Reine Abbas

Reine Abbas is a Lebanese video game designer and artist who is one of the first female game designers in the Middle East. Abbas co-founded Wixel Studios in 2008, one of the first independent game studios in Lebanon.

Biography In 2000, Abbas earned her Master's degree in Visual Arts from the University of Balamand. From 2002 through 2008, Abbas attended the DigiPen Institute of Technology, located in Redmond, Washington. She later established the art department at DigiPen in Lebanon, The name "Wixel" was chosen as it stands for "weird pixel" in recognition of being the only game studio in the region at the time. Abbas took inspiration after witnessing political violence in Lebanon.

Abbas is a co-founder and CEO of SPICAtech, a school that teaches young people skills needed to design and produce video games.

Abbas regularly gives talks at workshops and conferences, and advocates for women to join the video game industry. Abbas serves as associate professor at Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA) and Lebanese American University (LAU). She is also an instructor of Game Design at (LAU and the Lebanese University (LU).

Awards and honors In 2010, Abbas won the "Innovation in ICT" Award, presented by the Women in Information Technology In 2019, Abbas was a finalist for the Cartier Women's Initiative which recognizes women entrepreneurs In 2019, Abbas was featured in Forbes