Bigo Live and MLBB Build Next-Gen Esports Experiences for the Saudi Vision 2030 Landscape
Saudi Arabia is fast becoming a powerhouse in global gaming. The Esports World Cup 2025 featuring a record-breaking USD 70 million prize pool and 24 official game titles underscores this shift from niche to mainstream gaming prominence.
Under Vision 2030 and the National Gaming & Esports Strategy, the Kingdom’s gaming and esports sector is expected to contribute USD 13.3 billion to GDP and generate over 39,000 jobs by 2030. [1] With 21 million gamers across the country and USD 1.1 billion in annual revenue, the groundwork for a thriving, sustainable digital economy is already taking shape. [2]
But sustaining this growth requires more than investment and infrastructure. It requires building meaningful ecosystems where creators, communities, and intellectual property (IP) thrive together. That’s the shared focus of Bigo Live and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB), who are working together to define the next chapter of esports in the region.
Bigo Live and MLBB have partnered on multiple successful events, including livestreaming the M6 World Championship and the MPL MENA 2025. The M6 event drew over 4.13 million peak viewers globally, with an average of 709,000 viewers across 120 hours of live broadcast, making it one of MLBB’s most-watched tournaments to date. [3]
The collaboration is now evolving into something more ambitious: a blueprint for hybrid esports experiences. These new formats combine physical and virtual elements, such as pro-player and streamer crossover leagues, offline community events, and gamified, storyline-driven tournaments designed to engage audiences across platforms and locations.
“Our ongoing collaboration with Bigo Live allows us to experiment with new formats that deepen fan engagement while expanding the visibility of mobile esports across MENA,” said Ray Ng, Head of Esports Ecosystem at MLBB. “As the region accelerates its investment in digital entertainment, we see co-creating hybrid experiences as a key to unlocking the next phase of growth.”
Bigo Live’s recent co-streamer activations during the M6 Championship sparked strong momentum, particularly among first-time esports audiences in the Gulf. The platform’s original tournaments like Bigo Mobile Masters (BMM), which drew 70+ teams in its most recent edition, and initiatives like the all-women’s Bigo Mobile Valkyries tournament during Ramadan, have created new entry points for viewers and talent alike.
Bigo Live has reported a 19.05% month-on-month increase in new gaming users in MENA, indicating strong regional resonance with its esports programming.
Crucially, Bigo Live’s esports strategy is anchored in a framework of creator enablement: supporting streamers with tools, infrastructure, and monetization options that make esports a sustainable path. Its three-tier approach (Support, Belonging, and Appreciation) aligns with Vision 2030’s goals of digital transformation and cultural enrichment by providing:
- Training initiatives for emerging streamers in Riyadh, Jeddah, and beyond to build esports hosting, commentary, and digital production capabilities
- Provision of tools and livestream infrastructure to enable community tournaments and offline event hosting hence supporting local producer networks
- Revenue features including virtual gifting, subscriptions, and branded community activations designed to monetize fan engagement on the platform
These initiatives empower a new generation of Saudi content creators to participate meaningfully in the digital economy while building communities around gaming and storytelling.
As esports, IP, and fan economies converge, Bigo Live and MLBB are co-creating a participatory future, one where fans are also creators and collaborators.
By pairing scalable livestreaming infrastructure with culturally relevant content and creator support, both platforms are helping esports evolve into an engine for digital growth in Saudi Arabia and the wider MENA region.
