Good Gaming Has an Address. It's Dubai.

Good gaming, the belief that games are a force for good, for the people who play them and the people who make them – is the idea Dubai has built its Gamescom pavilion around. Twelve months ago, that belief showed up in Cologne as a handful of games on a modest stand, the Middle East's first government-led gaming pavilion.

This year, it's a thriving ecosystem. The Dubai Films and Games Commission (DFGC), established under the Dubai Media Council, is leading the emirate's largest pavilion to date, backed by a delegation that includes Dubai Economy and Tourism, Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, Dubai Future Foundation, Dubai Chambers, the Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai Police, Dubai Multi Commodities Centre and members of the private sector.

Much of the growth is written into the map. A working day in Dubai opens with Seoul and Tokyo already at their desks and closes as Los Angeles comes online, letting a single studio hold the whole industry inside one calendar. The market sits just as close, one of the youngest, most mobile-first player bases anywhere, on a route publishers, platforms and investors already fly. Dubai folds a lot of distance into one address.

"Our presence at Gamescom is not about taking part in a show; we are building a complete network that leads our partners and every stakeholder to choose Dubai as their base for years to come."
– Hesham Al Olama, CEO of the Media Development Sector at Dubai Media Council

The numbers back it up. Between 2024 and 2026, the number of gaming companies operating in Dubai grew from over 368 to 495, a 34.5% increase in two years, and the clearest measure yet of gaming companies choosing to build and scale here.

The industry is moving with it. The Good Game Club podcast, which focuses on the positive impact games can have on people and the planet, is relocating to Dubai, bringing its coverage into the same ecosystem it's been reporting on from the outside.

The numbers on the stand tell the same story of growth. More than 10 showcases will be on show this year, alongside a live stage for panels and fireside chats and dedicated rooms where studios, publishers and investors get business done – a working ecosystem where, a year ago, there was a showcase. Among those fireside chats, one carries the pavilion‘s belief in good gaming furthest. On Day 2, at 11am, the pavilion welcomes Robert Steen, father of the late Mats Steen, known in World of Warcraft as Ibelin, to speak about the impact Mats continues to have on communities around the world.

"Dubai has a way of entering an industry and, in no time, becoming impossible to leave out of the conversation. We have done it in aviation, in the economy, in tourism. Gaming is next" says Hesham Al Olama, CEO of the Media Development Sector at Dubai Media Council. "Our presence at Gamescom is not about taking part in a show; we are building a complete network that leads our partners and every stakeholder to choose Dubai as their base for years to come."

"There is a tendency among some people to view gaming purely from an entertainment lens, but we count it among society's most powerful creative forays," says Faisal Kazim, Games Commissioner at DFGC. "Innovatively built games can impart knowledge, connect people who would never otherwise meet and build real careers. Good gaming runs through all of it, the belief that games are a force for good, for the people who play them and the people who make them."

That belief now has infrastructure behind it. 495 gaming companies have set up in Dubai, the GameForward accelerator is backing the newer ones, and developer grants are pulling international teams. All of it sits under the Dubai Program for Gaming 2033 and the plan is to lift the emirate into the world's top 10 gaming destinations by 2033. The method behind it is deliberate, enabling policy first, then funding and connection, then a local bench of talent that stays. Together, it's work aimed at roughly 30,000 jobs and close to USD 1 billion added to Dubai's GDP by 2033.

Twelve months ago, Dubai's pavilion was proof of intent. This year, it's proof that Dubai already decided to matter in gaming.

Find the Dubai pavilion at Hall 04.1, Stand A011g-B010g.