Qiddiya Gaming gives a glimpse of the gaming city during TGS 2024

Announced back in 2023 by Qiddiya Investment Company, Saudi Arabia is all set to create their gaming city, popularly known as Qiddiya Gaming City, it is claimed to be the biggest esports city currently in development. Most recently, the gaming city made an appearance at the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) with a virtual city as a glimpse of what’s to come.

The original Gaming City is supposed to be a cyberpunk-themed futuristic UBAR, and this was the theme Qiddiya Gaming went for at the TGS 2024. With this, people got a first glimpse of the city Qiddiya Gaming is trying to achieve, and it certainly is ambitious.

“In UBAR cyberpunk-themed apartments are designed for gamers, jobs to redefine the future of gaming, achievements unlock access to elite lounges, and nightlife that pulsates–all in a city that can be played through IRL–bringing it together. Finally, UBAR is a place for the cyberpunk community to truly belong,” said Arnab Bhattacharya, Director of Strategy for Qiddiya Gaming.

What is Qiddiya’s Gaming City?

For those who still hasn’t heard of the gaming city, it is set to be an IRL gaming city similar to what people saw in the sci-fi movie ‘Ready Player One’. Initial announcements reveal esports venues, stadiums, and an annual visit scale of over 10 million people. The esports venues will be located inside the gaming district inside and are said to feature a seating capacity of 73,000.

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“Qiddiya City’s Gaming & Esports District will offer an immersive experience for visitors and residents to play, work, and live in fantastical themed spaces. It will be the global epicenter of gaming and esports, featuring multiple innovative esports arenas, esports team facilities, boot camps and regional headquarters to some of the world’s largest game companies,” the official description says.

While the TGS showcase was a small glimpse, the full city is expected to be on par with San Francisco in size, which to be honest seems like an exaggeration. The work on the gaming city is currently underway and is expected to be completed by 2030. The project started with a budget of over $2.5 billion, and has an expected turnover of $36 billion per year. As per the 

Will Qiddiya Gaming actually achieve its goal?

This right here is the million-dollar question. Just by looking at the concept of what to expect, it is clear that the company is aiming much higher. In terms of scale and scope, it is currently not possible to determine if the project will actually meet everyone’s expectations.

Most of the time, projects like these do not turn out to be as expected due to different factors. The biggest of all is the budget and technological limitations. There is still hope that the project will actually finish, considering other construction projects in Saudi Arabia and their push towards esports.

Hopefully, the technology will also be there by the time the city is completed, as the entire virtual gaming theme depends on people actually being able to immerse in the city. With the vision they have created, it is going to be very hard to meet people’s demands.