Saudi media conglomerate MBC expands into the video game industry

Middle Eastern entertainment powerhouse MBC Studios has expanded into the video game industry with the launch of MBC Game Studio.

The nascent subsidiary has spent the past three years working on1001 Threads of Mizan, an upcoming action-adventure title set within the world of One Thousand and One Nights.

MBC Studios parent company MBC Group has provided “significant” financial backing for the game studio, which is led by CEO Daniel Engelhardt and COO Trevor Williams, who have pulled together a fully-remote global development team featuring talent from BioWare, Hi-Rez Studios, Ubisoft Montreal, and Bungie.

“[Remote working] has been tremendously valuable in terms of being able to approach great people and say ‘you can stay where you are,'” said Engelhardt in a conversation with Game Developer at Gamescom 2026. “But also in terms of building a team to try and tell this story, our footprint includes folks in the Middle East with deep connections with the material.”

Those employees have already witnessed changes in corporate ownership since work began on1001 Threads of Mizanin 2023. In 2025, the government-owned Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) acquireda 54 percent stakein MBC Group, purchasing the shares from Istedamah Holding Company, an investment vehicle operated by the Ministry of Finance. The PIF’s contemporaneous financial moves have drawn scrutiny fromindustry professionalsandpoliticiansalike.

Engelhardt told Game Developer that MBC Game Studio will operate independently and is laser-focused on building a successful video game to elevate the local industry.

“We’re building a business from ground zero,” Engelhardt said when discussing the topic. “Everything that’s happening in the region from a video game point of view is interesting. It’s an extremely appealing market—it’s fast-growing and there are a lot of players.”

“The way we think about what we’re doing is ‘we’re building a business for a media company, and I think a really important part of our story is when we wake up every day, [we ask ourselves] ‘how do we build a great game that can hopefully become a franchise?’ If we hit our marks, I think we will have had an impact on the region and the ability to make games there.”

Engelhardt also confirmed MBC had ruled out leveraging generative AI technology. “It’s not that we’re categorically against [generative] AI—it’s just that as a studio we have a really strong belief that AI is only as strong as the person using it.” he added. “At the end of the day, our philosophy is really backing our creative teams to really empower our developers. We’ll evaluate as they tell us what they do and don’t want to do, but right now there is a policy against using generative AI.”

MBC has been working on1001 Threads of Mizansince around 2023. The title is being demoed on the show floor at Gamescom 2026, but there’s no release window currently in sight. When asked how MBC is prioritizing sustainability so it can bring the project to market and potentially birth a full-blown franchise, Engelhardt said the studio is being “mindful” about how it allocates re

“I think taking a creative risk is incredibly important. And I can speak to that very passionately from what we’re doing. We wanted to the team 110 percent to go and do something that we feel is unique and different. Players will tell us if we achieve that, but [that was] our mission from the beginning. I think it’s very important as an industry that we continue to do that.”

Game Developer is attending Gamescom as a media ambassador. Flights and accommodation were covered by event organizers.

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