What started as a hobby for a Saudi teenager has grown into one of the biggest Arabic games on Roblox, with MJ Studios' Kingdom World now surpassing 100 million visits.
The studio has built its business mostly through Roblox, using revenue from in-game purchases to fund development and grow its team without relying on outside investment.
We caught up with MJ Studios' technical director, lead developer and partnerships manager Idiris Mustaf, to discuss Kingdom World's success, building an authentic Saudi experience for a global audience, as well as the opportunities and challenges of developing on Roblox from MENA.
PocketGamer.biz: MJ Studios started in 2020. What did those early years look like, and when did you realise it could become more than a hobby?
Idiris Mustaf: To me, those early years felt almost like watching your own child grow up. I started making games simply because I enjoyed it, without really thinking about money or whether it could become a business. Seeing something I created slowly grow, improve, and succeed was something I was truly proud of.
Over time, Mj Studios went from being a studio where I made games for fun to owning one of the biggest Arabic games on Roblox. That was when I started realising that what began as a hobby could actually become something much bigger. For me, though, it was never mainly about the money.
What motivated me was seeing the studio grow and seeing more and more people playing something we created. My goal has always been to make Mj Studios one of the biggest Arabic studios on Roblox, and seeing how far we've come from those early days makes me proud of what we built.
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