The seven-part series has been made entirely in Saudi Arabia including its production, scripting, and recording.
Regional podcast network Finyal Media is launching a new sci-fi podcast titled The Code.
With the gaming industry expected to grow at a 22.5% annual growth rate over the next four years, Finyal Media brings the popular genre to the audio world for the first time in Arabic.
The seven-part series has been made entirely in Saudi Arabia including its production, scripting, and recording.
Mshari Alonaizy, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Finyal Media, said: “We’re incredibly excited to not only be launching Finyal Media’s first sci-fi podcast, but also the first sci-fi podcast ever done in Arabic. We decided to go into this genre as we have seen how popular it is in other forms of media, such as TV and film, so we wanted to bring this experience to the audio world for podcast listeners. We also wanted to base the series on a video game as the gaming industry is on the rise in MENA right now, particularly in Saudi Arabia, and the theme has so much appeal and relevance to young Arabs in the region. The series was produced by Saudi talent with the support of our producer, Abdullah Rafaah, and we’ve worked hard to ensure it’s as authentic as possible to a real-life video game – our actors even made sure they were gaming pro’s by spending time online gaming together ahead of recording! We hope our listeners enjoy the new series and we look forward to hearing their thoughts on the show.”
The narrative will follow four Saudi college friends bound together by their mutual love of gaming. When a new massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) takes the gaming world by storm, they secure their copies of the vaunted game and jump online. They create characters, form a party, and begin to explore the technologically advanced dystopian future of the game. All seems to be going as planned until they begin to notice something is wrong – NPC’s are saying strange things, and seem to have information they couldn’t possibly know. Things come to a head when other players seem to be acting irrationally and start disappearing from the game entirely and go missing in real life. To their terror, one of the friends is not reachable as well. It appears the only way to get him back is by continuing to play. The key to saving him lies in the virtual world.
Featuring local talent, The Code has a dedicated video game storyline with an audio experience to cater to the emerging gaming market in the Kingdom. Special effects bring to life sci-fi concepts such as futuristic weapons and robots to create an immersive experience and help listeners visualise every scene.
The first season of The Code will be available on all podcasting platforms such as Spotify, Deezer, and Anghami, with episodes being released on a weekly basis. Listeners can also subscribe to the Finyal+ channel on Apple Podcasts where the entire season will be available on August 18.
