SPARQ Takes Aim At Unreal Engine And Roblox With AI-Native Game Platform Built In UAE

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The $300 billion gaming industry runs on tools that were designed two decades ago. A startup based in the UAE is bringing it to the modern era.

SPARQ, an AI-native game creation platform built at Innovation City in Ras Al Khaimah, will open its public beta on March 16. The company positions itself directly between Epic Games’ Unreal Engine and Roblox, targeting the gap where professional game quality meets creator accessibility. With SPARQ, creators build, iterate, and ship up to 20 times faster. Projects that once took years can now be completed in weeks.

Christopher Pail, CEO and Founder of SPARQ, said:“Unreal is powerful but requires massive teams and years of work. Roblox is accessible but caps you at amateur output. We built SPARQ so a solo creator or a small studio can ship a professional game in weeks, not years.”

The platform covers the full development stack. Creators can build using code, visual editors, or natural language prompting. Games publish with one click to Windows, Mac, Linux, and mobile. Hosting, matchmaking, analytics, and a content delivery network are all included. Monetisation tools for creators come built in and ready to use out of the box, including in-game purchases, asset sales, and marketplace revenue from day one.

** Built from scratch in 12 months**

SPARQ’s 18-person team has written more than three million lines of engine code in under a year, self-funded $2.5 million in operations. Their waitlist has surpassed 6,000 signups solely by word of mouth.

The company operates out of Innovation City RAK, where it was selected as an anchor company with the direct endorsement of Paul Dawalibi, CEO of Innovation City RAK. The free zone positions itself as the world’s first AI-powered free zone, has become a launchpad for deep-tech companies in gaming, AI, and Web3.

“SPARQ isn’t just building a game engine, they’re building a movement. They represent exactly the kind of ambitious, world-changing company we created Innovation City for. Their arrival signals to the entire global gaming industry that Ras Al Khaimah is where the future will be built,” said Dawalibi.

** A market waiting for disruption**

More than 250 million content creators worldwide have built audiences on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch. Very few of them can turn that attention into interactive experiences because the existing tools are too expensive, too technical, or too limited. The combined gaming and creator economy represents a total addressable market of $550 billion, and SPARQ believes the biggest opportunity is not just taking share from incumbents but growing the total market.

Christoffer Wilhelmsen, Co-Founder and COO of SPARQ, said:“There are 250 million creators out there who already have audiences but no way to turn them into games. Every one of them that SPARQ enables is net new activity, a new project, a new revenue stream, and a new entry point into a $300 billion industry. We are not just competing for the existing market. We are expanding it.”

The March 16 beta opens access to 500 creators, with full public launch planned for summer 2026. SPARQ is currently raising a seed round to fund the launch, expand its team, and secure IP partnerships with major entertainment companies.

Creators can join the beta waitlist at ** sparq.**

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