HP has announced the launch of the HP Gaming Garage Academy at the Saudi Electronic University (SEU) in the capital, Riyadh. The aim is to provide a platform for students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to explore and enhance their skills in esports management and game development, and prepare them for careers in media, information and communications technology and esports.

The launch of the HP Gaming Garage Academy is an effective initiative that encourages college and school students from around the world to acquire the skills needed to enter the gaming and esports industry.

In this context, HP will support this venture through a variety of services, including the Gaming Garage platform for free online educational courses, as well as its cooperation with AMD, which specializes in the development of computer processors and related technologies. Equipping the new academy of the Saudi Electronic University with the latest generation of OMEN devices, equipment and software

HP Gaming Garage: Equal Opportunity for Excellence

The academy’s opening will feature presentations by speakers from HP, AMD and the Saudi Electronic University; the aim is to introduce the academy and its objectives. Commenting on today’s opening event, HP’s General Manager in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia said:Fadel Saad:

We are proud to have opened the new HP Gaming Garage Academy and to be contributing through it to supporting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in its efforts to become a global hub for excellence in the gaming industry. From this perspective, we at HP emphasize the need to empower young people and provide them with equal access to educational resources to achieve digital justice in its truest sense.

He added:

We also ensured that the academy includes a comprehensive approach that offers a variety of free courses specialized in game development and esports management, thus becoming an integrated platform that embraces gaming enthusiasts and helps them hone their skills, to contribute to driving the digital economy towards prosperity.

Importantly, the opening of the HP Gaming Garage Academy supports the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in achieving its goal of becoming a leading global hub for gaming and esports by 2030, which could create over 35,000 jobs and contribute to injecting investment worth US$13.3 billion into the country’s economy.

Therefore, the Saudi Esports Federation aims to open 250 gaming companies in the Kingdom by 2030, and develop more than 30 integrated e-games, to be among the top 300 games in the world by 2031.

Promote the objectives of the electronic games sector in the Kingdom

The gaming sector has witnessed unprecedented global growth over the past decade, transforming itself into a major entertainment industry with significant economic, cultural and technical impact. The number of personal computer (PC) gamers worldwide is expected to reach approximately 909 million players by 2026, an increase of 331TP3Q3 compared to console users.

Given that the sector is rich in resources and unlimited potential, it offers a wealth of opportunities to employ young people and effectively contributes to advancing economic development by improving skills acquisition and supporting the innovation process.

HP has been working hard to provide the latest gaming devices at its academy so that the next generation of talented game developers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can take full advantage of the differentiated technologies it provides. In turn, the head of HP’s education business division commented: Mayank Dhingra saying:

Upskilling the next generation of game developers and esports pioneers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is a mission we are honored to fulfill at HP, as the Kingdom is home to approximately 23.5 million people
Video game enthusiasts, so we are fully confident in the capabilities of their young people and their tremendous potential in transforming their passion
Through games, they become a profession from which they benefit and support their country through it.

In the same context, the President of the Saudi Electronic University, Dr. Muhammad bin Yahya bin Mardi:

Through this fruitful partnership; We intend to achieve our main goal which is to train the youth of the Kingdom to become developers
Exceptional players will shine in the esports sector at an international level, which in turn will contribute to supporting
Saudi Vision 2030 is to make the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a global hub in this sector.

The latest technologies for next-generation content creators

Given HP’s commitment to quality services, it was keen to provide HP Gaming Garage Academy with the latest devices and equipment from its two leading brands, OMEN and HyperX. This package includes OMEN 16 laptops, OMEN 27-inch HD gaming monitors and HyperX Cloud III wireless headphones.

The OMEN 16 laptops are powered by Ryzen 9 6000-series CPUs from AMD, a launch partner of the HP Gaming Garage Academy.

Regarding this partnership, AMD's Europe, Middle East and Africa branch director said: James Blackman:

As AMD celebrates its 55th anniversary, we reaffirm our continued commitment to developing the most powerful educational technologies, as we believe in the importance of integrating the latest technical means into educational materials to enhance the learning system centered on the needs of students and enrich their knowledge. Therefore, we are proud to partner with HP and the Saudi Electronic University to launch the latest HP Gaming Garage Academy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which highlights the Kingdom’s great efforts in developing the e-gaming and education sectors.

He added:

AMD continues its innovations in processor development and the improvement of its technologies. It produces generations that are distinguished by speed, efficiency and high performance. These developments are expected to contribute to creating a qualitative change in the education sector and to introduce completely new concepts in the field of education and learning.

Planting the buds of creativity in the next Saudi generation

HP demonstrated its interest in sponsoring Saudi game developers earlier this year through the GameOn Challenge in cooperation with HP Gaming Garage, which it held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where it supported teams of ambitious developers in developing their own distinctive games in an ongoing hackathon event.

The GameOn Hackathon kicked off on World Heritage Day, April 18, with a challenge in which participants compete to develop a prototype of a game that addresses themes related to culture and heritage. The initial sponsorship phase will conclude with the awarding of the best project to one of the participating teams on Thursday, June 13, at the Saudi Electronic University.