This slide was for the workshop reporting for GDC 2013 localization summit in May 25th, 2013. Below is the Japanese version of this slide: http://www.slideshare.net/ShoSato2/ss-22327913

1. Media Create Co. Ltd.,
Analyst Sho Sato

2. About the lecturer
 Entered Thunderbird School of Global Management in
2010.
 Founded Thunderbird Game Club, networking with
international students on campus. Collected
information about the game market and industry in the
world.
 From July 2011, did an internship for Jordan Gaming
Taskforce, a game industrial association in the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and researched and
made a lecture about the international expansion
strategy for Jordanian game companies.
 Graduated from Thunderbird in April 2012.
 Worked at Media Create as an analyst from May 2012.

3. Agenda
 The game market in Arab nations, Iran and Turkey
 The game industry in Arab nations, Iran and Turkey
 Summary

4. The game market in Middle East

5. MENA = Middle East and North Africa
(http://www.timelesshonored.blogspot.jp/)

6. The game market in Arab nations(1)
 The total market scale of Arab nations
was said to be around 100 billion yen in
2011. Console game market was about
50 billion yen, PC game market was 10
billion yen and mobile game market was
40 billion yen.
 The standard of regulations for contents
is quite different among nations. Saudi
Arabia has the strictest regulation in the
region
 Saudi Arabia has the largest game market
in the region. The UAE is the second
largest game market, which is followed
by Gulf countries such as Kuwait. Egypt
has a considerable PC game market.
 Although most contents are distributed
in English and don’t localized, there are
strong demands for contents in Arabic.
(http://issuu.com/intentmedia/docs/mcv_issue562)
(http://www.gameexpo.ae/)

7. The game market in Arab nations(2)
 Among game consoles, the market share of
the PS3 is overwhelming, while the market
scale of Xbox 360 is limited. Favorites of
Arabs are similar to those of Europeans so far.
 The mobile game market and the SNS game
market is expanding very rapidly. ARPU of
Arab nations is higher than that of any other
emerging regions. As for the PC games, some
localized games which are popular in Europe
keep strong popularity.
 Sports games and racing games are the most
popular genre in the Arabic game market.
Various e-sports tournaments are held in Arab
nations. Japanese players participated in
KOFGF in Kuwait.
 Male twenties are the main market for the
digital game, while a considerable number of
women play games. Like Gcon, some game
events and websites only for women are
opened in Arab nations.
(https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.442820012428496.101868.201683223208844&type=3)
(http://www.gcon-riyadh.com/)

8. The game market in Iran
 Due to the economic sanction by the
Western countries, the market is closed,
although the market scale of the PS3, Wii
and Xbox360 is considerable. (Somehow
the DS and the 3DS don’t seem to be
distributed among the public channels.)
 IT-specialized shopping malls such as
Aladdin and Paytakht are positioned as
the mainstream of the distribution of
digital products including digital games.
 Entertainment Software Rating
Association(ESRA) estimates and rates
every console games. They say it is also
used by other countries such as Malaysia.
 Iranian prefers fiction and fantasy, thus
RPG and educational games will be
promising.
(http://esra.org.ir/)

9. The game market in Turkey
 According to Newzoo, the market scale in
2012 was around 45 billion. The Turkish
game market is usually regarded as the
“next European market” rather than the
Middle Eastern game market.
 The mainstream of the game distribution
is specialty stores like Aral Game, and
European GMS and electronic retailers
such as Carrefour and Saturn.
 The Wii has strong presence due to the
demand for party. As for genre, sports
games and party games are popular
 Turkey has had the fourth largest
community of Facebook in the world. The
favorite of genre of PC and mobile games
is almost the same as that of European
countries.
(http://www.aralgame.com/)

10. The game industry in Middle East

11. The game industry in Arab Nations
 A lot of small-scale game studios
established in the region.
 Advanced education of IT and game
development brought up talented
workers with lower cost.
 Small and medium game studios are
established in Jordan, Saudi Arabia
and Egypt.
 Some conferences for the game
developers are held: Dubai World
Game Expo and Jordan Gaming
Summit are only a part of examples

12. Examples of Arabic digital games
Arabian Lords
(http://www.quirkat.com/)
The Ringleader
(http://www.taktekgames.com)
Project Hero
(http://www.my3dh.com/)

13. The game industry in Iran
 Led by the government, The
Iranian game industry develops
games according to the diplomatic
policy and historical viewpoint of
the government. Those games are
mainly PC and mobile games.
 National Foundation for Computer
Games (NFCG) aided Iranian game
companies.
 NFCG introduced Iranian games at
Tehran Game Expo, Gamescom and
Tokyo Game Show.
(http://www.tehrangameexpo.com/Default.aspx)
(http://www.el.tufs.ac.jp/prmeis/html/pc/News20110506_123307.html)

14. Examples of Iranian digital games
Mir Mahna
(http://www.mirmahna.com/)
Black Gold
(http://ircg.ir/sn/iranianGames/pt/full/lang/en/id/1115)
“Cry of Freedom” developed by Pardazesh-Afzar Pezhvak
(http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/05/12/303062/iran-to-release-historical-pc-
game/)
The Mountaineer
(http://ircg.ir/sn/iranianGames/pt/full/lang/en/id/1060)

15. The game industry in Turkey(1)
 Turkey has comparatively long history
of developing games. Formerly game
engineers and designers who had
worked at Western big game
companies started some game studios.
 Recently the number of IT engineers
educated in domestic universities is
increasing. Turkish government is
eager for business/academic
cooperation, and some famous game
studios are developed from incubation
programs of Turkish universities.
 Some game trade shows like GameX
are held.
(http://www.gamex.se/)
”Dagger(Hancer),” the first packaged digital game developed by Digital Dreams in 1992
(http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/06276.58368.pdf)

16. The game industry in Turkey(2)
 Peak Games is known as one of
the largest game developer for
Facebook
 Crytek, whose co-founders are
Turkish, established a studio in
Istanbul this year. Besides, Riot
Games, which is famous for
League of Legends, have a studio
in Turkey.
 Venture companies incubated in
Turkish universities such as METU
develop some popular games and
important game technologies,
which are noticed by Western
game companies.
Mount&Blade II: Bannerlord
(http://www.taleworlds.com/)

17. Summary
 The Middle Eastern game market is not a monolith; each
region (Arab nations, Iran and Turkey) has unique
characteristics of the game market and industry.
 The Arabic game market has strong potential, while the
Turkish game development is promising, and while the
industrial potential of Iran is high, although it is closed
market.
 Incentives and policies for the game industry are different
among countries, so the best option of international
expansion depends on your purpose of international
strategy.

18. *Advertisement*
 Recently we published “The Annual Game Industry Report in 2012,” which has the chapter
on “The emerging video game market in Arab nations.”
 I will make a lecture about “The console game market in Arab nations” in CEDEC 2013.
 If you are interested in the game market in the emerging nations, please let me know!

19. Thank you very much!
Media Create Co. Ltd.,
http://www.m-create.com/
Sho Sato, Analyst
sato@m-create.com