The Kingdom of Morocco is participating, as the first African country, in a dedicated pavilion for the gaming industry (Gamecrealab), alongside France, Luxembourg, Quebec, Switzerland, and Wallonia. The Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Communication (Department of Communication), along with the Higher Institute of Audiovisual and Cinema Professions, are partners in this program.
On Tuesday, May 13, 2025, Mr. Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid, Minister of Youth, Culture, and Communication, and Mrs. Loubna El Arisha, Director General of the Office of Vocational Training and Employment Promotion, signed a framework agreement to keep pace with the dynamic developments in Morocco’s gaming industry. The agreement aims to promote training and enhance professional skills among young people interested in this promising sector.
This partnership also seeks to establish effective collaboration in engineering, digital innovation, and to improve youth employability in emerging gaming-related professions, especially in design, programming, testing, and e-sports.
Under this agreement, both parties will join forces to develop new training programs that meet labor market needs. Cooperation will also focus on qualifying stakeholders and organizing in-company training courses for trainees, enabling them to better understand technological trends, economic models, and user expectations.
Thanks to this close collaboration, the Office of Vocational Training and Employment Promotion will leverage its expertise in training engineering for gaming professions to help deploy programs tailored to the industry’s characteristics. Its divisions will also benefit from specialized training identified by SILAFA (the relevant authority).
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Communication will work to mobilize all actors within the national gaming ecosystem to ensure the success of this partnership, notably through joint workshops and by connecting the Office with startups emerging in the field to develop appropriate training programs.
The Ministry and the Office will also collaborate to encourage startups in the gaming industry to host and mentor young trainees during or after their training, thereby enhancing their employability and facilitating their professional integration while ensuring acquired skills align with actual labor market demands.
To give strong momentum to this initiative, the two parties plan to launch three qualifying training programs covering the professions of e-Caster sport, sport Streamer, and video game laboratory technician. This partnership reflects the founders’ efforts to build an advanced and innovative national system, marking a significant step toward structuring Morocco’s gaming industry.
On April 16, on the sidelines of GITEX AFRICA in Marrakech, Minister Mehdi Bensaid signed a partnership agreement with OneCloud to strengthen the video game industry in Morocco, particularly through the upcoming Video Game City in Rabat. The agreement aims to jointly develop cloud gaming solutions tailored to the ecosystem of companies operating in the video game sector.
On March 3, 2025, Minister Mehdi Bensaid met with Mr. Hans Kornhaedie Saleh, Head of Garena for the Middle East. Garena is a globally renowned video game publisher, best known for its hit mobile game Free Fire, one of the most popular mobile games worldwide. During the meeting, Mr. Saleh highlighted Morocco’s growing momentum in developing the video game industry and presented his project aimed at supporting the expansion of Garena’s activities within the Kingdom.
On April 24, 2025, Mr. Abdelaziz El Boujdaini, Secretary General of the Communication Department, welcomed a delegation from the French city of Montpellier, led by the city’s Mayor.
During the meeting, Ms. Nesrine Essouissi, Director of Video Game Industry Development at the Ministry, delivered a detailed presentation on Morocco’s national strategy in this field, including ongoing and completed programs, as well as prospects for future cooperation aimed at developing this promising industry in Morocco.
Discussions focused on cultural and creative industries, which represent one of the key pillars of cooperation between the Kingdom of Morocco and the French Republic.
On April 11, 2025, Mr. Bensaid visited ISART DIGITAL, a leading video game development school, at its historic campus in the French capital, Paris.
During the visit, the Minister held discussions with the management team about the video game industry and the importance of education and training in this rapidly growing sector. He also toured several technical labs and hands-on activities that are part of ISART DIGITAL’s curriculum, and explored the school’s startup incubator, where he was presented with a selection of student and alumni projects.
In the second part of the visit, Mr. Bensaid met with professionals from the French video game industry. During this meeting, Morocco’s national strategy for the gaming sector was presented, followed by a contribution from the Moroccan Agency for Investment and Export Development (AMDIE), highlighting the incentives offered by Morocco to attract investment in the video game industry.
As part of the second edition of the Morocco Gaming Expo, which will take place from July 2 to 6, 2025, at the Palais des Sports within the Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex in Rabat, the Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Communication – Department of Communication is organizing the largest national eSports competition, featuring some of the most iconic games.
Online qualification rounds began on April 22, 2025, and will continue until June 19, 2025, giving all gamers in the country a chance to secure a spot in the grand offline finals, which will be held over five days from July 2 to 6, 2025, in Rabat. These finals, the peak of the tournaments, will gather the best national and international talents in a vibrant atmosphere filled with competition, entertainment, and community engagement.
This year’s edition will include tournaments for major titles such as Valorant, Free Fire, EA SPORTS FC 25, and Street Fighter 6, with a total prize pool of 500,000 Moroccan dirhams.
June 28 and 29, 2025, will be dedicated to media, content creators, and influencers. They will benefit from exclusive backstage access, interactions with the finalists, and a privileged look into Morocco’s dynamic eSports scene.
Beyond the eSports tournaments, the event features several dedicated spaces for exhibitions, conferences, and professional networking. It aims to explore the economic, technological, and cultural stakes of the gaming industry, while strengthening synergies between various stakeholders in the sector.
After a successful first edition that drew over 45,000 visitors and 3,000 participants in the eSports tournament qualifiers, the Morocco Gaming Expo has established itself as a leading platform, combining a passion for gaming with the growing prospects of the video game industry in Morocco.
To register for the tournaments: https://mgex.lgame.gg/
For more information, visit: https://moroccogamingexpo.ma/
The “Video Game Incubator” program, for the incubation of nine Moroccan startups specializing in the gaming field, was launched on Monday, March 10, 2025, in Rabat, in the presence of the Minister of Youth, Culture, and Communication, Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid, a delegation from the French Embassy in Morocco, as well as several stakeholders in the sector.
This program aims to support Moroccan video game entrepreneurs in structuring, developing, and sustaining their businesses, while accelerating their skills development and strengthening synergies between Moroccan players in this ecosystem internationally.
Spanning five months of incubation and two months of follow-up, this program will offer the participating companies comprehensive training covering video game pre-production, brand and communication strategy, business management, production monitoring, as well as commercial and financial strategy.
It also includes exchanges of experiences with international gaming leaders, as well as partners and investors in the sector.
This project is part of the implementation of the Declaration of Intent signed between Morocco and France last October, under the presidency of His Majesty King Mohammed VI and the President of the French Republic Mr. Emmanuel Macron, relating to the support and structuring of the ecosystem of the cultural and creative video game industry, Mr. Bensaid told the press.
The gaming industry now holds increasing importance internationally, the minister emphasized, expressing the wish to see leading Moroccan companies emerge globally in this sector.
Thanks to this partnership with the French Embassy in Morocco, this program will support nine Moroccan startups invested in gaming, equipping them with the necessary tools to position themselves on the international market, he indicated, highlighting the importance of this initiative to strengthen the structuring and develop the gaming ecosystem in the Kingdom.
Support for cultural and creative industries, particularly the video game industry, constitutes a strong new focus of Franco-Moroccan cultural cooperation, which was initiated during the French President’s state visit to the Kingdom, said Agnès Humruzian, Cooperation and Cultural Action Advisor at the French Embassy in Rabat.
Gaming represents a new creative sector, a source of employment and geared towards youth, with promising prospects for partnerships between the two countries, Ms. Humruzian emphasized, who is also the Director General of the French Institute in Morocco, adding that it is a “very beautiful story that is being written with significant cultural and economic stakes.”
For his part, the founder and director of LLP (Level Link Partners), Julien Villedieu, explained that the “Video Game Incubator” program was designed by video game experts with the aim of supporting the development and structuring of the video game industry in Morocco.
Nine video game creation companies in Morocco will be supported by this program to bring them to a level of international skills and requirements, while connecting them to the industry globally, he added, considering that this extremely ambitious program lays one of the essential cornerstones for the development of a structured video game creation ecosystem in Morocco.
The Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Communication – Communication Department – is organizing the second edition of the “Morocco Gaming Industry Expo” in Rabat from July 2nd to 6th. According to the ministry, this edition aims to establish the Expo as an unmissable annual event in the global gaming industry, as well as to accelerate the development of the electronic gaming sector in Morocco by strengthening the country’s role as a strategic hub in Africa and the MENA region.
This event also seeks to enhance collaboration among the various stakeholders in the electronic gaming industry, including creators, developers, publishers, investors, and technical operators, while promoting entrepreneurship by supporting the establishment of businesses in the electronic gaming sector.
The Expo also aims to facilitate strategic meetings between young entrepreneurs, startups, content creators, and both national and international operators to foster synergies and growth opportunities, while highlighting the electronic gaming sector as a source of job creation and empowerment for Moroccan youth, underscoring its economic and social potential.
The Expo will showcase all components of the electronic gaming industry, whether technical, artistic, creative, educational, or financial, and will offer an enriched experience for its visitors, whether they are professionals, investors, or simply enthusiasts.
Participants will have the opportunity to engage in numerous activities, including professional networking to establish partnerships and collaborations, competitive intelligence to explore trends and innovations, new business opportunities for young entrepreneurs and startups, as well as workshops led by international experts to develop their skills.
The “Morocco Gaming Industry Expo 2025” is expected to be a dynamic platform where creativity and innovation converge to accelerate the development of the electronic gaming industry in Morocco.
