Saudi Arabia Launches Riyadh Season World on Roblox Amid Bans

• Developed with The Gang, Riyadh Season on Roblox aims to bring areas, cities, and mini games to life.
• New updates will further add Beastland by MrBeast, boxing, wrestling, and Robux prize events.
• As Roblox faces Middle East bans, Saudi Arabia is trying to build a safe digital-leisure hub. 

In an extraordinary push to widen its entertainment and gaming sector, Saudi Arabia has launched a Riyadh-Season-themed entertainment experience on Roblox, revealed the Kingdom’s General Entertainment Authority (GEA).

This announcement comes as a surprise, as currently, Saudi Arabia seems to be the only Middle Eastern nation that is collaborating with the gaming company. Countries like Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, and Turkey have already banned the company over child safety concerns. Nevertheless, the Gulf Kingdom's relationship with the company is quite alright, as long as the gaming platform’s voice and in-game chat features are blocked from use within its territory.

Their relationship has developed into a partnership with UGC creator The Gang, which went live on October 20, 2025, offering a metaverse-like entertainment. The arena has recreated popular areas, cities, and countries like Boulevard City, Boulevard World, Paris, Kuwait, South Korea, and Italy, within the Roblox platform. 

The audience can also participate in various mini-games like Six Kings Slam tennis challenge, and a Whack-a-Mole reaction game. It will also include a treasure hunt experience, where one can gather golden tickets, with which one can redeem exclusive items. Along with these, new updates of the metaverse will include other experiences like Beastland by MrBeast, a real-life inspired boxing game, a WWE Royal Rumble-style wrestling game, and Robux prize competitions.

Riyadh Season: What Saudi Arabia is Aiming For?

As other Middle Eastern countries tighten regulations on online sites and gaming platforms, Saudi Arabia is taking a different approach. By creating the Riyadh Season world on Roblox, the Kingdom is attempting to establish its own digital entertainment arena while proving to the world that it values innovation and cutting-edge technology.

The true question is whether Saudi Arabia can maintain these activities safely and well-regulated as per its regulations, the exact problems that prompted Roblox bans in its neighboring countries.

A few months ago, the city of Riyadh hosted the Esports World Cup 2025, which took place from July 8 to August 24, 2025. Saudia Airlines, its official flying partner, also recently struck a partnership with POWR Esports to tap into the Gen Z space. 

These moves collectively show that Saudi is now set to become the global entertainment and digital-leisure apart from unilateral spaces like travel, tourism, and oil, under its Saudi Vision 2030, diversifying its economy. 

Industry analysts said that Saudi Arabia's "vibrant" entertainment sector may reach nearly SR17.36 billion (around $4.6B USD) by 2030, providing an indication that its bet on technology, gaming, and virtual experiences is just beginning to pay off.