Reflecting on the Success of Gamers8 & Amalgamation of Esports and Entertainment

Established in 2017, the Saudi Esports Federation is the regulating body solely responsible for nurturing esports players and developing the gaming community in Saudi Arabia. Since its inception, the federation has organized numerous national and international tournaments which include the Gamers Without Borders initiatives and more. Gamers8 is perhaps the biggest and most prolific event organized by the Saudi Esports Federation with a mission to celebrate entertainment and esports and blur the lines between the physical and the virtual. The Gamers8 festival kicked off on 14th July and will go on for eight weeks till 8th September in Riyadh, signifying the festival’s unique name.

AFK Gaming had the opportunity to chat with Faisal Bin Homran, head of esports of the Saudi Esports Federation about the success of Gamers8, its reception, the Federation’s future plans, and more.

Reception for Gamers8 across esports titles

The Gamers8 festival organized esports tournaments for Rocket League, Dota 2, Fortnite, Rainbow Six Siege, and the ongoing PUBG Mobile World Invitational (PMWI). The tournaments for each individual title found positive responses from the communities and brought forth exciting gameplay action. Sharing his initial impressions about Gamers8, Faisal Bin Homran stated that Gamers8 started with the Rocket League tournament and that the experience was amazing. He declared that it was one of the best LANs he’s ever attended and that it was an immersive experience for the players and teams as well. The tournament also saw the participation of Chinese teams and brought together the Dota 2 fraternity for the first time since The International 10.

He also stated that the Saudi Esports Federation was elated to see teams from various regions across the world participate in the Gamers8 festival and that they cannot wait to enhance it further. “I am a person who’s hard to please, to be honest. I would say that the reception has met my current-stage expectations. I would say that for future tournaments, I need to do more,” he added.

Gamers8 brought big game titles like PUBG Mobile, Fortnite, Rainbow Six Siege, and Dota 2 under one roof and managed to pull off a great feat. “These are the things we want to introduce here. We always forget that esports are different sports at the end of the day and it’s not just one game. For the future, we would have more titles and better lineups,” declared Homran.

The grandiosity of the Gamers8 festival

Talking about why Gamers8 was organized in Riyadh, Bin Homran stated that Riyadh Boulevard is quite famous in the country and that many a festival has been organized there. “We wanted to infuse esports and entertainment. I call it esportsment,” he said. The idea behind the festival is to enable people to experience esports and at the same time attend concerts and other festivities.

According to Homran, the local esports fans were excited and happy about the Gamers8 festival and the Saudi Arabian esports athletes have been participating in smaller leagues and preparing for an event of this scale. He added that while some of the internationals were excited to experience a new culture, some of them were skeptical about visiting Riyadh. However, he noted that the international teams were more than happy about the level of competition and the hospitality provided at the event.

Additionally, Homran made it clear that the next iteration of Gamers8 will have a longer duration for qualification for various titles and that the federation will also raise awareness and campaigns about the invited teams and players by collaborating with the publishers.

Current state of esports in Saudi Arabia and future plans

“We have more than 20M gamers in Saudi,” said Homran who sees Gamers8 as an opportunity to introduce these 20M people to esports and let them choose between being a viewer, a club owner, an investor, a player, or any of the numerous occupations that are linked to the industry. “We are the biggest market when it comes to games and the publishers know about that. We are leveraging on that and we want to work with publishers and partners to expand further and utilize this opportunity and bank on an esports MENA [Middle East and North Africa] hub in the short term and an international hub in the long term.”

Addressing the initiatives that the Saudi Esports Federation has to encourage and grow the esports players of the country, Faisal Bin Homran said that the Federation has a whole program dedicated to this called “Club Support.” The Club Support program is a holistic approach to nurturing the esports scene in Saudi Arabia. Homran stated that the program is divided into separate pillars including supporting international participation, establishing new clubs, and incentivizing performances of esports teams and players and their social media presence.

Faisal Bin Homran asserted that the Federation wanted Gamers8 to be the platform that supported and nurtured esports talent not only from Saudi Arabia but from the eternity of the MENA region. He also thanked the constant love and support that the community has extended towards Gamers8. “With the Saudi Esports Federation, hopefully in the next few years, we want to give the opportunity to any player, who plays any game in an esports perspective, an opportunity, a chance, or a tournament that can take them to the international scene or take part in competitions worldwide.” Ultimately, the goal for Homran and the Saudi Esports Federation is to connect the MENA region with the publishers and make sure that the region is showcased, supported, and put in the spotlight.