3 Hours a Day: Inside the App Quietly Winning the Attention Economy

Dubai has always rewarded those who think at scale. For Faisal Zaidi, President of Exscape, that mindset started early, working alongside his father in construction from the age of 12, learning how large systems come together.

“You can have a great product,” he says, “but if you can’t get it to users, it doesn’t matter.”

That thinking defines Exscape. Rather than launching like a typical gaming app, the company focused first on infrastructure, partnering with telecom operators across emerging markets to scale distribution. In Tunisia alone, it converted around 8% of a telecom’s user base within months. Since then, it has expanded across Africa, the Middle East, and into Asia.

But distribution is only part of the story. What Exscape is really building is an answer to a bigger shift in digital behavior.

“Attention gets people through the door. Engagement is what keeps them there,” Zaidi says. “Visibility is rented. Engagement is owned.”

In an era where users scroll past content in seconds, most platforms are optimized for reach. Exscape is built for retention. Instead of a single game, it offers a connected ecosystem of over 100 games, social features, tournaments, and virtual environments—designed to keep users coming back.

“Players today don’t want isolated experiences,” Zaidi explains. “They want progression, competition, and a sense that their time is leading somewhere.”

The platform’s design is rooted in the concept of “flow”, where challenge and skill evolve together, keeping users engaged without fatigue. The result is striking: some users spend over three hours a day on the app.

One of Exscape’s key differentiators is its “play-to-win” model, where users earn points through gameplay and redeem real-world rewards.

“In some markets, winning isn’t just entertainment, it has real impact,” Zaidi says. “For some users, it can translate into real value in their daily lives.”

The company is also rethinking how brands interact with users, shifting from traditional ads to immersive experiences. “Spending 15 minutes inside an experience is very different from seeing a two-second ad,” he notes.

In less than a year, Exscape has scaled to millions of users, but the early days were far from easy. “When you have no traction, it takes time to get people to believe in what you’re building,” Zaidi says. “Once you have scale, everything changes.”

Looking ahead, the vision is to evolve into a “super app” for interactive media—a single destination for entertainment, competition, and connection. Despite the growth, Zaidi keeps his definition of success simple. “Success is peace,” he says. “It’s being content with what you have.”

As for what’s next?

“We’ve only just begun.”