CITC unveils gaming performance by Saudi Arabia’s telecom service providers

The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) released its second quarter 2021 ‘game mode’ report, which ranked Saudi Arabia’s telecom service providers based on their video game performance.

According to the game mode report for this quarter, Zain and STC tied for top place in terms of quarterly performance in most video games. In four of the five games in Saudi Arabia, Zain and STC outperformed Mobily and Salam (ITC before) with reduced latency: Fortnite, FIFA 21, Apex Legends, and Dota 2. Zain and STC achieved an average reaction time of 12 milliseconds in Fortnite. This compared favorably with Mobily and Salam at 24 milliseconds.

#هيئة_الاتصالات تكشف عن أداء مقدمي خدمات الاتصالات في المملكة لأشهر الألعاب الإلكترونية؛ بحسب تقرير #GameMode للربع الثاني من 2021م.
?https://t.co/SWJuB32x74 pic.twitter.com/bGswzHNJEK

— هيئة الاتصالات وتقنية المعلومات (@CITC_SA) August 3, 2021

Game mode also put the soccer video game FIFA to the test, and Zain and STC tied for first place among operators with an average response time of 13 milliseconds, followed by Mobily at 23 milliseconds, and Salam at 24 milliseconds.

As for the online game DOTA 2, Zain topped the list with 20 milliseconds, and STC closely following at 23 milliseconds, while Salam scored 25 milliseconds, and Mobily came last with 31 milliseconds.

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The report is part of CITC’s framework for promoting healthy competition among telecom providers in order to deliver the greatest experience for gamers, increase market transparency, and give vital data and indications on the sector’s performance to investors and the general public.

The Q2 2021 game mode report also unveils valuable insights on the overall latency performance of telecom companies within fixed, mobile and 5G networks.

What is Game Mode Initiative?
The CITC publishes a quarterly report as part of its game mode initiative, launched by the commission to support the video games sector in Saudi Arabia by improving the quality of user experience for video games, and launching stimulation initiatives that focus on developing this sector.