Kuwaiti telecommunications provider Zain Group has launched a new esports brand, Zain Esports. 

Zain Esports kicked things off yesterday with the Middle Eastern Challenge, a FIFA tournament run in partnership with Electronic Arts. With the help of Australian esports agency eGen, the company has enlisted 2018 FIFA eWorld champions and Saudi national Mossad “Msdossary” Aldossary to help promote the tournament. 

Qualifying rounds started yesterday, 1 December, and will run through to 5 December, with playoffs and finals taking place from 8 – 9 December, and 15 – 16 December respectively. 

Following the inaugural Middle Eastern Challenge, Zain Esports plans to host “multiple flagship and community events” over the coming year, offering both cash and merchandise prizes. 

Discussing the launch of Zain Esports, Group Chief Investment and Digital Officer, Malek Hammoud, said:

“We are extremely excited with the launch of Zain esports, which marks a significant achievement in Zain’s diversification strategy and investment outside of areas related strictly to telco. This initiative meets a number of different goals for Zain, including youth development, enriching the brand, fostering innovation and digital opportunities on our 4G, 5G and Fiber networks, and creating shareholder value.

“We have every expectation that Zain esports is going to develop into a regional and international gaming powerhouse, and we are highly pleased and motivated to be working with recognized gaming partners and developers.”

The initiative is designed to help Zain Group tap younger audiences, with the company saying it has seen a 300% increase in gaming-related data usage since February 2020, across its 4G, 5G, and Fiber to the Home (FTTH) services. 

Zain Group serves 48.9M active telecoms customers across the Middle East and Africa, including Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and South Sudan. It also has a 15.5% stake in INWI in Morocco. 

AYO.NEWS says:

While there’s no denying the Middle East and North Africa are underserved when it comes to esports, the region has a lot of promise, with a rapidly growing gaming community, especially in mobile titles. 

Just last month, we reported that Jordanian organisation FATE Esports was set to be the first in the region to launch a fan engagement app via Blocksport. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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