Text / Akexia
Recently, True Gamers, an esports company in the United Arab Emirates, announced that it will build a large esports island in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Vlad Belyanin, the project's initiator and co-founder of True Gamers, said that the total cost of the esports island is about $1 billion, of which True Gamers will pay between $280 million and $300 million.
According to information released by True Gamers, the company is currently in talks with "well-known investors" about the project. According to Vlad Belyanin, the investment will pay for itself within 10 years.
The planned esports island in Abu Dhabi will include a Digital Tower that will include a central area for convention and exhibitions, an esports startup incubation center, and esports studios, as well as an esports venue called TG Arena. In addition to the competition function, the venue will also offer a gaming area for about 100 PCs, a virtual racing area, and a console gaming area.
In addition, the island will also provide training and accommodation facilities for global esports clubs, as well as corresponding accommodation services for tourists. Among them, the e-sports theme hotel called GG Resort has 200 rooms, all of which are equipped with e-sports gaming equipment. True Gamers said the esports island is a dedicated area for esports training and related industries, and is the first of its kind in the world.
图片来自Ture Gamers。
One thing worth mentioning about GG Resort is that True Gamers announced that they plan to link up with PUBG to provide a "parachute check-in" service for residents - if this plan can be achieved, then tourists will have the option to parachute to the island in a real person.
True Gamers is an esports company founded in 2019 with the goal of making video games more accessible and providing players with an immersive experience by combining entertainment, technology, and competitive elements.
So far, True Gamers' main business is offline e-sports venues, which are essentially offline Internet cafes that include terminal games and console game services. The brand's subsidiary, Villanova, is one of Abu Dhabi's most popular esports entertainment venues. Relying on the offline venue brand of Ture Gamers, the company has simultaneously developed e-sports guidance, amateur tournament hosting and other businesses.
Vlad Belyanin，图片来自Ture Gamers。
Prior to founding True Gamers, the company's co-founder and chief product officer, Vlad Belyanin, had made his mark on the professional CS esports scene in 2006 without much success. After that, Vlad worked as a freelancer in marketing and as a marketing director at Cluborg Group, a consumer services company specialising in franchising – an experience that set the tone for True Gamers.
In 2019, Vlad decided to return to the esports industry, and in that year, Vlad Belyanin invested $80,000 to create the first offline esports venue under the True Gamers brand.
After years of user accumulation and trial and error, Ture Gamers has reached a certain scale. In early 2023, True Gamers raised $13.5 million to expand the MENA market. By the end of 2023, True Gamers has opened 124 offline esports venues. True Gamers' main revenue comes from the sale of memberships in offline esports venues, as well as franchise fees.
According to a report by Arab News in January this year, True Gamers generated more than $20 million in revenue in 2023 alone, attracting more than 450,000 players. At that time, True Gamers was valued at about $24 million.
This excellent answer quickly attracted a major investor for True Gamers, Falak, a venture capital firm from Saudi Arabia.
In early 2024, Falak finalized a $45 million funding round with True Gamers – the largest investment the company has received since its inception.
Falak said the investment will be used primarily to help True Gamers expand into the local Saudi market, which plans to open 130 offline venues in the region on a franchise basis by 2030. Within the framework of the master franchise, the franchisee will receive commercial and technical documentation, the required use of equipment, staff training, marketing tools and a brand manual.
As for the future development of the True Gamers brand, Vlad Belyanin also said that in addition to consolidating the existing business in the United Arab Emirates and the Middle East and North Africa, True Gamers will focus on the expansion of the Saudi Arabia region in the future, and radiate its business scope to Egypt and other Gulf countries. In the first half of this year, True Gamers' first venue in Saudi Arabia will be in Jeddah.
图片来自The National。
Back to Ture Gamers' "$1 Billion Esports Island" plan.
Anton Vasilenko, CEO and Co-Founder of True Gamers, said: "True Gamers' plans for the esports island were followed by a comprehensive market analysis of the esports landscape in the MENA region and the growth trajectory of the global esports industry by bringing together more than 30 esports clubs and research firms around the world. This in-depth analysis leads us to believe that our business model will help bring the esports island to life. 」
Judging from the public statements of the two True Gamers executives, the company has great confidence in the development trend of the esports industry in Saudi Arabia and the role of the esports industry in Vision 2030.
In fact, this has also become the judgment of more practitioners around the world on the Saudi esports industry in recent years - whether this seemingly too large esports island project can eventually succeed or not, at least some people have used the Saudi people's esports ambitions to nourish their own esports careers.