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On 23 September, Saudi Arabia marks its 96th National Day. Alongside the flags, fireworks and drone shows, there’s a quieter kind of celebration happening on screens across the Kingdom: Saudi creators going live, in Arabic, for communities they’ve built themselves.
Streaming culture in Saudi Arabia has grown into something distinctly its own. It spans esports and competitive gaming, but also cooking, music, board games and everyday conversation. And it’s increasingly happening in the community’s own language.
This National Day, here are six Saudi creators worth knowing, each building something different on Twitch, and each doing it their own way.
/sultan_feasts
Most streamers pick a game. Sultan_feasts picked a time period. From a medieval-style setting, he cooks his way through history, recreating ancient recipes alongside dishes lifted straight from video games. One stream might resurrect a centuries-old dish; the next brings a meal from a fantasy world to a real table. It’s cooking content, gaming culture and heritage rolled into one channel, and there’s nothing else quite like it on the platform.
A Twitch Partner who has been streaming since 2018, Meshael MR has become one of the recognisable faces of Saudi streaming. She has used her platform to support other Saudi women starting as streamers, sharing what she’s learned from years of building a channel in a scene that was still finding its feet when she started. Her channel is proof of how far the scene has come, and who helped get it there.
/r0o08
One of the established names in Saudi gaming, r0o08 has been part of the scene long enough to have shaped it. He founded his own esports organisation, R8, which still carries his name, and continues to stream regularly on Twitch. His is the veteran’s story: a creator whose career tracks the growth of gaming in the Kingdom itself.
For fans of Saudi esports, k2nnn8’s channel is a fixture. Part of the Falcons organisation, he streams consistently and covers professional matches from Falcons and other Saudi teams. On match days, his channel is where the pro scene gets its commentary, reactions and post-game debate, giving Saudi esports a home on Twitch beyond the tournaments themselves.
/lileazymusic
Lileazymusic built his following as a musician, finding success in Saudi Arabia on both fronts, and has recently started live streaming on Twitch. His arrival says something about where the platform is heading in the region: a place where Saudi artists, not just Saudi gamers, can perform live and build community in real time.
Swimy has built his channel around strategy and board games, a corner of Twitch that rewards patience and invites the audience in. Strategy is a genre made for live streaming: every decision is a conversation, and chat gets to weigh in on the moves made. That’s the rhythm of a Swimy stream, and it’s earned him a distinct and loyal community in Saudi Arabia — one that comes back for the way he plays as much as what he plays.