In order to accelerate the development of the local play industry and achieve the strategic goal of making the United Arab Emirates a global centre for media and digital entertainment, a game board has recently been formally established in Dubai. The Commission will focus on building strategic partnerships, optimizing the industrial service system and fostering industrial ecology, and will contribute to the diversification of the national economy through the provision of professional training, business support and international resource matching.
In its statement, the Dubai Multi-Business Centre (DMCC) emphasized that the core tasks of the Commission included attracting high-level international talent and expanding wider market opportunities for investors, developers and content creators. This initiative is closely linked to the Dubai Game Plan 2033 (DPG33), which provides the United Arab Emirates with a long-term path towards a global competitive game ecology. According to the latest data from the Dubai Future Foundation, the United Arab Emirates has now brought together more than 350 play enterprises, 260 of which focus on game development. Since the launch of the DPG33 in 2023, 67 per cent of game companies have established their headquarters in Dubai, highlighting their regional centrality. In recent years, the number of new enterprises has exceeded 60, 12 per cent of which are large multinationals, reflecting the confidence of international capital and professional forces in local markets.
At the Dubai Game Fair Summit in 2024, the Dubai Economic Development Corporation, CEO Hadi Badri, and the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, Digital Business Director, Abdullah Algaoud, elaborated on government support policies, emphasizing the need to optimize, provide capital support and upgrade the overall enabling sector through regulations. The Summit will be reconvened from 20 to 21 May 2026 as a key platform for linking regions with international developers, distributors and investors. The United Arab Emirates has made it clear that it aims to make its play industry the top global centre by 2033. The Games Committee will play a central coordinating role in this process, helping Dubai to take the lead in the global digital entertainment landscape by integrating policy resources, directing strategic investments, promoting technological research and development and developing human resources, and building sustainable industrial ecosystems.
