DUBAI, 12th September, 2026 (WAM) --Under the umbrella of the Arab Media Summit 2026, taking place from 15 to 17 September at the Dubai World Trade Centre, the Dubai Films and Games Commission (DFGC), a Dubai Media Council entity, will organise the ‘Games Forum,’ bringing together industry experts, officials, corporate leaders, and representatives of specialised companies and platforms from around the world.
Running through the Summit, the forum will explore the future of the rapidly growing gaming industry and deliberate on its economic, creative and social dimensions, as well as its role in shaping the future of digital and interactive content.
The Games Forum represents a dedicated platform within the summit’s wider agenda, addressing the rapid transformations reshaping the global digital entertainment industry. It also highlights gaming’s potential as one of the most promising sectors within the knowledge economy and as an integrated industry at the intersection of technology, creativity, investment, and entrepreneurship.
The forum will look at gaming from different perspectives, including its business dynamics, enabling platforms, and the role gaming can play beyond entertainment by supporting education, inspiring social impact, and engaging diverse audiences.
It will examine the investment opportunities gaming offers, the evolution of its business models, and the relationship between gaming companies, platforms, and players. Discussions will also address the sector’s role in creating novel digital experiences and interactive content, empowering talent, and developing advanced production ecosystems capable of keeping pace with technological shifts.
Organising the forum under the umbrella of the Arab Media Summit reflects Dubai’s vision of reinforcing its standing as a hub for the creative economy and a global destination for innovation-driven and future-focused industries.
Faisal Kazim, Games Commissioner, Dubai Films and Games Commission, said, “The media world can no longer treat gaming as a side conversation. It is one of the largest industries in the world, and the decisions being made inside it, on business models, on talent, on where studios choose to base themselves, are being made right now. The Games Forum brings those decisions to one table in Dubai: the leaders building billion-dollar companies, the platforms reshaping how games reach players, and the people proving that games can educate and drive real social impact. The centre of gravity in global gaming is shifting, and Dubai is where it lands.”
The forum will feature a series of sessions focused on the gaming sector’s boundless growth potential. Berkley Egenes, Chief Marketing and Growth Officer at Xsolla, and Kishan Palija, CEO of Geekay Group will feature in a session titled ‘Who Owns the Shelf?’ Moderated by Siobhan McCarthy, Head of Communications, Tencent, Middle East, it will examine how game distribution is being pulled in 3 directions at once: publishers moving to sell direct to consumers, digital platforms expanding fast, and players holding on to their passion for physical copies.
The human and social impact of gaming will be discussed in a session titled ‘Are Games Quietly Becoming a Force for Good?’ It features Jude Ower, Founder and Host of the Good Game Club Podcast; Sibel Saylan, Partnership Specialist, UNDP; and Mona Ghander, Vice President of Innovative Solutions and Strategic Partnerships at the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation.
Moderated by Faisal Kazim, Games Commissioner at the Dubai Films and Games Commission, it will look at how gaming’s positive impact has matured into organised practice: accessibility entering the mainstream, community and charity programmes helping players with disabilities, games entering classrooms, and serious games research and therapeutic design.