Insomnia Gaming Festival: Dubai & Saudi

Insomnia Gaming Festival, founded in 1999, is the UK's largest gaming festival, attracting over 100,000 visitors at each event. With 65 successful festivals under its belt, Insomnia has expanded internationally, with festivals now held in Dublin, Scotland, Egypt, and this year, GEM Events proudly brought the iconic Insomnia Gaming Festival to Dubai and Saudi Arabia for the first time ever!

Insomnia Gaming Festival stayed true to its classic format, delivering an incredibly successful event in Dubai with esports tournaments, cosplay competitions, PC gaming, console gaming, retro gaming, tabletop games, and virtual reality experiences. GEM Events added their own unique flair with strolling entertainment, choreographed shows inspired by popular games, and even thrilling flash mobs.

Held from 17-19 October 2019 at the Meydan Grandstand, the Insomnia Dubai Gaming Festival featured a combined prize pool of AED 1/4 million for 12 esports tournaments, hosted by the amazing Gamers Hub Middle East. The tournaments were a major highlight, setting the foundation for the entire festival.

Additionally, the cosplay competitions featured both professionals and amateurs vying for a massive $10,000 prize pool, one of the largest in the region. Special guests included the legendary Sidemen, with a combined 20 million followers on YouTube, and Pokémon singer Jason Paige, who performed his first-ever live show in the Middle East, exclusively at Insomnia Dubai. The event also received extensive coverage on CNN.

Our Insomnia Saudi Gaming Festival was equally successful, held as part of Riyadh Season from November 27-30 for a thrilling 4-day event. The festival was so popular that we sold out of tickets by the third day! Influential figures in the gaming world, such as Multicreators (including Banderita, MrFifaSA, and S3Gaming), along with three members of FaZe Clan, the biggest esports team in the world, graced the festival for meet and greets, main stage appearances, and even exciting 1v1 video game battles!