Games for Change highlights game startups in the Middle East

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I made another trek to the Middle East this week to attend the Games for Change event in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

The Games for Change event is built on the notion that games have power beyond entertainment. And it was a way for me to witness the rapid growth in the region and the interest in the game industry. Like Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Turkey and other hot spots in the area, Abu Dhabi wants to grow its own game ecosystem. It’s an enormously wealthy place, as evidenced by the event — sponsored by the U.S. Embassy, the Department of Culture and Tourism and AD Gaming — held at the W Hotel on Yas Island, which is a hotel built alongside a Ferrari race track, and a palatial hotel where we had dinner one night.

It’s part of a larger region that has a lot of tragedy and violence now. But the people I saw there were hopeful about games, which can establish human connections across nations and cultures. In my own talk, I advocated for the idea that games are something that can bring peace as they rise from a subculture to a mass culture around the world.

AD Gaming is a government-led initiative to transform the UAE into a gaming hub, with big efforts under way in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi. In Dubai, there are an estimated 90 gaming and esports startups already. In the later, the Games for Change group toured the Yas Creative Hub, where there is a huge building with space set aside for tons of game startups.

In working with Games for Change, AD Gaming wants to establish footholds not only in for-profit games, but in other kinds of initiatives like games for learning.

There is some traction