Saudi Ministry of Education signs three esports pacts with Savvy

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Education and Savvy Games Group have signed three memoranda of understanding that aim to bring game development and esports into the country's schools, universities and vocational colleges. Savvy announced the agreements on February 9, 2026, and the ministry published its own account the same day.

The three texts were signed at the ministry's headquarters in Riyadh. One binds Savvy to the ministry itself, one to the National Institute for Educational Professional Development, which works on the training of teachers, and one to Tatweer Educational Services Company. Together they touch curricula, teacher training, an e-learning platform, scholarships, a national competition and esports activities in schools.

A memorandum of understanding sets out what two parties intend to work on together. It is a framework, not a contract with a budget and a delivery date, and neither the ministry nor Savvy attached a timetable or an amount to any of the three.

Savvy Games Group announcement and Ministry of Education news release, February 9, 2026.

Who signed, and where

The ministry's release lists the people present at the ceremony. Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, vice chairman of Savvy's board of directors, attended for the company. The minister of education, Yousef bin Abdullah Al-Benyan, attended for the ministry. Abdullah Al-Audah, director general of the National Institute for Educational Professional Development, and Mohammed Al-Muhaimid, chief executive of Tatweer Educational Services, were there for the two other education bodies, alongside other education officials the release does not name.

The ministry describes the purpose of the agreements as bringing the esports industry and its development into general education, higher education and technical and vocational training. Savvy's own announcement frames them as a way to build game development and esports into secondary and tertiary education, and links them to Vision 2030, the kingdom's long-term development plan, and to the National Gaming and Esports Strategy, the national plan for the games sector. The goal Savvy names is a stronger pipeline of future talent for games and esports.

The ministry also lists the methods it wants to draw on: modern technical solutions, artificial intelligence and educational simulations, used to develop the skills of students and of teachers.

What each memorandum covers

The two releases describe the same three agreements from two sides. Savvy's text is shorter and centered on games and talent; the ministry's adds several items, among them the esports courses for teachers and the esports activities in schools. The table puts the commitments each side lists for each agreement next to one another.

The agreement with the ministry is the broadest. Game development is to enter the curriculum in partnership with the National Curriculum Center. Games are also to be built into Madrasati, the e-learning platform named in both releases: Savvy speaks of embedding games in it, the ministry of educational games made for it. On the talent side, the ministry names two routes for training national specialists: the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Scholarship Program and a track called Waed, written Wa'ed in the ministry's release. The ministry adds that teachers of the subject will receive professional development, coordinated with the National Institute.

The second agreement is aimed at teachers rather than students. The National Institute is to build teachers' capacity for new teaching methods, develop accredited esports training courses and measure what they achieve, launch initiatives on artificial intelligence skills, and run workshops, forums and events on learning through games. Savvy's summary speaks of upskilling teachers and of accredited training pathways in games-related fields.

The third agreement, with Tatweer, is the most concrete for schools that want to play. Besides interactive content, simulation tools, digital laboratories and educational games, the ministry's list includes esports programs and activities for schools. Savvy's version speaks of games-based and simulation technologies inside interactive educational content and digital learning.

The Play to Learn competition

The figures in the announcement come from one program. Play to Learn is a game development competition for high school students run across the country, and supporting it is part of the agreement with the ministry. Savvy says its aim is to spark students' interest in making games and to raise awareness of careers in the games industry.

According to Savvy, more than 700,000 students have taken part and about 155,000 game concepts have been submitted. That is roughly one concept for every four or five participants. Savvy does not say over how many editions those totals were reached, how entries are judged or what the winners receive.

The ministry's release refers to the same commitment as running a national competition for creating and developing electronic games. The competition is a game-making contest, not an esports tournament: students design games rather than play them against one another.

Savvy Academy and the universities

The memoranda continue work that Savvy had started with universities through the Savvy Academy, which the company called its flagship talent development initiative when it announced the Alfaisal program. The agreement with the ministry adds two things to it. Savvy says it will seek formal accreditation for the academy, and the ministry lists, among the areas of cooperation, seeking the academy's accreditation as a strategic partner institute linked to the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation, the public body for technical and vocational training.

Two university agreements came first, both announced by Savvy in the ten weeks before.

The King Saud University memorandum, announced on December 1, 2025, is a framework for joint initiatives: skill development, knowledge exchange and ways for students to get exposure to the games and interactive entertainment industry. The parties said they would explore the design of programs and learning experiences for students in relevant fields. Savvy placed it within the academy's wider work with Saudi universities. Majed Al-Muhanna, Savvy's chief human resources officer, and Dr. Abdulmajeed Alameer, dean of the university's College of Computer and Information Sciences, were named in the announcement.

The Alfaisal University agreement, announced in Riyadh on February 5, 2026, four days before the ministry signing, goes a step further. It sets up a Game Design program for local talent. Alfaisal leads the academic offering and the student experience, and the Savvy Academy delivers the program with it and brings industry insight. The first cohort is expected to start in the 2026 academic year, and the agreement includes improvements to training facilities such as hardware and laboratory upgrades. Savvy said the agreement followed similar academy collaborations with universities across the kingdom.

Read together, the three steps run from a university framework to a university program and then to the school system as a whole, with the teacher training that a school program needs.

Who Savvy Games Group is

Savvy Games Group describes itself as a global games and esports company. The ministry's release calls it a wholly owned subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.

In esports, its best-known holding is ESL FACEIT Group, which Savvy describes as the world's leading esports company. Its other companies include Scopely, which Savvy calls a global interactive entertainment and video game company and which acquired Niantic's games business in 2025, and Steer Studios, a game development company based in Riyadh. Savvy also lists a US$1 billion investment made in 2022 in Embracer Group.

The group therefore holds both game studios and an esports company. The education agreements cover both sides of that business: the making of games, through curricula, the game-creation competition and the Alfaisal program, and esports, through teacher courses and school activities.

What changes for schools, teachers and students

For students, the most immediate element is one that already exists. Play to Learn has run at national scale, and the ministry has now committed to running a national game-creation competition with Savvy. The memoranda add games to the curriculum and to Madrasati, but the texts give no date for either.

For teachers, the change is a training offer: accredited courses in esports, and workshops and events on game-based learning, both through the National Institute. Neither release says how many teachers will be trained or when the first courses will open.

For schools that want competitive play, the relevant line sits in the Tatweer agreement, which lists esports programs and activities for schools among its aims. The release does not say which games, what format or which age groups.

For students who want to go further, the route runs through higher education and scholarships: the universities already working with the Savvy Academy, the Alfaisal program with its first intake expected in the 2026 academic year, the scholarship program and the Waed track named by the ministry, and the academy's own planned link with the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation.

What comes next

The parties have not published a calendar. The only dated step in the announcements is the first Alfaisal cohort in the 2026 academic year. Under the ministry agreement, the next visible stages will be the accreditation of the Savvy Academy, the first educational games on Madrasati, the opening of the Savvy Games and Innovation Lab and a new round of the national game-creation competition, each of which the parties will have to announce in its turn.

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