Sheba Joy opens new office in Beijing

• Sheba Joy has established a dedicated team in Beijing to develop social gaming and entertainment products for the Middle East.
• Riyadh develops casual puzzle games for global audiences.
• Beijing serves as Sheba Joy’s engineering hub for GCC-focused multiplayer social games.

Mobile games and entertainment company Sheba Joy has opened a new dedicated research and development office in Beijing, China, PocketGamer.biz can reveal.

The studio will focus on developing social games and entertainment applications tailored to the evolving preferences of users across the Middle East. 

The team will also work closely with Sheba Joy's leadership to explore opportunities across mobile gaming, social interaction, creator-driven entertainment, live experiences and community-based digital products.

Growth ambitions 

Sheba Joy operates across the Middle East and North Africa with its HQ in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and an office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Sheba Joy’s Riyadh office operates with a nine-person team focused on casual puzzle games for the international market. Its 12-member Beijing team, meanwhile, handles frontend, backend and server development for multiplayer social games targeting GCC Arabic-speaking audiences.

The expansion is also intended to combine global development expertise with regional market knowledge to create digital entertainment experiences for the region.

Last year, the developer raised $293,000 in a pre-seed funding round to support its goal of building hit games from Saudi Arabia and scaling operations in Riyadh.

“We believe the future of entertainment in the Middle East will be shaped by products that combine gaming, social interaction, content creation, and community engagement,” said Sheba Joy founder and COO Faisal Al Hamed. 

“By establishing a development presence in Beijing, we gain access to some of the world’s most experienced talent in gaming and social entertainment while remaining fully focused on the needs of Middle Eastern users.”

Learn more about China's games market at Pocket Gamer Connects Summit Shanghai 2026 on July 29th.