Bigo Live and FunPlus’s State of Survival to Invest in Developing an Arabic Friendly Gaming Community

Dubai-UAE:gulftech – Bigo Live, one of the leading social livestreaming platforms, and FunPlus, a leading mobile game developer and publisher are co-hosting a 20-day competition with the popular survival game State of Survival (SOS) in an effort to recognize, reward and encourage dedicated gamers to further enhance their skills and build their communities from across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The competition that will take place on Bigo Live will run from 25 February 2022 to 16 March 2022.

State of Survival is a strategy survival game that is quite popular across the MENA region. In this free to play game players will have to survive in this post-apocalyptic world inhabited by an infection where, with the help of their friends, they’ll have to fight against zombies and build a city that survives the constant waves of monsters. In 2021, ahead of its two-year anniversary, the game has surpassed 100 million downloads and it is currently ranked amongst the top 10 strategy games on the Google Play store according to App Annie. 

Following gamers by watching their gameplay live has become a trend in the MENA region. Bigo Live is constantly investing to improve user experience and make it more attractive to the Arabic speakers and gamers – such as making Arabic the default language for the region. This in turn makes the live streaming platform more accessible to Arabic-speaking gamers and enthusiasts who now have the opportunity to follow their passion, interact with their favorite gamers and join the ever-growing gaming communities where Arabic is the preferred language of communication. 

At present, top alliances from SOS that include (uno)united from many, (BBB)Burn Baby Burn, (ZrO) Zero Tolerance have joined the Bigo Live gaming community with more joining daily. 7,000 USD cash prizes and a variety of in-game incentives which worth up to over 140,000 USD are made available for viewers and top SOS alliances. The top 25 teams with the most members and the 15 best-performing gamers will be awarded in-game props. In addition, alliance leaders that compete on Bigo Live will have the opportunity to showcase their exceptional skills during live streams, and viewers who support the gamers by leaving comments during their livestreams will have a chance to win fabulous prizes!

“We are very proud of the success that State of Survival has achieved in the MENA market since its launch and we’re looking forward to providing even more opportunities for local gamers to enjoy our content through collaborations like this one”, said Chris Petrovic, Chief Business Officer. “Partnering with a leading livestreaming platform like Bigo Live allows us to engage with this important audience and we are delighted that, with this agreement, players can win great prizes as well!”

Gaming is a booming industry in the MENA region. In fact, according to a recent report by Niko Partners, video game revenue from Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt will reach USD 3.14 billion in 2025 up from USD 1.76 billion in 2021 with the number of players rising from 65.32 million to 85.76 million.

“The mobile gaming environment in the MENA region is booming and ripe with opportunity,” said a Spokesperson from Bigo Live. “SOS has also surged in popularity recently across the region and partnering with them will provide significant opportunities to users on both platforms. We are committed to not only our broadcasters and SOS gamers but the entire mobile gaming community in the region – especially our Arabic-speaking gamers and gaming enthusiasts.”

The MENA region is not only home to some of the brightest and most talented gamers in the world, it also accounts for a significant portion of the global mobile games market. The Middle East itself makes up approximately 23 percent of the global market – almost a quarter of the entire world’s gaming industry and growing.

With the introduction of more infrastructure and the rising smartphone penetration rates, we can expect MENA mobile gaming to continue to multiply in most, if not all areas of the region. With over 422 million Arabic speakers and a mobile gaming community that is considered the world’s fastest-growing, the MENA region is headed towards a promising, rewarding, and inclusive future.