The Top 30 MENA Game Makers of 2026

At number 30 on this list is something slightly different. Copa Fantasy makes its debut after gaining momentum with its Arabic-first football gaming platform. Founded in 2018, the Saudi company aims to become the MENA region’s first football super-app, combining Fantasy and Predictor games around major leagues including the Saudi Pro League, Premier League, La Liga and Champions League.

The company graduated from Merak Capital’s Exel accelerator in 2025 and secured $300,000 through the programme. This past August, Copa Fantasy said it was finalising a separate $750,000 seed round to fund user acquisition, larger marketing campaigns and bigger prizes.

The platform has now recorded 1.5m contests, while its full launch brought 100,000 users into contests within three weeks. After the 2026 World Cup provided new opportunities for football engagement, Copa Fantasy is entering a key period of expansion.

Founded in 2013, Rababa Games has remained one of Jordan’s established independent studios, built around the success of its Hajwala driving franchise, which includes Drift Hajwala on mobile.

The studio has also taken its games beyond mobile, too. Hajwala launched on PlayStation 4 in 2018, bringing its Arabic-inspired driving experience to console players and supporting online multiplayer. The company then followed with Hajwala 2 on the PS5 last year.

To date, the Hajwala franchise has been downloaded over 120m times and sold more than 500,000 copies on PlayStation stores, making it one of the most successful games ever to come out of the region.

Other titles to come out of Rababa Games over the years include DUB Hunting and Snake and Ladder 3D. While there have been few major public developments from Rababa this year, its long-running Hajwala franchise continues to give the Jordanian studio a presence across platforms

Ouaz Games makes its Top 30 debut after successfully pivoting from mobile hypercasual games into browser and instant gaming. Founded in Morocco in 2017, the studio now has a 10-person team, with founder and CEO Yasser Ouaziz based in Dubai.

The company originally worked with Voodoo on hypercasual games before Apple’s ATT changes made the business model harder to sustain. It then shifted towards browser platforms including CrazyGames, YouTube Playables, TikTok Mini Games and Facebook Instant Games.

Its own website now attracts c.90k monthly active users, while titles including Ant Kingdom Rush, Save The King and Pop Glide 3D have generated hundreds of thousands of plays across browser platforms.

Ouaz remains fully bootstrapped and is now converting its existing catalogue into browser-ready games. Its target: 50 games live across these platforms by the end of 2026.

NJD Games makes its debut on the list after growing from a two-person project into a 10-person Saudi studio focused on driving games. Based in Riyadh, the company was founded by Salman Almutiri and Waleed Alqahtany and built its early success around KOH, which has surpassed 
5 million installs.

The studio received investment from Impact46 in 2025 as part of the investor’s $6.7m backing of five Saudi game companies. The funding has helped NJD expand its team and develop its games at a larger scale. In January 2026, NJD launched Hajwala Corsa 2, its latest driving title and current focus. The team is supporting the game with updates, new content, customisation and community-driven improvements.

NJD has also started targeting players outside MENA through Drift Toon and Hajwala Corsa 2. Its focus remains on Hajwala and driving culture, combining regional identity with games designed to reach international audiences.

Sheba Joy is expanding beyond its Saudi and Dubai operations, opening a new R&D office in Beijing to support its growing focus on social games and entertainment.

The studio’s earlier releases include Ludo Chat and Town Stars: Triple Match 3D, while 2026 has brought several new titles: Cube Fever: Sort Puzzle, Match 3D Magic, Chat Chat and Match Kitchen 3D.

The Beijing office has a 12-person team handling frontend, backend and server development for multiplayer social games aimed at GCC Arabic-speaking audiences. Sheba Joy’s nine-person Riyadh team remains focused on casual puzzle games for international markets.

The expansion follows a $293,000 pre-seed round raised in 2025, which funded the studio’s growth in Riyadh. Sheba Joy now wants to combine Chinese development expertise with its understanding of Middle Eastern players as it builds its next generation of social entertainment products.

Founded in Riyadh in 2020, Spoilz continues to build mobile games for Arabic-speaking players while expanding its international reach.

The studio’s biggest title remains Last letter: Word War, an Arabic word puzzle game that has passed 1.7m downloads globally to date – proving particularly popular in its home country, Saudi Arabia. In recent years, Spoilz has launched games like Jackaroo Go, Bloom: Paint the City and Trader from the Sands.

Spoilz has previously raised funding from Merak Capital and Impact46, supporting its game development pipeline, live operations and localisation work. The studio has also localised more than 15 games for Arabic-speaking audiences.

There have been few major developments from Spoilz over the past year, but its growing catalogue and focus on Arabic games keep it active within Saudi Arabia’s independent development scene.

iBLOXX Studios has shifted its focus towards game development, with StrayShot now at the centre of the Dubai-based company’s plans. The studio has grown to around 25 staff and is preparing its third-person shooter for a global launch.

Built in Unreal Engine 5, StrayShot is being developed for mobile and PC, with a focus on delivering a visually ambitious shooter that can run on lower-end devices. iBLOXX says it has invested seven figures internally into development, while a $5.4m funding round will support production, marketing and live operations.

The studio has also taken a more game-first approach to web3, with blockchain designed to sit behind the experience rather than becoming a requirement for players.

StrayShot is targeting a wider release in 2026, with console versions planned for 2027. The game represents a move from web3-focused development towards building a global games business around its own IP

Jet Games has built its business around open-world and driving titles, with Drive Zone Online remaining the UAE-based studio’s biggest success. Its three-game portfolio has surpassed 100m lifetime downloads and over $36m in player spending.

2023’s Drive Zone Online has passed 90m downloads and generated the bulk of the studio’s player spending revenue at just under $35m.

Grand Criminal Online: Sandbox, released in 2024, has cleared 15m downloads, while Hellguard: ARPG Hack and Slash, launched in February 2026, has garnered over 90k.

With three games spanning driving, open-world action and RPGs, Jet Games is broadening while maintaining a strong international audience. The developer’s growing portfolio shows a creative team willing to experiment across genres in the search for its next hit – and not just be pigeon-holed into a category specialist.

HitBox Games has continued to build one of Dubai’s larger mobile game catalogues, with its focus remaining on accessible action, racing and casual titles. Founded in 2019, the studio has released over 90 apps, garnering over 127m installs, per estimates.

Rope Fighter Action Game and Rope Action City Fighting Game remain its biggest titles. Indian Bike Gangster Simulator, Grand Vegas Simulator, Robot Transform War Car Games and Ball Race 3d have each accumulated millions of installs.

The studio’s catalogue covers a wide range of genres, from fighting and action games to racing, sim and hypercasual titles. There have been few major business developments from HitBox over the past year, but its huge catalogue continues to generate significant reach. The Dubai-based studio remains one of the region’s largest mobile devs by volume.

Riyadh-based Table Knight Games has continued to build its business around social and trivia games, while taking a bigger step into PC development. Founded in 2016, the studio has launched 12 apps that have combined for an estimated 30 million+ downloads to date.

Barrah Alsalfah remains its lead, passing 17m downloads and $1.6m in revenue (AppMagic), while the studio continues to expand its Arabic-language party and trivia catalogue.

Partnering with WalaOne on a tournament inside Jawabak Jawabahom added another layer to its live ops and community strategy.

Its biggest move, however, is UnderMire, a first-person co-op roguelite for up to four players on PC, marking a move beyond mobile where it built its business.

Ash Games Studio is one of Saudi Arabia’s newer outfits to make a clear jump from promising indie developer to a company with global ambitions. Founded in Riyadh in 2022, the 18-person remote-first studio focuses on premium action-adventure games built around Saudi and Arabian stories.

Its debut title, Azooma Escape, launched on Steam in August 2025 and became the first game by an Arabic indie team to reach Steam’s global front page, according to Ash Games. The studio says the game passed 20,000 wishlists before launch, while its success helped the team expand.

In July 2026, Ash Games secured $1.5m in seed funding from Merak Capital and Impact46 to expand its team and develop more Saudi-inspired games. Its next project is Nomad: The Legend of Zarqa, an action roguelite based on the ancient Arabian legend of Zarqa Al-Yamama, planned for PC, PlayStation and Xbox in 2027. 

UMX Studio has continued to build on its position as one of Saudi Arabia’s established mobile game developers, with racing games still at the centre of its business. Founded in 2014, the studio now boasts more than 100m lifetime downloads, according to its website.

King of Steering remains its biggest title, with over 70m players. Climbing Sand Dune has passed 20m players, while Drift X is estimated by AppMagic to have surpassed 4m installs.

UMX says overall, its games have reached 2.9m players per month and have garnered 4 billion impressions.

In 2024, the studio secured $4.5m from Jetapult, providing capital and strategic support as it develops new games and expands its business. The studio is not just a trailblazer for Saudi Arabia’s burgeoning games sector, it’s continuing to build for the future and capture the buzz that surrounds MENA’s games market.

Starvania has had a busy second year since the launch of Bahamut and the Waqwaq Tree, taking its debut game to more platforms while revealing what comes next. The Saudi indie studio released Bahamut on PS5 and Xbox in May 2026, adding to its existing PC and Nintendo Switch versions.

The game has also received a physical release for PS5 and Switch, with editions rolling out in Asia and planned launches in Japan and the US. That gives Starvania’s Arabian mythology-inspired adventure a presence on physical shelves outside the region.

The studio has also grown from four people to 13 over four years, while co-founders Meaad Aflah and Muslih Alzahrani were named to Forbes Middle East’s 30 Under 30 in 2025.

Starvania’s next game is Doughn’t Panic!, a two-player co-op platformer where both players control the same pizza. The game is planned for release on Steam in 2027.

Abu Dhabi-based Hypemasters is building its business around real-time strategy, with World War Armies remaining the studio’s main title, available across mobile and PC formats.

The studio secured $1m in new funding late last year, led by Impact46 with participation from GEM Capital. The investment has since supported new projects and helped Hypemasters expand its portfolio beyond World War Armies.

Founded in 2019, Hypemasters has also added World War Clash, an auto-battler strategy game released in 2025, to its portfolio. Over the years, the studio has dabbled in some casual games, but strategy appears to remain its core focus.

Hypemasters operates across the UAE, US and Europe. With fresh funding and World War Armies now generating millions in revenue, the studio is entering its next stage of growth.

Dubai-based StarPlay Games has built its business around action-focused mobile games, with the Spider Fighter series driving much of its international reach. Founded in 2021, the studio develops and publishes fighting and action titles through a globally distributed team.

Its portfolio has now passed 333m lifetime downloads and generated more than $4m in revenue, according to AppMagic data. Spider Fighter 3 alone is estimated to have generated 208m downloads to date, while Spider Fighter 2 has picked up more than 92m, showing the scale of StarPlay’s top games.

The studio has also expanded beyond the Spider Fighter series. Cars Royale: League of Rocket, released in 2025, has already passed 8 million downloads, while Gangs Fighter: Vice Island has topped 4m.

StarPlay remains focused on mobile action games while reaching players across more than 70 countries.

Chickmania has continued to build social and multiplayer games, with its long-running Jackaro platform still at the centre of the Jordanian studio’s business. Founded in 2017, the company now has some 13 apps in its portfolio, with AppMagic data showing more than 9.5m lifetime downloads and approximately $3.5m in player spending.

Jackaroo remains its biggest title for downloads, with more than 4.6m downloads. Other titles like Gomat: Drift & Drag Racing and Carrom have also bagged the studio millions more installs for its portfolio. It continues to release new games, most recently launching FameGame: My Influencer Life in July 2026.

Perhaps its biggest recent business development came in late 2025, when Singapore-based WeJoy Group made an undisclosed investment to support global expansion, new titles and publishing collaboration across Asia and MENA

Level Up Gaming is a Saudi-based publisher making its Top 30 debut after building indie games aimed at global players. Launched in 2025, it focuses on PC and other international platforms, working closely with studios on production, QA, marketing and launch planning.

The company has already signed several titles, including Taival from Bonobo Software, Petunia’s Purgatory from Dead Possum Games and Last Keep’s Fleetbreakers, whose team includes Halo Wars, Age of Empires and Age of Mythology veterans.

Led by Mohammed Habbab, former Microsoft executive with 15-plus years working across gaming in MENA and other markets, its approach is deliberately focused on a small number of projects, with long-term partnerships and hands-on publishing support rather than simply building a large catalogue.

Naphora has changed its role in Saudi Arabia’s games industry, moving from an investment label supporting external studios to a developer and publisher building its own games and IP. The Riyadh-based company has rebuilt its organisation around smaller teams, faster decisions and testing games with real players early in development.

That strategy is already producing games, with three mobile soft launches in 2026: Content Creator Mansion, Arototo and Grapplo, covering idle tycoon, puzzle and endless runner genres. It is targeting six soft launches by the end of the year.

Mobile is now central to Naphora’s approach because it allows the studio to test concepts, measure player behaviour and increase investment when the data supports it. AI has also moved from being a supporting tool to part of the company’s development infrastructure, helping with iteration, analysis and repetitive tasks.

Game Park builds its business around a simple formula: high-volume mobile sims aimed at a broad global audience. The UAE-based developer now has a 48-app portfolio, with its games nearing 600m lifetime downloads (source: AppMagic).

The studio’s catalogue covers a wide range of vehicle and sim games, from buses, trucks and planes to police vehicles and auto rickshaws. Bus Simulator: 3D Bus Games remains the studio’s biggest title, passing 100m downloads. Police Simulator: Police Games, Mega Truck Simulator Games, Tuk Tuk Auto Rickshaw Game and Pilot Simulator: Airplane Game have each racked up tens of millions of installs each.

Game Park’s standing in MENA’s games sector is built on the sheer scale of its catalogue reach of its existing games, while more recent titles like My Jail Escape Plan and Garments Shop show a studio that has plenty more ideas for new titles.

Dubai-based FunVent Games has built a sizable global audience around simple, accessible mobile puzzle games. The 2018-founded studio says its portfolio has cleared 400m downloads, up from 300m+ when it made our list last year.

According to estimates, its biggest titles include Tiledom: Match Beautiful Tiles, which has passed 97m downloads, alongside Tile Park: Cosy Puzzles and Velvet Tiles, which have also topped 65m and 51m downloads each, respectively.

FunVent says its games now reach more than 27m monthly active users and over 5m daily active users, with players spending more than 40 minutes a day with its games. The company remains a relatively lean operation, but its growth shows the scale that Dubai-based mobile developers can achieve by focusing on simple game concepts with broad global appeal.

YallaPlay is taking its long-running focus on social card games and turning the technology behind them into a bigger part of its business. The studio has introduced CorePlay, a unified game engine designed to let it launch, optimise and scale multiple games at the same time.

CorePlay covers much of the technology needed to run live games, including matchmaking, analytics, monetisation, live operations and user acquisition. YallaPlay also says the platform uses AI to tune gameplay, personalise events and improve performance over time. The aim is to give the studio a common technology base that can support several games rather than building everything separately for each title.

The approach is already being used across YallaPlay’s catalogue. Spades Masters remains its biggest game, with more than 2.3m downloads and more than $3.4m in lifetime player spending, according to AppMagic data. Tarneeb Masters, on the other hand, has passed 1.2m downloads and $2m in revenue, while newer releases such as Gin Rummy Masters are expanding the company’s reach into international card games.

YallaPlay is also moving beyond the card games that built its name. Its current portfolio includes Trillionaire Thugs Zombie World, a midcore action roguelike, while Zombie World is listed as its latest upcoming release. At the same time, the studio continues to describe its core strategy around “timeless” social games that can keep players engaged for years rather than short-lived releases.

The company remains a relatively small operation, with its current careers page describing a small, experienced team. It has bases in Abu Dhabi and São Paulo, while its games now reach players across dozens of countries. After building its business around a handful of established card games, YallaPlay’s next step is to see how far CorePlay can take that model. If the technology can support several live games at once, it could enable the studio to expand its catalogue without losing the lean approach that has defined it.

Mad Hook Games has spent the past few years moving beyond its mobile roots and 2026 has pushed that strategy further. The Amman-based studio released Highway Drifter: Hajwala Simulator on Steam in January – its first title on the platform – bringing its take on Gulf drifting culture to PC alongside its existing PlayStation games.

Established in 2018, the company has built games including The Chase, Highway Drifter and Rooftop Run, with the outfit now listing more than 100m downloads across its games. Its current portfolio spans 15 mobile games and three PC and console titles, showing how the studio has expanded from its original mobile focus.

Highway Drifter: Hajwala Simulator is a good example of that wider approach. Based on the Gulf’s hajwala drifting culture, the game combines desert highways and mountain roads with detailed car tuning, allowing players to adjust everything from engine torque and suspension to gear ratios and vehicle weight. The Steam release followed the game’s arrival on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.

And Mad Hook has continued expanding its console portfolio. Amer Fighting launched on PlayStation 5 in 2025 and landed on Steam in March 2026, while Amer: The Chase: Hit and Run is another upcoming project in the studio’s growing Amer universe. It is also preparing more games for multiple platforms.

The company’s original mobile business remains important, with Mad Hook saying it has more than 600,000 monthly active mobile users and that games such as The Chase have found audiences well beyond the MENA region. The studio’s ability to take locally rooted ideas such as hajwala and Arab-inspired characters onto PC and console gives it a relevant route to international audiences without abandoning its regional identity.

Kammelna Gaming Group is building its business around one of Saudi Arabia’s most recognisable card games. The company is best known for bringing Baloot to mobile, where its platform has grown into a major social gaming destination for players in Saudi Arabia and across the region.

Founded in Dammam, Kammelna has passed 6m downloads and attracts more than 1m monthly active users. Its 40-person team covers engineering, product and art, making it the Kingdom’s largest independent gaming employer, according to the company. The studio’s Baloot tournaments have also attracted as many as 150,000 participants, showing the scale of the community around its games.

Its biggest development came in 2025 when Saudi investment firm Impact46 acquired Kammelna from Remal Ventures for $53m. Following the deal, the business was spun out into Kammelna Gaming Group, giving it a new structure and a wider ambition beyond its flagship app. Impact46 described Kammelna as one of the standout Saudi-born gaming studios, pointing to its strong monthly active users, retention and monetisation, as well as its subscription-based business model.

The investment firm said Kammelna stood out for its user base, retention, monetisation and strong connection to Saudi culture. The acquisition also gives Kammelna backing to expand beyond its flagship Baloot experience and develop more games rooted in the region. Kammelna’s ambitions now extend beyond building its own titles.

The company says it wants to work with other studios and founders while creating a wider home for the games, teams and traditions of MENA. Kammelna is also focused on hiring Saudi talent and investing in local studios as the Kingdom builds its games industry. The studio’s existing audience, tournament reach and cultural connection give it a strong base to build from as it expands its portfolio.

Maysalward has spent more than two decades making games while also playing a key role in helping build Jordan’s wider games industry. Founded in 2003, the studio has now shipped more than 100 of its own titles and continues to combine game development with education, training and support for new creators.

That wider role has become even more important in 2026. Maysalward opened a new headquarters at Abdali Boulevard in Amman, which now houses The Capsule, a new programme offering mentorship, training and workspace support for emerging developers. The studio also plans to launch a pre-seed and incubator fund later this year to support early-stage game startups.

Education remains a major part of the company’s work. Maysalward served as the technical partner for the Jordan Gaming Lab from 2011 to 2025 and is now the official Minecraft Education partner in Jordan. Its work with the Ministry has reached more than 140 public schools through teacher training and student projects. The studio worked with C40 Cities and the Greater Amman Municipality on a Minecraft Education programme focused on sustainable city design.

And that’s not all. Maysalward has also been experimenting with who gets to be a game creator. Its Golden Agers workshop brought people aged 65 and above into hands-on sessions using games and digital tools, with a follow-up Senior Creative Program adding Minecraft Education and 3D printing. The first pilot involved four participants spending nine hours working on game design and personal stories.

More recently, Maysalward launched NARD Guild, an Arabic-first community for board game creators across MENA. The initiative brings together writers, illustrators, designers and testers, extending the studio’s community work beyond digital games. After 23 years, Maysalward has become more than a games studio. Though its own titles remain at the centre of the business, its growing focus on training, mentorship and creator communities gives it a bigger role in shaping the next generation of MENA developers, where it has already done so much.

Babil Games has been part of the MENA games industry for more than a decade, building titles and services for Arabic-speaking players from its bases in Dubai and Amman. Founded in 2012, the studio was acquired by Sweden’s Stillfront Group in 2016 and has since combined its knowledge of the regional market with the resources of a global games company.

Babil’s portfolio includes games such as Strike of Nations, Nida Harb 3 and The Grand Frontier, with its titles reaching players well beyond the Middle East. The developer says its games have generated more than 60 million downloads across more than 50 countries. Its work now goes beyond game development and publishing, with services covering product guidance, localisation, creative direction, marketing and user acquisition, community management and technical support.

Babil has also continued to focus on games designed around MENA players. Its original approach was built around creating content specifically for Arabic-speaking audiences, while the studio’s relationship with Stillfront has given it access to wider industry knowledge and resources. That combination remains central to the developer’s business, especially as Arabic-language gaming continues to grow.

There has been a change in leadership over the past year. Ghina Al Sharif stepped down as Babil Games CEO after several years with the company. Her departure marks another change for Babil following the exit of founders MJ and AJ Fahmi in 2023.

The publisher may not have had the major announcements of some other MENA companies during 2026, but its position within Stillfront gives it access to a much larger international network. With more than 60m downloads, a wide range of services and more than a decade of experience working with Arabic-speaking players, Babil remains an established part of the region’s games industry.

Jawaker remains one of the biggest names in MENA’s social gaming market, built around a simple idea: bring the region’s most popular card and board games together in one place. Founded in Jordan in 2011 and now based in Abu Dhabi, the company has grown its platform to more than 50 games across seven languages, covering everything from Tarneeb and Trix to Baloot, Jackaroo, chess and Ludo.

The platform continues to rely on its strong mix of games and social features. Players can move between games, chat, join clubs, compete in tournaments and customise their profiles, giving Jawaker a community that goes beyond simply playing cards online.

Jawaker’s reach is substantial. AppMagic estimates that Jawaker’s games have generated more than 34m lifetime downloads and $138m in player spending across the portfolio at the time of writing. The Jawaker app alone generated an estimated record $17.1m in player spending during the first eight months of 2026, slightly ahead of the same period last year. Downloads are also close to a record year, sitting just below 2022 levels and putting 2026 on course to be one of Jawaker’s strongest years yet.

That performance is important as Stillfront continues to put more resources behind its strongest franchises rather than spreading investment across a long list of smaller games. Jawaker remains one of those core businesses, with the company now focused on growing its communities in markets such as Syria and Iraq, while continuing to build on its established games.

Breeze Games is a new name on the MENA games scene, but its first major title has already reached a sizable global audience. Founded in 2024 and headquartered in Dubai, the mobile studio is behind Triple Match City, a casual hidden-object game that has passed 10m downloads and generated more than $136m in lifetime player spending across the App Store and Google Play, according to AppMagic data.

The US is the game’s biggest market, accounting for around 72% of the game’s lifetime revenue and 27% of its downloads, while India contributes another 10% of downloads. The numbers show that Breeze Games has built its business around international players rather than relying mainly on the MENA market, something studios across the region have been striving for.

The studio describes itself as a mobile gaming company focused on combining game design and technology to create long-lasting experiences. Its current website lists game design, development and marketing strategy among its core areas, with Triple Match City currently its only announced title. Yet the studio’s debut has been a major success story. Its rapid rise has seen it become the number two top grossing hidden object game in the world on mobile, behind the market leader, Wooga’s June’s Journey.

With another game listed as coming soon, the next test for Breeze Games will be whether it can turn the success of Triple Match City into a broader portfolio. For now, its first major release has already given the Dubai studio a global footprint and a sizable audience.

Yalla Group has continued to grow its position as one of MENA’s biggest social and gaming companies, with its audience now reaching almost 48m monthly users. The Dubai-based company has spent the past year expanding its games business, investing in AI and building a bigger presence in Saudi Arabia, while its long-running Yalla Ludo and Yalla social platforms continue to drive its operation.

Its games business is becoming a larger part of the company, with games services revenue reaching $34.2m during the quarter and accounting for 41.4% of total sales. Yalla Group is also developing more of its own projects, including its first match-3 game Turbo Match and a desert-themed strategy title.

Saudi Arabia has become a major part of Yalla Group’s expansion plans. The company revealed plans to open a new regional headquarters in Riyadh in 2026, giving it a base to build local partnerships and develop content for Saudi players. It has also signed two agreements with the Saudi Esports Federation, becoming an official event partner for the Saudi eLeague 2026 while supporting a talent development programme with the Saudi Esports Academy.

AI is another growing part of the business. Yalla is using AI to improve product development, localisation and operational efficiency, while also looking at new products that combine social features, gaming and AI. The company believes this approach will help it build a wider entertainment ecosystem rather than relying on a small number of established products.

Yalla’s challenge is now turning its growing audience into more paying users while continuing to build its games business. Paying users fell to 10.9m in Q2 2026, while total revenue slipped slightly to $82.6m. Still, with games making up a growing share of its business, new titles in the works and a stronger Saudi presence, Yalla is entering its next stage with a much broader gaming strategy than it had a year ago.

Savvy Games Group has grown from a major Saudi gaming investment vehicle into a company with stakes, studios and publishers spread across much of the global games industry. Backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Savvy has continued its acquisition spree in 2026, most notably revealing plans for a $6 billion deal for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang maker Moonton.

Savvy already owns Scopely, which acquired the games business behind Pokémon Go from Niantic for $3.5bn and in 2026 took a majority stake in Turkish studio Loom Games in a deal that values the business in excess of $1 billion. Scopely’s Monopoly Go! surpassed $6bn in lifetime player spending in 2025, reaching the milestone faster than any mobile game before it.

Savvy has continued building its own development portfolio through Steer Studios, its Riyadh-based development studio, responsible for Grunt Rush and Tom and Jerry Blast.

The group has gained control of a much larger portfolio of gaming investments. In January 2026, PIF announced plans to transfer around $12bn in gaming-related shares to Savvy, including stakes in Nintendo and Bandai Namco. A month later, PIF transferred its roughly $3bn stake in Take-Two to Savvy, bringing major global publishers and developers further under the company’s investment umbrella.

Savvy has continued working to build Saudi Arabia’s own games industry. It partnered with NEOM to connect its Nine66 incubator with the Level Up accelerator, while new education and training partnerships are aimed at developing local talent. A partnership with Roblox is another part of its push to grow game development and user-generated content in the Kingdom.

So far, the PIF subsidiary has invested around $13bn of its $38bn commitment by March 2026. With Moonton set to join the group and billions more in gaming assets now sitting under Savvy, the company is entering a new phase as the PIF mulls merging it with EA.

Tamatem is no longer ‘just’ a publisher bringing international games to Arabic-speaking players. The Jordanian company is now building its own games, buying technology businesses and expanding into new parts of the games industry as it targets global growth.

Founded in Jordan in 2013, Tamatem has built a large publishing business around localising, marketing and operating games for Arabic-speaking players. The firm now has around 200 employees across Abu Dhabi, Amman, Riyadh, Cairo, Baghdad and Istanbul, with Morocco and Qatar among the markets it is considering for future offices.

The biggest change has been its move into game development. In 2026, Tamatem launched King of Delivery 2, its first internally developed game. The open-world title combines deliveries, business management, vehicle collection and city exploration, while also bringing local brands into its game world.

In the same year, the publisher also expanded into advertising technology by acquiring Istanbul-based Playable Factory. The deal gives Tamatem another business alongside publishing and game development, while adding new technology and talent to the group. Tamatem also raised $10 million in new funding, taking total investment to $25m, with investors including Krafton, Square Enix and Next Ventures.

AI is also becoming a bigger part of Tamatem’s plans, with the company using it across areas such as localisation, creative work, user acquisition and advertising. At the same time, it is looking at further acquisitions that could add games, technology and talent to the business.

In 2025, Tamatem picked up the Best Publisher Accolade at the MENA Games Industry Awards, alongside MENA Game of the Year and Best Arabic Localisation.

The company now wants to move from being a leading regional publisher to becoming a global gaming and technology group. With its first internally developed game now released, a growing technology business and plans for further acquisitions, Tamatem is betting that its next stage of growth can come from creating as well as publishing games.