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This is a press release posted alongside our usual editorial content.
Dubai returned to Gamescom this month with its biggest pavilion yet, led for the first time by the Dubai Films and Games Commission (DFGC) under the umbrella of Dubai Media Council. Dubai arrived in Cologne carrying one idea it has decided to make its own: good gaming.
The stand itself grew up fast this year. A year ago, Dubai brought a handful of games to Cologne in the first government-led gaming pavilion from the Middle East. This year that modest showing became a thriving ecosystem: more than 10 showcases, a live stage for panels and fireside chats, and rooms off to the side where studios, publishers and investors get business done.
The pavilion’s stage carried its own moments of the week. Robert Steen, father of the late Mats Steen – known to the World of Warcraft community as Ibelin – joined DFGC to speak about the impact his son continues to have on communities around the world, a session that has been pointed to as one of the most meaningful of the week. Alongside it, exhibiting studios brought the ecosystem to life on the ground: Thera Interactive, Dark Emerald, Old Chair Games, Exscape, Playgama, Yalla Group and Foxrito Studios each showcased work spanning MMO, platformer, city-builder, mobile and horror genres – proof, DFGC says, that this is a genuine ecosystem rather than a single type of studio. Amongst the exhibitors’ achievements was Playgama’s celebration of 350 million gaming sessions on YouTube Playables.
At the pavilion, DFGC announced the next phase in Dubai’s partnership with Xsolla. What began as an MoU to simply explore opportunities last year, has led to high-level networking events, market reports, and now a new accelerator partnership with Xsolla, launching this October. As part of the agreement, Dubai will be home to only the second permanent Xsolla Club in the world, giving local, regional and worldwide developers direct access to one of the industry’s most experienced accelerator teams. The partnership was announced alongside Xsolla’s Berkley Egenes and Rytis Joseph Jan.
So the question stood: what does it take for Dubai to matter in the gaming industry? Much of Dubai’s pitch is written into its location. A working day here opens with Seoul and Tokyo already at work and closes as Los Angeles comes online, so a studio can hold the whole industry inside a single calendar. The market is just as close to hand: one of the youngest, most mobile first player bases in the world sits on the doorstep, and the publishers, platforms and investors who move between continents tend to route through the city anyway. For a games company, Dubai folds a lot of distance into one address.
Hesham Al Olama, CEO of the Media Development Sector at Dubai Media Council, said: “Dubai has a way of entering an industry and, in no time, becoming impossible to leave out of the conversation. We have done it in aviation, in the economy, in tourism. Gaming is next. Our presence at Gamescom was not about taking part in a show; we built a complete network that leads our partners and every stakeholder to choose Dubai as their base for years to come. I am confident that before long they will realise they made the right decision at the right time, to be an active part of the ecosystem Dubai has built for this sector.”
Faisal Kazim, Games Commissioner at DFGC, said: “There is a tendency among some people to view gaming purely from an entertainment lens, but we count it among society’s most powerful creative forays. Innovatively built games can impart knowledge, connect people who would never otherwise meet, and build real careers. That belief is the reason Dubai wants to be at Gamescom every year, and it is the standard every studio we back is held to. Good gaming runs through all of it: the belief that games are a force for good, for the people who play them, and the people who make them.”
Dubai Films and Games Commission sits under Dubai Media Council and runs the Dubai Program for Gaming 2033, which was initially launched by the Dubai Future Foundation, the plan to lift the emirate into the world’s top 10 gaming destinations by the year 2033. The method is deliberate: make Dubai one of the simplest places on earth to build a game, wire studios into the funding and talent around them through vehicles such as the GameForward accelerator – an eight-week programme, run by Dubai SME in partnership with Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, that helps Emirati game creators turn concepts into commercially viable businesses – and grow a local bench of designers and developers who will still be here a decade from now.Enabling policies, connection, talent, in that order.
The early evidence is already countable. 495 gaming companies have set up in Dubai, a 34.5% increase in two years, the GameForward accelerator is backing the newer ones – including Old Chair Games, one the studios that exhibited at this year’s pavilion – and developer grants are pulling international teams across, all of it working toward roughly 30,000 jobs in the gaming sector and close to USD 1 billion added to Dubai’s GDP by 2033. Social impact is at the heart of it all, and efforts toward it have already begun with the Good Game Club podcast, which focuses on the positive impact games can have on people and the planet. The podcast is relocating to Dubai, bringing its coverage into the same ecosystem it’s been reporting on from the outside.
Gamescom 2026 ran from 26 to 30 August at Koelnmesse in Cologne, with the 26th and 27th reserved for trade and media. It remains the largest event of its kind, drawing 368,000 visitors and 1,743 exhibitors from 131 countries this year.
About the Dubai Films and Games Commission
The Dubai Films and Games Commission is the government body driving the growth of Dubai’s film and gaming industries. Established in 2024 under the Dubai Media Council, the Commission attracts international productions and studios to Dubai, backs local talent and rising studios, and connects creators with investment, incentives, and world class infrastructure. Its goal is simple: to make Dubai the fastest, easiest, and most rewarding place in the world to make films and games. The Commission was established pursuant to Law No. (29) of 2024 issued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
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