Projected gaming lab in southern region to train university, school students

AMMAN — The Jordan Gaming Task Force on Saturday said it will open a new gaming lab in the south of the Kingdom in the next few months. 

Nour Khrais, head of the task force, said several activities will be held in Aqaba this week to introduce students and developers in the south to the concept of the lab and its main objectives.

“The lab in the south will be the third in the Kingdom as we already have one in Amman and another in the north of the country,” Khrais told The Jordan Times.

The lab, he said, will play a key role in boosting the skills of Jordanian students and developers in the booming digital games industry, which has a huge potential for growth worldwide, and especially in the region. 

“Jordan is home to a pool of talents in this field. Having labs will help make training more systematic and focused on the needs of the labour market,” Khrais added. 

The new gaming lab will regularly provide training to school and university students in the southern governorates, he noted. 

“When Jordan has well-trained human resources this will help attract investors.” 

There are more than 15 companies working in the digital gaming sector and the country is home to dozens of independent developers, Khrais said. 

The task force will launch a series of activities over the next few months to train developers on the latest tools and trends in the industry, he added. 

In addition, several partnerships between local and international players in the digital gaming industry are expected to be announced during the upcoming period, according to Khrais.

Founded in 2011, the Jordan Gaming Task Force seeks to develop the electronic gaming industry in the Middle East.

Jordan is the largest producer of digital games in the region, contributing about 60 per cent of the games developed in the Middle East.