19 January 2022 - Amazon in Saudi Arabia and the UAE joins forces with MTE (MENATech), a GGTech Entertainment Group company to launch Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports, the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s first educational esports league. 

 Amazon’s involvement in the tournament across the UAE and Saudi Arabia will help upscale the competition, increasing visibility and growth opportunities for players, in addition to providing exciting prizes and resources for participating teams. The agreement between Amazon and MENATech follows a first season in which the esports competitive series hosted teams from more than 130 universities across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. 

The University Esports Project, which brings students together to compete for their universities in esports leagues, has already established itself as a top-level tournament around the world with global partner GGTech, in countries including France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Poland, KSA, UAE, Egypt, Morocco, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and recently North America and Canada

GGTech and Amazon have reinforced their commitment to foster the esports community around the world, providing a space for players to showcase their talent, and for young professionals to build a career in the growing esports industry. 

The essential role of publishers and  partners
On the launching of the competition in the region, Mario Pérez, CEO of MENATech, said: “Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports MENA will bring together global and regional supporters and new partners to the competition helping generate more exposure around a growing university-level esports community in the region.”

Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports MENA will also be supported by some of the industry's leading publishers.  On one hand, the presence of Riot Games, a  partner that has been collaborating with GGTech in university competitions around the world, since its inception, offers participants the possibility of competing in some of the most desired titles of the moment such as  League  of  Legends and VALORANT.  “We are happy to grow our competitive roadmaps to a new space for more players from the MENA region to play Valorant, we will be looking forward for more countries to be added as this product grows with our community”. Karim Hachani, Head of Publishing MENA at Riot Games.

Garena Free Fire, one of the leading mobile games publishers in the region will be involved in the competition for the first time to increase its involvement in the development of the scene and help bring the best show to the Free Fire fans. In the words of Garena management: “We are excited to be working with Amazon and MENATech to bring competitive Free Fire to Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports. Students from across hundreds of universities will be able to enjoy the game and compete at the same time. We are glad to have the opportunity to further develop the esports community across the MENA region.”
 
Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports is also supported by the Saudi Esports Federation in the KSA Competition, a regional pioneer in the development of the esports scene. According to Turki al Fawzan, CEO of the Saudi Esports Federation, 'The efforts and investment made by MENATech to help empower the next generation of esports athletes and community is greatly welcomed and will contribute to the development of the esports ecosystem in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. MENATech has been among the partners of the Saudi Esports Federation in our journey to elevate the industry'.