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Game Markets in the Middle East: Opportunities and Challenges Mahmoud Khasawneh – CEO Quirkat

Game Markets in the Middle East: Opportunities and Challenges Mahmoud Khasawneh – CEO Quirkat Oded Sharon – CEO Corbomite Games. Mahmoud Ali Khasawneh. CEO IGDA Middle East Chapter Leader

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Game Markets in the Middle East: Opportunities and Challenges Mahmoud Khasawneh – CEO Quirkat

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  1. Game Markets in the Middle East: Opportunities and Challenges Mahmoud Khasawneh – CEO Quirkat Oded Sharon – CEO Corbomite Games

  2. Mahmoud Ali Khasawneh • CEO • IGDA Middle East Chapter Leader • 20+ years of industry experience, formerly CIO Government of Jordan and Director of E-Government Programme • 6+ years of Middle East games industry experience.

  3. Oded Sharon • CEO of Corbomite Games • 12 Years of experience as Game Developer • Adventure and Action-Adventure games,  Casual and mobile Games, and songs for Rock Band. • IGDA Chapter coordinator Israel (GameIS) • Too many hobbies.

  4. Middle East Overview

  5. Region and Demographics • Region spans 22 Arab countries and Israel • One of the fastest growing markets • Mostly overlooked by game developers and publishers

  6. Mahmoud Ali Khasawneh Arab Market Overview

  7. The Arabic Speaking Middle East • Population approaching 400M • 75M+ internet users • ~40 million mobile phones sold (3rd quarter 2010) (source: Gartner) • 214,886,500 mobile subscriptions • 200% penetration in richer GCC states • More than 180M people under the age of 25

  8. Video Game Market Data • Market size ~$1 billion (various sources) • users - 15% of globaltraffic(October 2010) • KSA: 63% of internet users play online games(source: Arab Advisors Group)

  9. Platforms millions Game titles sold

  10. Piracy • Estimated by the BSA at 59% • Same title on PS3 will outsell XBOX360 version at 7:1 ratio (source: Red Entertainment) • Online authentication, subscription, ‘always online’ & other DRM solutions • Pirates vs. Piracy Consumers?

  11. Localization Efforts to Date • Sony: Wall-E, Start the Party, This is Football • Asian MMO’s in the Middle East • Rushed translations • Bandwidth optimization issues • Storyline & artistic relevance & acceptability • RESULT: Short term success • ‘Partnerships’ for effective market entry

  12. More Localization Efforts • Arabian Lords - PC • Strategy/City builder – language intensive • Collaboration between Quirkat and US-based Breakaway Games • Topped regional charts • Basha – Sony PSP • First Arab PSP games • Popular card games

  13. Tackling the Arabic Speaking Market – Regional Sensibilities • 50% of internet searches for Islamic content • Other 50% is for provocative video clips • online games > pornography, says Google

  14. Tackling the Arabic Speaking Market – Regional Sensibilities • Hand of God – Mythic Palace • Little Big Planet misunderstanding • Censorship patterns

  15. Tackling the Arabic Speaking Market – Content Relevance • Besides suitability, localization for the region heavily depends on relevance • Thanksgiving, Halloween and other holidays • Diners • Music and visual pop culture • Cinemas and movie tie-ins

  16. Tacklingthe Arabic Speaking Market – Technical and Linguistic Considerations • Unicode / UTF8 • UI space allocation for translated assets – lessons from Arabian Lords • Similarly, audio lengths, in-game video, timing, lip synching • Many dialects vs. classical/spoken Arabic • No references

  17. Tackling the Arabic Speaking Market – Payment and Monetization • Credit cards not prevalent, cash oriented society • Regional prepaid payment card solutions • International games developers/aggregators need to integrate these solutions • Example: $40M annual revenue from games on OneCard • Mobile payment still exists, but not sustainable

  18. Localization Vs. Made-for-MidEast • Local Content vs. Local Delivery • Localization, Arabization, Culturalization?? • A well made title will perform if, you can ‘kick it, drive it or shoot it.’ • RPG titles underperform hugely compared to the West • This is 100% because of the language barrier • We chose first Arabic title to be language intensive, strategy, to prove the point

  19. Regional Game Dev Scene • IGDA Middle East • Dev hubs • Jordan • UAE • KSA • Egypt • Lebanon • Morocco

  20. Regional Opportunities • Region-wide IP game opportunities for development • Exponential growth in Internet user base and online usage • Exponential growth of console market and game success potential. • Expanding regional online payment methods

  21. Regional Challenges • Internet penetration at homes/ internet cafes • Regional investors don’t understand the industry • Acceptability of content – religion + culture • Piracy • Payment methods • Talent pool

  22. Oded Sharon Israel Market Overview

  23. Israel General Photo by Ron Shoshani

  24. Israel - General • Population: 7,635,600 Primary Languages: Hebrew 20% Arab 75% Jewish Arabic Secondary Languages: English (Taught as secondary) Russian (20% population)

  25. Israel - General • High tech oasis • Highest number of start-ups per capita in the world • Lots of early innovators and entrepreneurs. • Most US VC's have branches in Israel. • "A computer for every child" 1995 initiative.

  26. Israeli game industry • (Photos by and thanks to Nir Miretzky)

  27. Israeli Game Industry • IGDA Chapter formed in 2000 • 850 member in Facebook group "GameIS“ • 3 large conferences with 200-500 participants. • Monthly social gathering and chapter meetings.

  28. Israeli Game Industry • Birthplace of the technology behind Kinect ,  • home of almost a dozen motion game companies. • Two major local retailer distributors/publishers: • Hed-Artzi/NMC , Atari Israel

  29. The Israeli gamer

  30. The Israeli gamer profile Hardcore/Retail: Similar to European (mostly UK) and US gamer. Plays: Sports FPS Racing

  31. The Israeli gamer profile Console Availably (Hardcore): ~4M PC: No official retailer

  32. The Israeli gamer profile Handheld / Mobile Availably (casual): ~3M Facebook

  33. The PC Israeli gamer profile Online games (WoW)   Facebook (Farmville) Lots of piracy • According to Atari Israel - All annual retail game sales: $400K-500K • For single full price titles, average $20K per single title.

  34. Israel - sites, blogs, and marketing (full list at : http://www.thegamers.tv/test/nir3.html)

  35. Vgames 2009 visitors survey (22k people surveyed) male female Sex 7% Ages: <12 13-17 18-24 25-34 >35 11% Interests Playing online games Articles Game Forums Downloads

  36. Localization to Hebrew • Lots of local Hebrew content: TV, Media, books. • Non-Israeli books are translated to Hebrew. • Movies and TV are subtitled, not dubbed. • Games in Israel are played in English. • Most Israeli can understand English well.

  37. Challenges in Translation to Hebrew: • Right to left • Missing or incompatible words • Double meanings • Phrases and idioms • Cultural references.

  38. Localization != translation Not many examples of games translated to Hebrew in last decade. some do get subtitles, not in last 4 years. Titles for kids (E.G. Dora the explorer) do get translated to Hebrew.

  39. Localized online titles Several Online games were localized and had big success : Travian. Icariam

  40. Why lack of localized game? • No need? • No opportunity? • Only effective on big titles • Local entrepreneurs (myself included) are focused on markets outside Israel

  41. Original Creations in Israel for Israelis Local success for titles by Local game developers: Piposh Gindis IAF Falafel king • Israeli Adver-games are always in Hebrew. • Religious and Bible games also in Hebrew, and interesting sub market.

  42. Case study - Bamba Advergame based on one of Israel's most famous Brands "Bamba" which is a peanut butter flavoured snack. Free to play RPG using Bamba's kid mascot. 800K Unique visitors, 4M entries. Won "2009 GameIS award" for best advergame. Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSEpQwaEWls

  43. Case study - Mogobe Mogobe - Virtual world for kids ages 7-12 Developed in Israel, and Israel was first launch country in July 09. By Jan 2010 was 2nd Most popular site among children in Israel, after facebook. Localized around the world with languages, clothing,and location relevant themes.  Penetration: 30% of target audience in Israelopened accounts. 40K make transactions of $6.5 each. Total revenue $280K just in Israel.

  44. Israel - Conclusions  • Mostly PC gamers. • Lots of young gamers, mobile and PC. • Tech savvy, early innovators. • English speakers. • Influential Bloggers (worldwide). • Large and innovative developer community. • If you want to do a motion game with NI, you probably want to do business with Israeli companies.

  45. Israel - Conclusions  • Not necessary to translate to Hebrew in order to succeed. • Next-gen & online would benefit greatly if localized,even if it's only by adding subtitles. • Marketing to religious sections can be tricky.

  46. Israel - Conclusions  Tel-Aviv No Camels!

  47. Conclusions: Middle East • Fast growing market • Lots of business opportunities • Religion and politics can be challenging

  48. Q&A

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