Livestreaming app Bigo Live to sponsor Saudi gamers

Games livestreaming app Bigo Live says it is offering sponsorship and free esports streaming on its app to 3,000 gamers in the Middle East.

The intention is to help enhance regional gamers’ skills and talents, and facilitate potential career opportunities within the industry, the company says.

Bigo Live adds that it will onboard celebrity gamers onto the platform and assist with the identification and development of talent from those who want to pursue pro gaming. The app will feature a series of online leagues, in which amateur gamers will have the chance to compete with each other as well as with professionals, to ultimately represent Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East region in global esports tournaments.

A spokesperson from Bigo Live’s parent company, BIGO Technology says esports can become a career for a lot of gamers as the space grows and options for gamers boom.

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In the U.S., Bigo Live recently launched Gaming House 2020, an initiative that aims to provide a platform for global esports brands to access mainstream audiences across the world. The initiative features a large-scale Fortnite tournament has generated more than 2.3 million views on the Bigo Live platform, the company says.

The company wants to replicate a similar model for gaming in the Middle East, it added.

A new report by research firm Strategy& titled ‘Skin in the Game’, reveals that the GCC esports market is undergoing rapid expansion, and is estimated to be worth $821m by 2021, up from $693m in 2017. Saudi Arabia specifically will expand rapidly and is expected to emerge as the largest gaming market among GCC countries.

Bigo Live’s user base the MENA region grew by over 30 per cent during the second quarter of 2020.