Game market and industry in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from Japanese companies' points of view. Speaker: Sho Sato, Chief Analyst, Media Create

1. ‫ساتو‬ ‫شو‬
‫التحليل‬ ‫رئيس‬
‫كريات‬ ‫ميديا‬
How do Japanese game companies
see Arabic game market and industry

2. Media Create is...
 the one and only independent game marketing firm in Japan
– Established in 1994, when the original PlayStation was launched.
 game business researcher in Japan, Asia and emerging nations
– Our data and reports are regarded as the industrial standard in the Japanese
game business.
 the opinion leader of Japanese game industry
– Our clients include most Japanese game publishers including Nintendo, SCE,
Sega, GungHo, Square Enix, Konami, Capcom…

3. Who is Sho Sato?
• Worked in Jordan Gaming Taskforce in Amman
• Currently works for Chief Analyst at Media Create

4. Why do Japanese game companies get
interested in emerging game market?

5. Japanese game market gets matured
Source: YANO Research
http://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/1603/14/news089.html

6. Japanese game companies found
offices in emerging countries
For example:
Bandai Namco→Malaysia, Mexico, Romania
KONAMI→Singapore
Capcom→Thailand(BEELINE)
DeNA→ Singapore, Vietnam
GungHo→Singapore
KLab→Philippine, Singapore

7. Why is MENA game market important
for Japanese game companies?

8. Young society and
high population increase rate
Source: UNFPA State of the Population 2015

9. High Adaptability to social media
http://theonlineproject.me/files/reports/Reintroducing_Social_Saudis_Arabic1.pdf

10. Popularity of YouTube and some
YouTubers focus on games
‫جيمر‬ ‫سعودي‬
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rWlsEbkKZ0

11. New market, but comparatively long
history of game play
‫أتاري‬
‫فاملي‬ ‫نينتندو‬
‫صخر‬

12. Fans of Japanese games and anime
‫جريندايزر‬
(UFOロボ グレンダイザー)
‫خماسي‬ ‫البطل‬
(コンバトラーV)
‫ماجد‬ ‫كابتن‬
(キャプテン翼)

13. High growth rate of MENA game market
https://www.wamda.com/2015/04/report-young-arabs-fueling-mena-media-market
Among MENA countries,
KSA is and will be the largest game market

14. High spending power of GCC countries
International clan
Arab clan
Clan ranking of Clash of Clans
International clan
Arab clan
Arab clan

15. ‫السالطين‬ ‫انتقام‬
Developed by
ONEMT (‫)الصين‬
Top 1 in Saudi Arabia
Top 30 in the U.S.
High spending power of GCC countries
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/antqam-alslatyn/id1031150328?mt=8

16. How is the recent condition of
Arabic game companies?

17. Example of game titles from MENA region
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thewallgames.z7am&hl=ja
(‫)المغرب‬ ‫زحام‬
(‫)األردن‬ ‫هجولة‬
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rababagames.hajwalah&hl=ja
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.pou.app&hl=ja
Pou (‫)لبنان‬
(‫)لبنان‬ ‫انمي‬ ‫اكشن‬
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lanahuang.khayal&hl=ar

18. Active regional collaboration of
game developers
https://itch.io/jam/game-zanga-5
http://arabicgamejam.org/ https://itch.io/jam/game-zanga-6

19. Meanwhile, there are various challenges for
game developers in Arabic-speaking region...
• Difficulty in attracting investors (=Difficulty in scale-up)
• Lack of experienced game publisher
• Google Merchant Certification (for paid apps)
• The number of educational institutes specialized in
game education (talent demand/supply issue in long
term)
• Networking with game developers/publishers in other
regions (especially the U.S. and Eastern Asia)
In order to solve these issues,
collaboration with international game companies is
quite important.

20. • Support development & marketing
• Publish into other regions
• Invest into project or company
• Feature your games in Japanese market
• Appeal to other Japanese game companies
• tell you how to design games
• provide network with other game-related people
Japanese Game Publishers
Japanese Game Creators
Japanese Game Journalists
How can Japanese game companies and
developers help you?

21. How can we help you working with Japanese
game companies?
International
Companies
Usual Report Line of Japanese Companies
Executive Commitee
General Marketing
Division
Overseas
Business
Domestic
Business
Develo
pment
Making use of our 20 years experience with Japanese game
companies, you can broaden network with decision-makers
of Japanese companies

22. ‫جزيال‬ ‫شكرا‬
If you want to get this slide or
want to know Asian game market and business,
please give me your business card,
or contact our e-mail address below.
Media Create, Co.ltd.
Kanda Jinbocho 1-1-17 Jinbocho Dai-San Bldg. 5F
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan
http://www.m-create.com/english/index.html
sato@m-create.com
TEL:(+81)332947031
FAX:(+81)332947036