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Smartphones Dominate The Saudi Online Gaming Sector
Around 73% of gamers use smartphones in the Kingdom to play online, according to a YouGov survey.
By 2026, the global gaming market is projected to surpass $200 billion in value, with mobile devices continuing to dominate the sector.
As in many other markets, smartphones are the gaming device of choice for Saudi Arabians, with nearly three-quarters of users (73%) preferring portability and convenience over consoles and PCs.
UK-based research firm YouGov found that game consoles like Microsoft’s Xbox, Sony’s PlayStation, and Nintendo’s Switch were favored by 34% of gamers, with desktops and laptops recording a 33% score. Meanwhile, high-end gaming PCs were preferred by just 14% of users.
On how much time is spent gaming per week, the biggest portion of respondents (22%) admitted they spend about 3-6 hours per day, YouGov found.
“Although mobile devices have opened the gates to casual gaming in a big way, the likes of Xbox and PlayStation continue to appeal to gaming enthusiasts, with a third of weekly gamers using dedicated gaming consoles to play video games. Men are more likely than women to say this,” YouGov analysts explained.
Like citizens in most other developed nations, social media interaction remains the top online activity for Saudi Arabians, with 41% of those surveyed engaged in it, according to experts. As you’d imagine, the likes of YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon Prime came in next, dominating the rankings ahead of other activities like checking emails and general browsing.
Also Read: Top 10 Best Video Games Set In The Middle East
As for online gaming, Saudi Arabia’s government will be pleased with the survey’s findings, as the country plans to develop 30 new gaming titles locally and create around 40,000 jobs by 2030 as part of a program known as the National Gaming and Esports Strategy.
Last month, the Kingdom began hosting Gamers8, one of the world’s largest gaming festivals, which YouGov found to be well received by residents. Saudi Arabia’s online gaming industry also received a boost with $488 million of funding from the Saudi Esports Federation, the National Development Fund, and the Social Development Bank, announced at Riyadh’s Leap Technology Conference back in February.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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