WEMADE, a global gaming company headquartered in South Korea, and the DIFC Innovation Hub, a leading centre for technology and innovation in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, have jointly announced a strategic partnership to build a global Web3 gaming hub, ‘WEMIX PLAY Center’.
This initiative aims to boost the development of Dubai’s gaming ecosystem and support the ‘Dubai Program for Gaming 2033’ to position Dubai among the top 10 cities in the global gaming industry.
DIFC Innovation Hub, which fosters innovation, enterprise and talent across various sectors, has welcomed WEMADE as the first South Korean gaming company to join and benefit from its accelerator schemes, innovation community and supportive regulatory frameworks. WEMADE will collaborate with DIFC Innovation Hub to expand the WEMIX ecosystem.
The WEMADE-DIFC Innovation Hub collaboration focuses on several core initiatives, including establishing the ‘WEMIX PLAY Center’ within the DIFC Innovation Hub to onboard Web3 game companies. To fully optimise this milestone opportunity, a USD100mn investment fund will be established, with WEMADE anchoring the fund and providing a go-to-market pipeline for Web3 game developers. This involves facilitating targeted access to millions of active Web3 game players on the WEMIX PLAY platform, which is WEMADE’s native game platform for Web3 games. Currently, it features over 65 games from third-party developers alongside WEMADE’s main IPs.
Under this partnership, WEMADE and DIFC Innovation Hub will organise a Web3 event in Dubai in the first quarter of 2024.
Henry Chang, CEO of WEMADE, emphasised the significance of this move, said: “The UAE stands out as one of the most dynamic hubs for innovation. WEMADE’s collaboration with DIFC Innovation Hub to establish the ‘WEMIX PLAY Center’ underscores our dedication to foster Dubai’s evolution into a central hub for global Web3 gaming, and to provide an enhanced environment for global game developers and studios to leverage the unique benefits that Dubai offers for the global distribution of their games.”
Mohammad AlBlooshi, CEO of DIFC Innovation Hub, said: “We are excited to welcome South Korean gaming giant WEMADE to the thriving ecosystem at DIFC Innovation Hub. Dubai has a dynamic gaming sector, and this collaboration further strengthens our position as a global hub for innovation and will help nurture the next generation of gaming industry talent. Establishing a strong gaming industry will further advance the city’s digital ecosystem, contribute to economic diversification efforts, and boost employment in the sector over the next decade in line with the goals of Dubai Program for Gaming 2033.”
