Riyadh's Fahy Studios raises $1.75M to test if Saudi Arabia can build its own game hits

What's the deal? Fahy StudiosDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Riyadh-based mobile game developer, has raised $1.75 million in a seed round led by Saudi firms Impact46 and Merak CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The two-year-old studio will use the funds to accelerate a pipeline of hybrid-casual mobile games.

What does Fahy do? Founded in early 2023 by Hani Hashem, Owis Alsaour, and Fahad Alshibl, the studio builds hybrid-casual games — easy to pick up but built for long-term play. Its pipeline includes RAWR, a monster-collecting role-playing game; Footy Traps, a football strategy game; and Heist Party, a multiplayer loot game.

Why now? Saudi Arabia has more than 23 million gamers, about 67% of its population, and spending per player runs above global averages. Under Vision 2030, the Kingdom aims to establish 250 gaming companies and create 39,000 jobs by the end of the decade.

What's the endgame? Fahy graduated from NEOM's Level Up acceleratorDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and signed a global distribution deal with British publisher KwaleeDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → — described by the accelerator as the first international publishing agreement for a domestic Saudi studio. "Our goal is to create games that are instantly fun yet endlessly rewarding," said Hashem, Fahy's chief executive.

What could go wrong? Saudi Arabia has committed roughly $38 billion to gaming through Savvy Games GroupDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, taking control of Scopely, buying esports operators ESL and FACEIT, and moving to acquire Electronic ArtsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → in 2025. But capital can buy a studio; it cannot buy a hit. Game development remains concentrated in a handful of places — Japan, the US, China, and parts of Europe — with deep talent pools and decades of institutional memory.

The signal: At $1.75 million, Fahy's round is modest against the Kingdom's multibillion-dollar acquisitions, but it tests a harder question. Buying EA and Scopely addresses ownership; growing studios like Fahy addresses whether Saudi Arabia can build globally competitive games from close to zero at home.

Read more: Tech Revolt

Image credit: Official GDC