Saudi-backed MBC Game Studio has entered the games business with 1001 Threads of Mizan, a co-op action-adventure inspired by the lore of One Thousand and One Nights. The studio says the project is meant to be both culturally rooted and glob...
Saudi-backed MBC Game Studio has entered the games business with 1001 Threads of Mizan, a co-op action-adventure inspired by the lore of One Thousand and One Nights. The studio says the project is meant to be both culturally rooted and glob...
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MBC Group used Gamescom in Cologne to unveil MBC Game Studio and its first title, 1001 Threads of Mizan, presenting the game as the studio’s opening statement in a market where new intellectual property is increasingly rare and expensive to launch. The company said the game is inspired by the folklore of One Thousand and One Nights, but is not a direct retelling of a single tale. Instead, it is framed as a new adventure that borrows from a wider body of Arabic storytelling traditions and mythical imagery.
The project matters because it shows how Saudi-backed investment in games is moving beyond purchases of existing companies and into original development. Industry coverage of the kingdom’s gaming push has long described a strategy built around studios, publishing, esports and infrastructure, backed by deep capital from the Public Investment Fund and related entities. MBC’s entry adds a major media brand to that effort, and positions a familiar regional property for a worldwide console and PC audience. ([axios.com](https://www.axios.com/2022/03/24/saudi-arabia-savvy-gaming-brian-ward?utm_source=openai))
The new studio’s debut comes at a moment when Saudi Arabia’s gaming ambitions have become more visible and more contested. Axios reported in earlier years that the kingdom’s government-backed Savvy Games Group was building a broad gaming portfolio with plans spanning acquisitions, investments and new studios, while venture and games outlets have continued to track the scale of that push. In that context, MBC’s new studio is not just another development house; it is part of a larger national and regional effort to define what a Saudi or Arab-led game can look like at AAA scale. ([axios.com](https://www.axios.com/2022/03/24/saudi-arabia-savvy-gaming-brian-ward?utm_source=openai))
The choice of One Thousand and One Nights is also a business decision. It offers globally recognisable mythic material without relying on an already established Western franchise. The studio’s leaders told GamesBeat that the source material gives them room for fantasy, world-building, combat and co-op play, while also carrying enough cultural resonance to matter in the Middle East. That logic helps explain why a new studio would begin with folklore instead of a licensed movie tie-in or an original sci-fi universe. ([gamesbeat.com](https://gamesbeat.com/1001-threads-of-mizan-is-a-big-budget-arabic-lore-title-coming-from-the-saudi-financed-mbc-game-studio/))
According to MBC’s announcement and GamesBeat’s account of the reveal, 1001 Threads of Mizan is being developed as an action-adventure game with cooperative play, large-scale enemies, flying-carpet traversal and a fantasy setting shaped by the world of jinn, desert landscapes and regional storytelling traditions. The game is planned for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC, signalling a broad commercial ambition from the outset. ([mbc.net](https://www.mbc.net/news/45?utm_source=openai))
GamesBeat reported that the studio has assembled veterans from BioWare, Hi-Rez, Ubisoft Montréal and Bungie, and that the team is spread across multiple countries. The company says it worked with local experts and literary historians to avoid treating the source material as a superficial skin. That is an important distinction: for a game built on culturally sensitive material, authenticity is not a marketing flourish but part of the product’s legitimacy. ([gamesbeat.com](https://gamesbeat.com/1001-threads-of-mizan-is-a-big-budget-arabic-lore-title-coming-from-the-saudi-financed-mbc-game-studio/))
The studio’s leaders also appear to be targeting a modern multiplayer audience rather than a museum-piece retelling of classic tales. GamesBeat said the team wanted the game to feel social and playable in the way younger audiences expect, drawing inspiration from the shared worlds popularised by online games and creative sandboxes. That framing suggests the project is intended to compete not only on theme, but on how players experience and share the world together. ([gamesbeat.com](https://gamesbeat.com/1001-threads-of-mizan-is-a-big-budget-arabic-lore-title-coming-from-the-saudi-financed-mbc-game-studio/))
Turning One Thousand and One Nights into a contemporary video game is both an opportunity and a risk. The opportunity is obvious: the tales carry a deep reservoir of characters, creatures and moral dilemmas that can support a large universe. The risk is equally clear: the more a game leans on a famous cultural archive, the more closely audiences will scrutinise how respectfully and how intelligently it is adapted. That scrutiny is likely to be especially sharp because the studio is publicly linking the project to regional identity and to Saudi Arabia’s broader soft-power ambitions. ([gamesbeat.com](https://gamesbeat.com/1001-threads-of-mizan-is-a-big-budget-arabic-lore-title-coming-from-the-saudi-financed-mbc-game-studio/))
There is also a market risk. New AAA intellectual property is hard to launch even for long-established publishers, and the current games business has seen many expensive projects struggle to stand out. MBC Game Studio is trying to reverse that logic by making the source material itself part of the pitch: not just a game with a Middle Eastern theme, but a game whose creative identity is inseparable from Arabic folklore. If it succeeds, it could encourage more regional studios to treat local stories as exportable global entertainment rather than niche heritage projects. If it fails, it may be cited as another example of how hard it is to turn cultural capital into a durable franchise. ([au.variety.com](https://au.variety.com/2026/film/global/movie-studios-reboot-sequel-social-reckoning-37781/?utm_source=openai))
MBC is better known as a media and entertainment conglomerate than as a game developer, which makes the studio launch notable in its own right. The company is using a powerful distribution and branding platform to enter a sector where media companies have often struggled to translate recognition into game development success. By doing so, it is betting that regional stories can be built with the same ambition and polish as global entertainment franchises, while still keeping creative control close to home. ([mbc.net](https://www.mbc.net/news/45?utm_source=openai))
For audiences in Kenya and across the wider English-speaking world, the project is also part of a larger conversation about who gets to define mainstream fantasy. Games set in Europe-inspired worlds have long dominated the market, while stories from the Middle East, North Africa and wider Arabic tradition have more often appeared as side references than as centre-stage worlds. MBC Game Studio’s debut suggests that the commercial case for a different kind of fantasy is being tested in real time, with serious funding behind it and a global release plan attached. ([gamesbeat.com](https://gamesbeat.com/1001-threads-of-mizan-is-a-big-budget-arabic-lore-title-coming-from-the-saudi-financed-mbc-game-studio/))
What happens next will depend on execution. The visuals, combat loop, writing, pacing and co-op design will matter at least as much as the mythology. But the studio has already made its first point clearly: it wants to build a franchise from a regional cultural archive and sell it as a world-class game, not a museum exhibit. That is the real reason this debut title is drawing attention well beyond Saudi Arabia. ([gamesbeat.com](https://gamesbeat.com/1001-threads-of-mizan-is-a-big-budget-arabic-lore-title-coming-from-the-saudi-financed-mbc-game-studio/))
MBC Game Studio’s 1001 Threads of Mizan is more than a new title reveal. It is a signal that Saudi-backed games investment is entering a new phase, one focused not only on ownership and infrastructure but on original, culturally grounded content designed for global players. Whether the game becomes a breakout hit or simply an ambitious first step, its premise makes one thing clear: the region’s stories are now being pitched as premium entertainment on the world stage. ([mbc.net](https://www.mbc.net/news/45?utm_source=openai))
Sources:
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