Statistics about gaming in Arabia

هل قمت بتمضية الكثيرمن الوقت في لعب ال MMORPG مما أثر سلباً على حياتك؟ have you spent too much time on MMORPG games that affected your real life?
نعم
لا
ما هو ال MMORPG
1. Yes
2. No
3. What is MMORPG

Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd Games in Arabia Samer Abbas Senior Research Analyst Arab Advisors Group

Why video games?
Games in the Arab World
The game development scene
Current trends and future outlook
Outline Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

Why Video Games? Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

Games as a medium Read Listen Watch Control more user engagement Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

Entertainment Education & Training Art Advertising Raising Awareness Propaganda And fitness! Games, a full-fledged medium.. Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

Games in the Arab World Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

Retail/packaged games Mobile games Online games Game platforms Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

Publishers and distributors focus on the Gulf countries.
Regional players estimate total market size at $800-900 million, expected to grow at 10% per year .
Market is dominated by 4-5 regional distributors partnered with most major publishers.
Within the Gulf, the most important markets are:
- Saudi Arabia
- UAE
- (and to a lesser extent) Kuwait
The region’s retail games market Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

For developers:
Higher production values/development costs
Longer development cycles
Much more difficult to create hit games
Insufficient game programming expertise in the region.
For publishers:
Piracy
Censorship
Fragmented market
Bottomline: Retail is a difficult market to enter, especially so in the region.
Barriers to entry into the region’s retail games markets Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

The region is a growth market for mobile games.
According to content providers, games rank 2nd among the downloadable mobile content in the Gulf.
Global publishers are interested: Gameloft, EA Mobile
Most operators are still greedy (high revenue share % & data rates)
Small number of companies specialized in mobile games.. (Maysalward, GN4ME, ZGroup Mobile)
Mobile games in the region: Operators Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

iPhone and the app store are available in a few key Arab countries.
Despite global success, there is very little focus on iphone games in the region.
But interest is building up
Bottomline: Despite huge potential, market is still relatively untapped.
Mobile games in the region: Handset manufacturers Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

Types of online games
Single player casual games portals
Multiplayer online games (played over a server, game world lasts until match ends, e.g. card games websites)
Massively Multiplayer Online games (100s or 1000s of players, community-driven, game world is persistent)
Browser-based MMOs (e.g. Travian)
Client-based MMOs (e.g. World of Warcraft)
Social games (games on Facebook, Myspace, Netlog, e.g Farmville, Pet Society)
Online games Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

The game that started it all in the region was Travian.
Launched in September 2007 as the first MMO game available in Arabic.
In early 2009, Arabic version registered users peaked: 1.02 million by January 24, 2009.
To put things in perspective:
1/48 national versions = 1/5 of the userbase (4.5 million by Jan 24 2009)
Top 20 website in 8 Arab countries (source: Alexa, April 2009)
April 2010:
Travian has 5 Arabic national versions, with a combined 382,000 registered users
There are 40 F2P BB MMO games available in Arabic.
Bottomline: Online games are booming in the region.
The online games boom & the power of free Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

So how big are online games in the region? online games > pornography, says Google Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

Some Arab Advisors’ survey findings Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

Around two out of five Internet users in Egypt play online games Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd Note: percentages are calculated from the total sample of 1,321 respondents. Source: Arab Advisors Group’s Egypt Internet and e-commerce Survey Report 2010

In Egypt, 13% of Internet users who play games said that they pay to play Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd Note: percentages are calculated from the 524 respondents who play games online. Source: Arab Advisors Group’s Egypt Internet and e-commerce Survey Report 2010

The region’s game development scene Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

At first there were barely any investments into games in the region.
There’s a lot of passion for game development, but many would-be developers land on the wrong footing
Lack of a sound vision: Developers want to make AAA titles right now when they barely have any production experience.
Some developers are “playing it right”: Casual/Flash, iPhone, Facebook.
The recent inflow of investments into the region’s games segment holds a lot of promise for aspiring game developers and start-ups.
The region’s game development scene: A lot of frustration, and a lot of promise! Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

Ubisoft Casablanca AfkarMedia (Syria) Timeline Interactive (Egypt) Vertex Studios (UAE) Maysalward (Jordan) Wixel Studios (Lebanon) The development scene: Worthy mentions Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

Current trends and future outlook Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

MBC Group (Broadcast)
Rotana Media Group (Record label, broadcast)
Spacetoon International (broadcast, print, toys)
Abu Dhabi Media Company (broadcast, print)
Major broadcast media companies are branching out into online/mobile games Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

UAE: twofour54 started focusing explicitly on games since October 2009.
Morocco: Government provided incentives and support to Ubisoft to open Casablanca studio
Egypt: Indirect govt support through Public/Private Tech. development fund. Invested in Timeline Interactive
Jordan: IV Holdings invested in 3 local gaming start-ups
Investments are starting to flow in the region’s games segment Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

Ubisoft Campus Casablanca
Digipen opened in Lebanon in 2001, closed in 2006
Carnegie Mellon Qatar is offering game programming courses as part of its Computer Science under-graduate degree.
twofour54 (Abu Dhabi Media City) is planning a gaming academy
Very little is going on in game education and talent building Amman Tech Tuesdays “Gaming Edition” – August 3 rd

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Statistics about gaming in Arabia

by Amman Tech Tuesday on Aug 04, 2010

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Statistics about gaming in Arabia — Presentation Transcript