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Dubai’s DMCC Gaming Centre Adds To A $1.8B Industry
The popularity of gaming has exploded across the MENA region, with Dubai aiming to become the regional capital for talented developers and startups.
Dubai’s DMCC (a flagship free trade zone at the center of the Jumeirah Lakes Towers district) has announced the opening of the DMCC Gaming Centre. The move comes as MENA gaming revenues are predicted to top $5 billion by 2025, with Dubai’s own economy increasingly benefiting from a thriving Esports and gaming scene, as well as a concerted push to bring VR and Metaverse startups to the region.
The DMCC is already home to over 50 games companies, with developers, producers, and Esports teams flocking to this increasingly popular destination. Dubai’s world-class infrastructure and unparalleled economic opportunities make the new DMCC gaming center an enticing proposition for startups. Members will gain access to the Esports community through regular networking events, tournaments, and more, along with support from Esports organization YaLLa , and tech ecosystem builder Astrolabs.
Earlier this year, DMCC joined global VC firm Brinc to open up $150 million in accelerator program funding — known as ZK Advancer and The Sandbox Metaverse — as developers continue experimenting with the massive potential of blockchain and web3 technologies.
Also Read: Metaverse Will Bring $15B Annually To Gulf Economies By 2030
“As our roster of gaming companies expands rapidly and we see more DMCC Crypto Centre members enter the blockchain gaming space, there is no better time to formalize our efforts by opening the DMCC Gaming Centre. Through this facility, we will solidify Dubai’s position as a global hub for all gaming and Esports,” says Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, DMCC.
Gaming is now the most popular form of digital entertainment worldwide, and research undertaken by DMCC shows that 8 out of 10 people from gen Z and the millennial demographic are gamers. Enthusiasts spend upwards of seven hours each week on their hobby, and 10% of the entire online population now enjoys Esports tournaments.
News
Google Releases Veo 2 AI Video Tool To MENA Users
The state-of-the-art video generation model is now available in Gemini, offering realistic AI-generated videos with better physics, motion, and detail.
Starting today, users of Gemini Advanced in the MENA region — and globally — can tap into Veo 2, Google’s next-generation video model.
Originally unveiled in 2024, Veo 2 has now been fully integrated into Gemini, supporting multiple languages including Arabic and English. The rollout now brings Google’s most advanced video AI directly into the hands of everyday users.
Veo 2 builds on the foundations of its predecessor with a more sophisticated understanding of the physical world. It’s designed to produce high-fidelity video content with cinematic detail, realistic motion, and greater visual consistency across a wide range of subjects and styles. Whether recreating natural landscapes, human interactions, or stylized environments, the model is capable of interpreting and translating written prompts into eight-second 720p videos that feel almost handcrafted.
Users can generate content directly through the Gemini platform — either via the web or mobile apps. The experience is pretty straightforward: users enter a text-based prompt, and Veo 2 returns a video in 16:9 landscape format, delivered as an MP4 file. These aren’t just generic clips — they can reflect creative, abstract, or highly specific scenarios, making the tool especially useful for content creators, marketers, or anyone experimenting with visual storytelling.
Also Read: Getting Started With Google Gemini: A Beginner’s Guide
To ensure transparency, each video is embedded with SynthID — a digital watermark developed by Google’s DeepMind. The watermark is invisible to the human eye but persists across editing, compression, and sharing. It identifies the video as AI-generated, addressing concerns around misinformation and media authenticity.
While Veo 2 is still in its early phases of public rollout, the technology is part of a broader push by Google to democratize advanced AI tools. With text-to-image, code generation, and now video creation integrated into Gemini, Google is positioning the platform as a full-spectrum creative assistant.
Access to Veo 2 starts today and will continue expanding in the coming weeks. Interested users can try it out at gemini.google.com or through the Gemini app on Android and iOS.
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