Vega: When Video Games Become a Platform for Exploring Culture and Identity

As global attention turns to Riyadh with the Kingdom hosting the Esports World Cup, a new project emerges with a different, yet equally significant ambition. Otared, a company under the Media Turtles network, has announced the launch of its new platform, Vega — a pioneering initiative that offers original, analytical, and interactive content exploring the growing intersection between video games and cultural identity in the Arab world.

Vega is unlike typical gaming content. It doesn’t simply review games in terms of graphics or gameplay. Instead, it delves deeper, asking critical questions: How do games shape our collective consciousness? What messages do they carry? Can they serve as a tool for preserving heritage — or distorting it? And why is the Arab narrative largely absent from the leading productions of this global industry, which has outpaced both film and music combined?

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Cultural Storytelling in the Language of Games

Vega focuses on analyzing video games as cultural products. Through a series of videos, it showcases how titles like Assassin’s Creed have used eras from the history of the Middle East and North Africa — but often through a Western lens that reduces local cultures or reproduces them without regard for their distinctiveness.

In one of its early videos, Vega states that, “Culture is no longer told through books — it’s programmed into game engines.” This qualitative shift in storytelling places a responsibility on Arab content creators — a responsibility that goes beyond entertainment, aiming to reintroduce Arab identity in a creative and contemporary way.

Modar Al Hassan, Chairman of Otared, comments on this vision:

“Vega is a cultural project before it is an entertainment one. We are using the language of games — the language today’s generation understands — to reconnect them with their roots and to enhance their cultural awareness in a way that doesn't resemble lectures or traditional educational programs. It’s an attempt to reclaim the narrative from inside the game, not outside it.”

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From Entertainment to Cultural Sovereignty: Original Arab IPs

Media Turtles views Vega as a natural extension of its philosophy of developing original intellectual properties (IPs). The network doesn’t merely produce content — it aims to build cultural assets that can evolve into commercial products, films, games, or future documentary series.

Moath Al-Hamami, CEO of Media Turtles Group, explains this direction:

“We don’t see Vega as just a YouTube channel or a video series. We see it as an IP with long-term potential — one that could become a visual encyclopedia exploring the relationship between games and cultures. Projects like this, we believe, will become the backbone of the creative economy in the Arab world over the next decade.”

He adds:

“Today, intellectual property is not just a slogan or idea — it is an economic asset that can be traded, invested in, sold, and exported. Vega represents the beginning of a series of projects that turn this philosophy into reality.”

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Post-Launch: Toward a Technological Arab Narrative

With Vega now officially launched, Otared and Media Turtles have announced their intention to expand into in-depth content production that analyzes not just games, but also how they reshape public taste, influence fashion, and alter perceptions of cultures in the minds of players.

Vega aims to raise questions such as:

• How do games influence the representation of local identities?
• What overlooked narratives in Arab history could be adapted into games?
• How is artificial intelligence influencing the game development industry?
• And why hasn't an Arab version of The Witcher or Ghost of Tsushima emerged yet?

The platform also plans to produce a special video series highlighting iconic figures from ancient Arab heritage, transforming them into visual material fit for representation in games or as part of future interactive visual content.

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About Vega

Vega is an original project by Otared, a company under the Media Turtles network. It focuses on delivering analytical cultural content about video games, targeting Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences. Through a modern, visual, and sometimes satirical style, Vega redefines the relationship between gaming and cultural identity in the Arab world.