The Saudi Studio Playbook: Building a Global Games Industry from Scratch

Five years ago, Saudi Arabia had ambition but no game development ecosystem. Today, studios in Riyadh are shipping titles to players worldwide. In this fireside chat, Yannick Theler — who left a 20-year career at Ubisoft to build Steer Studios from a blank office — sits down with Nina Walsh, AWS's global games industry leader, to talk about what it actually takes: assembling a team where none existed, choosing the right tech stack when speed matters more than perfection, and navigating the gap between national strategy and daily studio reality. They'll share what worked, what didn't, and what other founders entering the Saudi market should know.