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Saudi National Day 2022 To Be Held In The Metaverse

Developed by creative agency The Bold Group, Saudi Arabia will host its first ever National Day as a virtual event, complete with collectable NFT wearables.

Published

4 years ago

September 19, 2022

Nour Nasir

saudi national day 2022 to be held in the metaverse

The concept behind the metaverse is that of a persistent, 3D online world combining multiple virtual spaces. The metaverse will be a place where users can work, game, and socialize together in a digital environment. On the 22-24th of September 2022, the online universe will edge closer to the mainstream, hosting the first ever Saudi National Day as a virtual event.

The pioneering online festival has been organized and developed by The Bold Group in collaboration with the King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives (Darah). The event will showcase immersive 3D spaces, enabling visitors to tour the Kingdom and soak up the local heritage, landmarks, food, culture, music, and more.

saudi national day 2022 metaverse

As well as the experience of a virtual visit to Saudi Arabia, the Bold Group’s decentralized platform will feature iconic wearable national attire in the form of NFTs. The organizers will also provide POAP (Proof of Attendance Protocol) as a limited edition collectible NFT so virtual tourists can show off their participation in the world’s first virtual Saudi National Day.

“We’re witnessing a major transformation in the Saudi digital industry where Saudi Arabia is being increasingly recognized as a key player in the global technology scene […] Disruptive technologies like the metaverse is the future, and we at The Bold Group aim to be a key player in that evolution. The idea to usher in the Saudi National Day […] was inspired by the challenge of convening people across the Kingdom’s 13 different regions to celebrate Saudi Arabia in one virtual space,” says Ziad AbuRjaily, Creative Technology Director in the Bold Experience Unit.

Also Read: Google Plans A Future Where Robots Think For Themselves

Saudi Arabia is currently at the cutting edge of the world’s digital transformation and aims to become a global technology hub. Groundbreaking events like the Saudi National Day will further highlight the region as a place where innovation and creativity flourish, putting the Kingdom at the center of the rapidly expanding metaverse.

News

Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

4 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

Also Read: Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power

The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.