From a distance, the 18 per cent share of female Saudi esports players may not seem like a number worth celebrating. But that changes when compared with the global average of just 5 per cent. This becomes nothing short of revolutionary once we zoom in on the community of Saudi female gamers who have overcome nearly every barrier placed before them – except one: The marketing industry, which still overwhelmingly prefers to spotlight male esports players, except when dealing with the traditional ‘female world’ of brands in fashion, beauty and luxury.
Yet, any number only becomes real when you come face to face with it – in this case, meet the players.
Last month, four female Saudi esports players took the stage at the Saudi Gamer Arena during Athar Festival 2025 to discuss breaking barriers and levelling up in the world of professional esports.
From the outside, they appeared quite different, each expressing herself through a different dress style. One player wore a niqab, while others chose different forms of veiling. It wasn’t planned, yet together they embodied a broader truth: There is no single template for what a Saudi female gamer or e-sports player looks like. Each arrived comfortable, confident and unmistakably herself.
Beneath these outward differences, they shared the same driving forces: Power, passion and professionalism. They also quietly defied the ‘queen bee syndrome’ so often imposed on women in male-dominated fields: The claim that female leaders distance themselves from other women or reinforce gender inequality.
Modhi Alkanhal, known as Madv, an in-game leader for Team Falcons and a Valorant star who won this year’s Best Female Player of the Year at the Saudi Esports Federation Awards, is one of the leaders shattering this stereotype. She spoke about how empowering gaming can be. She shared a message for hesitant or doubtful female players: Overcome your fear and just start somewhere. The panelists, in many ways, already act as mentors for their own community.
The players also reflected on their beginnings, sharing anecdotes of a time when society had not yet embraced esports as a space for women. Some resorted to male nicknames simply to play. Many had to justify their passion to parents who were unsure or unconvinced.
This began to shift with Vision 2030, when the government recognised esports and gaming as part of the country’s economic transformation. With that recognition came a wider acceptance of esports players, including women, under the Saudi National Gaming and Esports Strategy (NGES).
“I have a great passion for esports. I want to represent players who wear the niqab – a community that is fighting all levels of stereotypes,” said Jenan, also known as Nan, a professional Overwatch player for Twisted Minds. In 2024, her team won three majors in the Saudi Esports League. She is currently studying law and dreams of combining her academic path with her esports career.
What remains now is for the marketing world to level up and acknowledge the rise of – and the diversity within – female esports. The interest of fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands is a welcome beginning, but revolutionary progress requires broader sectors to join in. Female gamers and esports players are part of the nation’s creative economy, not a niche within its ‘pink corner’.
One reason behind the hesitation is the perception that viewership is largely male-dominated. And while global data supports this – with about 67 per cent of esports viewers being men, compared with 33 per cent women – the fact that one in every three viewers is female is not a share to dismiss. More importantly, female viewership is rapidly increasing.
Internationally, publishers and tournament organisers are already seeing the shift. Riot Games’ Valorant Game Changers, created in 2021 to support women in the competitive scene, has reported year-on-year growth in both female competitors and female viewership.
On the creator side, platforms such as Twitch and YouTube Gaming show a consistent climb in hours watched for top female streamers across genres. The audiences of female esports players are not exclusively female; many have large mixed-gender or predominantly male fan bases, proving that women are not only ‘niche’ talent, but are also becoming mainstream drivers of engagement.
By Farah Choucair, Head of Data and Insights, Webedia Arabia.
