‘Three new gaming labs to open amid growing interest in development’

AMMAN — Three new gaming labs will be opened across Jordan this year to meet a growing interest in digital game development, the Jordan Gaming Lab said on Saturday.

“We are seeing a great appetite among young Jordanians to learn how to develop digital games… We have many talents and we have the tools, so we expect success stories as we see a large potential to excel in this industry,” said Nour Khrais, the chairman of the Jordan Gaming Lab.

The King Abdullah II Fund for Development (KAFD) will establish fully equipped gaming labs at Al Hussein Bin Talal University in Maan, and in Zarqa and Karak by the end of the year, Khrais said. 

At present, there are three gaming labs — in Amman, Irbid and Aqaba — which aim to teach young people the skills to develop digital games and to support game developers. 

“The number of members in our labs is growing as well as the number of those who participate in training workshops and programmes,” said Khrais.

Students aged over nine years can join the gaming lab’s activities to improve their skills in the field of digital game creation. The labs have 5,200 members and 6,000 students have benefited from workshops and activities. 

Participants have developed 75 games, which have been uploaded to the app store.

In November, KAFD is scheduled to hold the Jordan Gaming Summit, where a number of industry trends and technologies will be on the agenda, said Khrais, who also heads of the Jordan Gaming Task Force. 

“Activities will be held across the country,” he added.

Founded in 2011, the task force seeks to develop the electronic gaming industry in the Middle East.

Jordan is the largest producer of digital games in the region, contributing about 60 per cent of the games developed in the Middle East.