Our Interview with Square Enix: What does the legendary company think about the raise of the gaming scene in Saudi Arabia?

After recently announcing a unique Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth exhibition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, We had the chance to speak with Square Enix about their new endeavor in the MENA region, specifically Saudi Arabia, and more details about the new Final Fantasy exhibition.

As always, you can check the Arabic version of the interview here: https://arabgamerz.com/featured/our-interview-with-square-enix-about-new-the-new-ff7-rebirth-exhibition-in-ksa/

1.??What can you tell us about the Final Fantasy VVI Rebirth exhibition in Riyadh??

The exhibition is an exciting opportunity for us to connect with our fans here in Riyadh. This is first time for us in the Middle East and seeing the level of enthusiasm and passion from fans who share our love for the game is truly overwhelming.?

After launching the game back in February, our strategy has been focused on bringing to life the remake of the game with a new light – one that can resonate with both legacy fans and new gaming audiences.?

Be it through new gameplays or special additions that would build anticipation for old and new-time gamers, the game is designed to appeal to both generations. It is about recreating the unforgettable bonds that connect people – ones that can be seen in the gameplay, the storyline and the combat elements, upon which the game is built.?

The exhibition features an immersive 15,000 sq ft space, an iconic recreation of the legendary city of Midgar, including scaled replicas of iconic in-game vehicles like the Tiny Bronco and the Buggy. All of which are life-size renditions that have appealed to many of our fans here in Saudi.?

To that, our presence here today in partnership with Qiddiya and at the Esports World Cup affirms our dedication to sharing our love for the game with our fans.

Seeing their reaction and the appetite for such genre of games over the last two weeks makes us extremely proud. The Saudi gaming community sure has exceeded our expectations. ?

?

2.?Could we see a similar interactive exhibit in Riyadh for other Final Fantasy games??

The response from fans so far has been phenomenal. The comments have been so encouraging that we will be actively exploring new potential avenues to bring more immersive experiences to Riyadh, and potentially other regions.?

We learned so much from that and this can be a potential starting point to progressing future exhibition and gaming experiences in the Saudi market.?

What we’ve also learned from working with our partners at Qiddiya, is that we are certainly looking at mid- and long-term projects. We’ve also noticed that there’s a lot of interest from the Kingdom to venture further into the entertainment and gaming space, specifically with video gaming and esports, like anime. This, of course, encourages us to showcase more of our fantastic games that we believe would appeal to our fans in Saud Arabia.?

While we don’t have any immediate concrete plans to announce, we’re excited about the future and the potential opportunities that would allow us to engage more with our fans from the region.?

3.?With this increasing interest from Square Enix in the Arab region and Saudi Arabia, will we see greater support for the Arabic language by the company in its upcoming games??

This is an interesting question. To be honest, we’ve been asked this question quite frequently. We know this could be a promising way for us to further connect with our fans in the Middle East.?

Just like in the development of any video game, such renditions require a lot of time, effort and rigorous trials to ensure the gameplay lives up to the expectations of fans. While this can be a future target to look forward to, at the moment, we are still in the first phase of our integration into the market.

We’ve definitely noticed the growing interest in gaming within the Arab region and we are mindful of the need to further entertain our Arabic-speaking audience.?

Although we don’t have specific details to share right now, we are actively considering how to enhance our localization efforts to better tailor the gameplay experience for our local fans.?

4.?As one of the largest and most prestigious gaming companies, from Square Enix’s perspective, in your opinion, why has the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia become an important and major place for the gaming and e-sports market?

We travel around the world to share our games with fans, like in the US and Europe. Interestingly, data shows that the average age of gamers in these regions is rising. In contrast, in Saudi Arabia, the gaming population is predominantly younger. This difference highlights the strong enthusiasm that we’ve noticed for gaming among youth and young fans in Saudi.

In Japan, we keep following the news about Saudi Arabia’s developments in the entertainment and gaming space. While the progress is impressive, being here today and seeing fans’ live reactions exceeds our expectations. It only confirms the vast potential and the love that fans and gamers have for the gaming industry.?

We would love to entertain fans with curated experiences that they can easily connect to and our presence here today is a promising step towards the future.

Going forward, there’s surely going to be a bigger market for us to venture into. In terms our strategy, we see the Middle East and the Saudi region growing in that perspective and we’re really excited for what’s to come.?

5.?Will we ever see an all-new Square Enix game announced exclusively in Riyadh and during events like the E-Sports World Cup?

While we can’t disclose any future projects, we are proud to be here with fans in the heart of Saudi, in Riyadh, along with our partners Qiddiya, who have made it all possible.

Being here at the Esports World Cup is a wonderful opportunity for us to share our insights and the making of the game with our passionate FINAL FANTASY fanbase. We realize that the creation of an interactive experience would bring fans closer and we’re happy to have delivered on our promise.

Our intention is to allow fans to enjoy the game and today, we’ve taken an initial step in the Saudi market by allowing them to come face to face with their beloved characters at this unique exhibition.

On this occasion, we would like to thank our partners Qiddiya for facilitating this opportunity and this exclusive encounter with our fans in Saudi.