smartphone adoption, and high-speed internet access. Operators and governments are also helping to increase public engagement in gaming.
However, the report pointed out that despite most casual gamers able to enjoy a smooth experience over 5G, some latency-sensitive games (like multiplayer shooters) may have noticeable lags.
“Mobile operators can explore different approaches (such as deploying edge computing infrastructure) to improve game responsiveness and prepare their networks for more data-intensive games.”
According to Boston Consulting Group, the Middle East region has the highest gaming penetration: more than 60 per cent of the population is game enthusiasts.
The audience for live-streaming games is expected to exceed 200 million in 2025, making the Middle East one of the fastest-growing regions for gaming.
More mainstream
The GCC region, in particular, has strong growth potential in terms of active gamers and e-sports participants due to its large youth demographic, sizable disposable income, access to high-speed connectivity, and the ongoing development of gaming infrastructure (such as hosting local gaming servers and setting up gaming arenas and e-sports facilities).
The market will expand as gaming becomes more mainstream and more female users and older demographics engage in gaming.
“Local governments have also implemented strategies to develop a local gaming ecosystem to diversify their economies. For example, Saudi Arabia has a national gaming and e-sports strategy while the UAE aims to encourage global gaming producers to establish a local presence,” the report said.
According to Stream Scheme, 25 Mbps is the minimum download speed to enjoy a good gaming experience for casual gamers (who represent the majority of gamers).
According to Ookla’s data, all Gulf markets comfortably exceed that requirement on 4G and surpass it significantly on 5G. Kuwait had the lowest download speed over 4G in the first half of 2023 at 35.12 Mbps.
In contrast, Oman had the lowest 5G download speed at 176.79 Mbps.
UAE offers the fastest median download speeds for both 4G and 5G at 69.17 Mbps and 566.10 Mbps, respectively, ahead of Qatar and Bahrain which rounded out the top 3 in the region.
5G offers significantly better performance than 4G in all markets. The median 5G speed across Gulf countries was 6.8X faster than the median 4G speed (345.53 Mbps vs. 43.9 Mbps).
Upload speed also plays an essential role in creating a smooth gaming experience without interruptions or quality degradation, particularly in multiplayer games.
Considering 3 Mbps as a reference point based on the recommended minimum upload speed for a good gaming experience for casual gamers.
Ookla’s data shows that Gulf markets are crushing it when it comes to exceeding upload requirements for both 4G and 5G.
The lowest median upload speed recorded on 4G was in Saudi Arabia at 10.87 Mbps; For 5G, it was in Oman at 17.28 Mbps.
Median upload speeds on 5G were 1.27X faster than those on a 4G network in the region. The gap between 4G and 5G upload speeds is larger in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE which means that gamers in these countries could see the most significant improvement in gameplay and streaming quality when switching from 4G to 5G.
In absolute terms, Qatar, Bahrain, and the UAE offer the fastest upload speeds, reaching a maximum of 38.48 Mbps for the latter.
Latency affects how quickly a gamer’s response is reflected in gameplay and is of particular interest to those who prefer games where reaction time is crucial. Low latency can provide smooth and lag-free gaming. For this analysis, we consider a sub-100 ms latency to be good for many games and most casual gamers.
Ookla’s data shows that most countries, except Oman, recorded latency below 100 ms on 5G. Bahrain had the lowest latency on 5G at 72.01 ms, and Oman had the highest latency at 115.46 ms. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait also had a relatively high 5G latency at 93.2 ms and 90.31 ms, respectively, which means that some multiplayer shooters, racing, fighting, and multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games might have a noticeable lag. Operators have room to improve the conditions for multiplayer games, especially for competitive gamers.
The Ookla report pointed out that localisation of gaming servers, the rollout of 5G Standalone (SA), and edge computing can push mobile gaming performance to new heights
.According to data published by the Saudi’s telecoms regulator, users can save, on average, 60 ms in latency when playing popular games with servers located in the GCC compared to servers in Europe. We expect more Gulf-based operators will host game servers in their data centers as more publishers strive to offer the best experience to local gamers.
Most of the 5G networks deployed in the Gulf region use the Non-Standalone (NSA) model, where the radio antennas (part of the radio access network) are based on 5G but the core uses a 4G infrastructure.
As of July 2023, the GSA reported that seven operators in the Gulf region were evaluating 5G SA, while six have either deployed or launched the service. The migration to 5G SA is expected to reduce latency to sub-5 ms, which should help the multiplayer and cloud gaming experience.
Some local operators, such as Etisalat by e& and STC, have partnered with vendors and hyperscalers to develop edge computing capabilities to target enterprise customers. Operators should explore how to exploit these resources to support their own gaming and entertainment initiatives and support those of their partners.
Operators can continue to improve the gaming experience and further minimize latency by deploying local gaming servers, edge computing infrastructure, and 5G SA to make games more responsive and smooth. These improvements will put the region in an even better position to lead game development and foster the local gaming ecosystem.
Recent gaming-related propositions and initiatives
| Bahrain | Batelco introduced a mobile gaming portal in 2022 STC offers stc play app and organizes e-sports tournaments. It partnered with gaming infrastructure provider Subspace in 2019 to improve the multi-player experience in the region Zain offers a mobile game pass with a dedicated data allowance for popular games |
| Kuwait | Zain has a dedicated e-sports division that hosts tournaments. It partnered with PLAYHERA to establish a gaming and e-sports platform in 2022 Ooredoo offers gamer-dedicated 5G and fiber plans with reduced latency. It also organizes e-sports competitions stc offers a 5G plan add-on that promises to reduce latency, jitter, and packet loss |
| Oman | Omantel launched ‘GeForce NOW’ cloud gaming service in partnership with NVIDIA. It also offers an add-on to get 100 Mbps extra speed on fiber and a dedicated mobile add-on for game data traffic Ooredoo organizes local e-sports tournaments |
| Qatar | Ooredoo launched the first e-sports tournament in Qatar, part of its e-sports brand, Ooredoo Nation – Gamers’ Land, in 2021. In 2023, it launched Ooredoo Nation League as a hub for Qatari gamers Vodafone commercialized the Vive Cosmos headset with a subscription to VIVEPORT Infinity, a repository of VR games, apps, and videos |
| Saudi Arabia | STC launched ‘stc play’ e-sports and game distribution platform and rolled out the Blacknut cloud gaming platform. It also offers a mobile data add-on tailored for gamers Mobily launched an e-sports platform for gamers powered by D11 Gaming. It also offers Game Mode, an add-on for unlimited use of PUBG Mobile and League of Legends: Wild Rift games Zain launched ‘GeForce NOW’ cloud gaming service. It also offers a fiber package dedicated to gaming that includes a low-latency router, up to 500 Mbps for download and 200 Mbps for upload speeds |
| UAE. | Etisalat by e& launched ‘Arena Play’ mobile add-ons to enable customers to play without incurring data charges. It also introduced ‘Arena eLife’ fixed broadband add-on to access many games online from home du launched Games Instant Play as part of its ‘My World’ mobile portal |