In Abu Dhabi, two modern high-rises bookend a cluster of multi-story, low-lying buildings. At the moment, the structures appear in renderings for what would be the world’s first esports island. But while investments in esports have been cooling off in many places around the globe, plans for the industry-defining megaproject are heating up in the capital city of the United Arab Emirates.

News of the esports island emerged as True Gamers, an operator of a global network of gaming lounges and clubs, announced intentions for a $280 million investment in what is projected to be a $1 billion development. The island would include a digital technology and innovation workspace in one tower, a resort hotel in another tower, a complex of training and meeting spaces, and an arena designed for hosting multi-format events and exhibitions. Even in concept, the project advances Abu Dhabi among regional destinations that are rapidly growing as global centers for sports and sports-led development.

The location being eyed for the esports island is in the centrally-located Al Raha district of residential, retail, commercial, and recreational properties nearby the city’s Zayed International Airport. It sits across a waterway from the sports- and leisure-focused Yas Island.

Yas is renowned for hosting prestigious sports events like the Formula 1 season finale, UFC mixed martial arts cards, NBA exhibition games, and DP World Tour golf tournaments. It welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors to its Ferrari World, Waterworld, Warner Bros. World, and SeaWorld theme parks. Luxury hotels, shopping malls, golf courses, restaurants, and nightlife venues lend to an entertaining year-round atmosphere. For most of the time since opening in 2009, Yas has also presented a range of health and fitness sessions for the public, including making the entire F1 track available twice weekly for walking, running, or bicycling by people of all ages, abilities, and interests.

While Yas may stand out as a prominent destination for sports-related amenities among Abu Dhabi’s array of 200 islands, it is not alone. Another is Huydayriat Island, a 3000-hectare (approximately 7500-acre) fitness- and nature-focused island that includes a surf park, cycling tracks, a velodrome, football pitches, basketball and tennis courts, running and walking trails, skate parks, an obstacle course, watersports, and sixteen kilometers (about ten miles) of beaches. Saadiyat Island has cultural, heritage, educational, residential, recreational, hospitality, and tourism offerings, including kayaking routes that wind around and into the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum.

Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi chairman Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak recently shared that the emirate’s tourism strategy considers more than $10 billion in state-sponsored and public-private partnership infrastructure investments between now and the end of the decade. The results of those projects figure to add $24.5 billion to the nation’s annual gross domestic product. An island that caters to esports and gaming would fit in among those plans and the range of nature preserves, cultural sites, leisure spots, tourist attractions, and commercial centers across the emirate’s existing islands.

But an esports investment wouldn’t come into being for purposes of economic opportunism or public relations gains. It would be because it aligns with the objectives and goals of Abu Dhabi Vision 2030, the roadmap set forth by the government in 2006 to ensure a sustainable economy.

During the past two decades, governments of cities and nations across the Gulf region have been making massive investments into transforming their economies from a reliance on oil-based operations to an interest in knowledge-based organizations. The strategy aims to enable self-sustaining industries in anticipation of the day in the middle of this century when the bulk of oil reserves are figured to run dry.

The model that the UAE is following to achieve that is “unique and novel,” says Robert Salomon, dean of the NYU Stern School of Business at NYU Abu Dhabi and a professor of management at NYU Stern. “The traditional model in the developing world has been export-led growth. For Abu Dhabi, it’s ‘let’s just jump from an oil-based, developing economy and go straight toward services and a knowledge-based economy.’”

The trillions of dollars of investment being committed to these changes are not being driven primarily by economic development, though. They are being powered more so by social impact.

The Abu Dhabi economy is fashioned around a society designed for living, working, and connecting. In terms of approach, it bucks the classical model that puts economics over society. In terms of culture and worldview, it places a premium on improving social pursuits as a means to stirring economic opportunities. Sports and sports-led development are part of that ambition.

“One of the features that defines a developed country is leisure time. And one of the things that people do when they have leisure time is they dedicate more time to sport,” Salomon says. “Sport is one of the markers of a society that has developed.”

From Salomon’s perspective, Abu Dhabi’s local and global investments in sports, the arts, entertainment, film, and creative services are indicators that the emirate has arrived at an inflection point in its evolution. That opens its leadership and people into a new round of thinking-through the questions about what developed countries do and what developed countries can do. “A project like the esports island is consistent with that happening,” he says.

As the esports island emerges on the horizon, Abu Dhabi has a well-established track record of hosting esports events. For example, it recently welcomed back the Blast Premier World Final, an international tournament with a $1 million prize pool, for the second time. Events like that highlight the region’s growing presence in the esports industry.

Esports-related revenue in the region had an annual increase of nearly eight percent to almost $2 billion last year and is on pace to continue rising through the end of the decade, according to a report by Niko Partners. Saudi Arabia generated more than half of the revenue, followed by the UAE with almost one-third of it. This surge in esports, alongside Abu Dhabi’s increasing focus on gaming and digital entertainment, is evident decisions such as the integration of Abu Dhabi Gaming—a government-led initiative that aggregates the local gaming ecosystem around talent development, game development, digital education, and esports—into the portfolio of the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi late last year.

From ancient times through the middle of the past century, the Abu Dhabi economy was fueled by fishing and pearl diving. Then came oil and trade. Now and in the foreseeable future, it is knowledge and culture. With plans for projects like the world’s first esports island on the rise, Abu Dhabi is primed to further its status as a global sports hub.