MENA Games Industry Awards 2024 - The Complete Show - part of the Dubai GameExpo Summit 2024

always wanted to do that always wanted to do that I feel I feel empowered now I can see why it works um good afternoon uh and welcome to the first ever Mina games industry Awards that's good it's been it's been an interesting couple we I need the enthus grab some seats you've got plenty of seats here I know there's orders who can sit the front everything but just there's plenty of seats sit yourself down so this is a brand new awards ceremony uh designed to celebrate obviously the very best work being done in the industry in the in the Middle East region in the last year or so to our knowledge and there may be people here that that know better than me this is the first time anything like this has been done it's certainly the first time we've tried to do it um it's certainly the first time we tried to do it in the middle of another show uh in the afternoon H and during a weather advisory so bear with us it's uh it's a uh we've had a little bit of a friction

but we are going to carry on against the odds and and get this done committed so if you don't know me already my name is Chris James I'm the CEO uh of Steel media the company responsible for this uh this show along with a plenty of help from the DC and others uh we also run the PG connect series uh internationally uh we run the pocket gaming. bear uh the big Indie pitch top 50 game makers a ton of stuff for the games industry talk about that in a second um before I get into the awards though and I know that's what you want to get to but there's not a lot of Preamble don't worry before I get into it I want to to explain a little bit about why we're doing this and why I think this is important uh and and and to do that I need to kind of uh take take you back a little there we go taking you back a little bit as you can see there um this is this is the still media team I know I haven't changed a bit that's that's me in the cent They slightly slightly shorter hair and slightly less gray um we started this company um 19 years ago and and our aim then was to make a mark on the games industry um to try and help and and and

celebrate and support those within it um we'd been working before at various publishing companies and games companies other things we'd worked in the PC and console game Space a lot of our team worked for a magazine called Edge which was the games industry Bible uh before they came here but we chose deliberately um to focus initially on the mobile games industry because we saw that as a place where we thought we have the most impact and generally make a difference we saw an industry that was full of talented people trying to create something new but really weren't getting much love they weren't getting a lot of support they were struggling uh the world was against them so here's a here's a look at what the mobile games industry was back those days um you know the back when we started most phones still had buttons uh that's an alien concept to young people I know um there was uh we this they had very small screens downloading content was was was an absolute pain and the revenue share model with with uh with uh businesses was was piffling you people complain about giving 30% to Apple today you were

lucky to get 30% as a developer back then um but the big problem really was Discovery was awareness we we work with the mobile operators in the UK and elsewhere and we even to to share reviews and news about new games to encourage download we even created magazines in store to encourage people to download mobile games that seems insane now but at the time that was something that was needed obviously we fast forward in Mobile and right now it's a very different world it's a you know the there's about three there's billions of high-end touchscreen devices that pack more power than the average console did back then um the games there's high quality games thousands and thousands of high quality games both familiar franchises in the games industry uh and brand new mobile first IP and like I say those devices in billions of of pockets and and games now can Count Their top games count their their revenues in billions and mobile is the biggest part of the games industry but by far it's at least half and depending which metrics and data you you swear by

uh it's worth around hundred billion dollars at the moment there's loads of data there from from a recent dii study to show how huge the engagement is and and in that time these are just some of the people have been honored as our top 50 game makers over the years and many of those now wouldn't you wouldn't have heard of a lot of them when mobile started but a lot of them now kind of household names um through the growth of this inury industry now obviously there are many factors in the success of this there's a chat called Steve Jobs who did quite a lot with these App Store don't think even like games but he did quite a lot for the games in mobile games industry um the freeze play model was very important and of course incredible Talent um played a huge part too but we feel we played a small part over the years uh we feel that media uh events awards that ecosystem uh of community around games and initiatives like that are really important encouraging industry forward and and and and helping it develop I'm not going to take responsibility for 100 billion industry but we have played a part and that which brings to why I'm

here this is if we flash back to the to the the the mea industry not even meor industry uh about 10 years ago this was a much smaller business as it is now it's it it these numbers about 1.4 billion and this was from a a larger region than what's now considered Mina um and and obviously we've grown a lot this industry's grown a lot and we've seen this graph in lots of presentations we're now talking about a $7.2 billion industry in Mina fivefold growth um and itself most most impressively it's the fastest growing part of the market that's huge you really can't over overemphasize that however if you wanted to dig a bit deeper into who's making that money and who's doing you know what games are working it's been quite hard um up until you know sort of relatively recently it's been pretty much a press blackout there's not been any real international coverage you get hold of I know because we've been looking for it and looking for for for various reasons over the the previous years to to find find things um it's it's changed a bit

now since these big numbers and this fantastic growth the the the you get a lot more coverage of the industry as a whole and these big numbers guarantee International press coverage but still when it comes to companies you don't hear a lot about the companies or the games um there are a few exceptions again some of them here in the audience um often though when you get international coverage and a lot of it's on our channels but it's because you're partnering with companies outside a big International companies or you're investing you know significantly so so that's kind of brings us to what we've been doing and why we're here we we have started our program of trying to do what we try to do the mobile industry for the industry here we've been running events we're in Jordan initially and then the leader Summit in in in in Riad and of course here for the second year the Dubai game Expo which we're very proud of and we we love being here thank you so much for being so supportive for us um we're also trying to up our media so if you've got stories you want to talk about them talk

to our media Craig Chapel's knocking around he desperately wants information we want to cover more what's going on here but awards are always been a part of what we do and that's the next actal step so that's kind of that's kind of why we're here so hopefully that explains why we're doing this um how we got here I'll be very brief is we sent out a call for submissions we' got a lot of submissions hundreds and hundreds of of of people submitted and from that we filtered it down to about 100 um companies across the 14 C categories we've got with the help of some industry experts then from that point we open up the process to to Blind judging we had 80 plus judges from the region who have experience in the region or knowledge of it who then voted on uh each of the categories uh to determine the ultimate Runners up and winners I'll be sharing in a second so I want to ask before I kick off are there any judges in the audience is anybody here stand up if you being a judge in the audience come on show us some have you been a Jud stand up com on this is great so so what I want to say thank you so much guys

so basically I want you to remember these people you can sit down that SC and and just remember if you don't like the results these are the people that you need to talk to afterwards um in all seriousness in all seriousness whilst curating Awards is nowhere near as hard as making games or game Services it is a challenge especially when it's difficult to get information from a region so we wouldn't call this an alpha or or a beta even but we don't expect to be perfect first time so so now no doubt you'll argue with many of the choices here and we are open to constructive feedback so if you've got anything if you got any suggested patches or thoughts or just general outrage uh do send it to editorial team Craig I mentioned earlier all those judges or indeed myself um you can uh and we'll we will take it all on board and we want to grow this and make it a really significant event um finally before I geted this is an interactive Affair so when you do see names coming up on Noms or winners do feel free to share their friends or on your team or boo booing is acceptable I don't know what they as well that's fine uh don't Boo the sponsors though that's going to

be very bad for all of us so uh thank a big shout out to some of our sponsors to exola funding uh and IDE Xbox and our own Pocket Gamer Biz and blockchain gamer. Biz go a round of applause for our sponsors please right thank you very much you've been a very you've been a very uh very very friendly audience so far hope we continue so um right should we get started let's let's crack on into I'm going to find there's there's an opening VT to set the scene for what we're going to be uh celebrating [Music] I'm not afraid to lose everything staring at the sky from an empty plane until the that becomes the days I'm on my own in this story that you've written me I can't go home but I can do this alone no run to your phone

and get back up cuz it's a long time long time R for it all you running at a time yeah yeah [Music] yeah the w [Music] [Applause] [Music] you did that I didn't do any of that you guys did this some amazing games in there and and some of them will win I imagine so uh otherwise be very very weird Awards um so let's let's crack St on with the first award which is for the uh best games startup um and this is a this is one to celebrate the future of course this is focusing on the on any media games company that's been established in the last year or two and has always significantly evolved their

business in that time to make an impact on the industry through Innovation creativity or other initiatives but maybe it's not necessarily brought their Smash Hit to Market just yet so I do have some nominees uh to show which is the next video so here are the nominees Emerald Studio any know them fah Studios they here Fox ret studos Fox right game Hermits [Music] hm Sports cash kill games there's quite a lot in the games ones but don't worry it's like Nifty craft Nomad droids starv Vania tafra [Music] games Tass gaming studio and Yow game cool that's very very polite a clapping there so uh you might not want

to keep doing that all the way through we've got 14 Awards to get through but very good I appreciate it um so yes so this is this is what we're it's what we're playing for so in each category we're going to have uh We've basically in the process of judging we've come up with two kind of Runners up two honorable mentions who will just who will get sent a nice thing they can share on the social media and one winner only the winner come up please those going to take hours so just a quick shout out first we get Round of Applause for the honorable mentions in this best game startup which are Nomad Droid and yellow game so congratulations well done to you guys close but no sky this time but the winner according to the judges and the voting um is oh oh it's suspense I'm not trying to do Simon cow it's star Vania Studio oh wow that's a popular choice do we have a staria they're running they're running run run like the [Music]

is this is this s is this s is this s yeah okay do you like to say anything keep it keep it shortish yeah I mean I wasn't prepared but yeah thank you all and thank you for believing in us our game is there if you want to try it and uh I mean everyone deserves to be a winner I I saw ladid and yellow games I know them all um yeah keep working I guess I don't know there we go that's what we like gratitude and sure and successfulness that's fantastic so right we are going to keep things moving along lot of Photography going on there we go sit now your life's changed you might as well go

you go and buy go and buy an expensive car um right um right so our our next award is a little bit different uh we are uh focusing on the essential kind of ecosystem support uh and particular the kind of game hub Innovation hubs districts and related projects so this this award celebrates uh Regional Innovation hubs that are so important in this region to to Kickstart things that support developers uh with uh cultivate creativity enable locally produced content accelerate the gaming space and due to the rapidly n changing nature of the space No Doubt the names of half of these things will have change by the time I announced them but still I'm going to do the nominees uh as they stand here the nominees are ad gaming muted okay I know it's it's it's complicated uh dmcc the in5 tech or in5 Tech I thought that was DFC but there you go Neon [Applause]

charer Media city and Tam Keen so there we go those are oh good thank you very much so the again as as before we have we have uh two honorable mentions in the winner and the honorable mentions go to ad gaming and neom so congratulations to them uh however there can only be one winner that's the way it works uh and the winner is it's a DMC say [Music] anything would you like to say something

he's good he's good he's not allowed to say anything that's good well thank you very much it's okay I know how it works with governments you can't say so um this is just be really clear they didn't win this award just because they sponsored us however you can increase your chances if you do sponsor us so in the future we're all in business here anyway uh on we go on we go so the next award is uh best tool and service provider uh so while the game makers may get all credit uh the industry wouldn't be possible without essential backend tools that Empower game creation operation or monetization um so this Accolade is for companies that are based in or have a meaningful presence in the region who support the ecosystem here through dedicated development tools game engines AI middleware etc etc uh or monetization uh companies so here we go we've this is a mange of companies so a few quite different ones so I'll I'll run through the nominees the nominees are Arabic writer from eite Studio audio mob it's up uh just here I think

AB can't remember oops uh craftware from uh Nifty Craft part of the Nifty studio eleatics um game up a Serena game Studio pay first from carry first remit again another Ser game Studio tamat 10 plus Applause there and exola okay and the uh honorable mentions are audio mob and Tam 10 plus so congratulations there uh which means I don't know if I'm supposed to be holding the mic that means the winner is pause for the winner at this one is actually exola who have committed to the region and they are here and I have an award do we have exola we have someone from ex we have very senior people from exola many people from EX so they're all coming up

that's good [Music] again you very much and thank than for everybody thanks for us hosting here it's an amazing event the guys have set up here we're very committed to this territory we really want to make more Innovation and might more Partners here and really are very very grateful for this award thank you so much to everybody Contin success thank you thank you very much okay right we're moving we're going through it quite a lick now so that's good um so we're back to games now and we are into most Innovative games someone's clicking ahead for me there cheeky that's okay freaks me out a little bit um all right so uh The Gamers

industry is obviously at the Vanguard of innovation uh and technology and both in technology and play so any feels right we celebrate uh Innovation uh in in games so this this is for any minia bestas game released in the last uh 12 months or so that pushes the boundaries of game Dynamics where it's play mechanics technical achievements gameplay or more so let's have a look at the nominees this is a video for D to keep clicking so Avo uh Avo escape space fatal from Evo light heyim Sports from Haim Martha edu pretty pie the true Persian Love Story from Emerald it's beautiful I can game that okay right so there's uh uh theable mentions rather are for fa for Evite and the true Persian Love Story congratulations to them and um the winner in this category is as voted for by the judges is Avo escape space

now I I know I'm pretty sure they could make it here so I'm I guess Craig from G come up unfortunately we did we did speak to them but they they weren't able to make the show so Craig you can be not get to say any words but come across [Music] CRA says he couldn't have done it he didn't do it so um we'll get that award to them there there's only there's only I think there's only two people who who we know couldn't make it and and that's one of them unfortunately but there we go uh it's it's a VR game it's set in space with AI so check it out it's apparently really really good um okay and we move on we move on again doing it myself now there we go look at that little uh transition very slick okay and the next uh award is uh is for best

Arabic you can see that um so localization is obviously Clinic uh key to success in any region um we all like content that's in our language or culture relevance so this category reflects the work done by Publishers um developers or others uh to make a game fit well within the region I have to say my my my Arabic is a little bit Rusty so I wasn't involved in the judging of this one um but uh we we we'll leave this in the hands of our judges so here are the nominees for best uh Arabic localization of a game I think this is a video it is Assassin's Creed Mirage from Ubisoft EA Sports FC Electronic Arts good pizza great pizza tap blaz Forks the Four Winds uh from the Four Winds entertainment Hogwarts Legacy from Avalanche Infinity Kingdom from the sour group mafiosa Godfather of of of Mafia City res Evil

4 and those are games so obviously those are games largely made out the region but the localization teams have been involved in those so let's crack on and we will see the uh the the honorable mentions and so two honorable mentions is good pizza great Pizza Round of Applause for both of those please T Blaze and the four WIS entertainment which means there can only be one winner as usual and that winner is Assassin's Creed Mirage from ubong so we have we have ubis softers here we must have one Ubisoft come up there's loads of them no they were here we hundreds of them okay all right Charlie do you want to come up Mi up so yeah we have we have we have ubis here they've got officers here as well so maybe they're hitting off in a meeting somewhere anyway [Music]

yes thank you Charlie so yeah they are here they were speaking earlier but there you go can lead a horse to water and everything right let's keep on moving we are into we are well more than halfway through now so this is going very well um we were on to now we are moving on now to the best uh Esports uh service so we we created uh orts category when we got the nominations um the submissions coming in it became increasingly clear there was two very different types of companies there was uh orts services and the teams themselves so we went ahead and just separated those categories into two so this first one is for best Esports service orts obviously huge industry in the region so this category recognizes and celebrates um companies that have impressively implemented and strategically sustained canella didn't write that it's too hard words uh minia esport related Support Services in the last year so let's have a look at the uh

nominees it's Gamers Hub cfu games Power League Gaming the Esports and gaming agency good name true Gamers Zane Esports I'm assum it's in order that's the last one no zo so are yeah gaming I got myself too many Zs okay right okay so uh a number of uh well-known companies there from the region and the honorable mentions go to Power League Gaming and the Esports and gaming agency congratulations to you guys again you'll be able to say we almost won but didn't quite uh and the winner uh of the best in orts uh service is true Gamers again they should be here here hey look at that [Music]

would you uh would you like to say a few words uh yes thank you uh thank you Dubai thank you for Judy who sent it for us uh voices thank you for our customers for thank you for sports players who coming to True Gamers and uh play yeah uh I have one uh a new news uh I say it before official press press relize yeah something like that uh you know it uh through Gamers connected Gamers at this moment inside UI we already started our cross imira tournaments but uh in this weekend I have a one visit uh to Jordan and uh we

find the best solution sign some contracts and in may we officially started cross countries leagues and championships UI vus Jordan excellent thank you Fantastic look at that thank you very much a winner and a product announcement at the same time that's that's killing it fantastic okay well great so UE versus Jordan that's uh game on right um okay the um look at that he's very happy I like that happy winners so where you have orts Services you obviously need orts teams um and this category celebrates um the most consistently successful and Innovative I know media based Esports teams throughout the last year or so as a side note I know I may look like I'm getting on a bit but I have quite good twitch reflexes right so quite a good Quake player on my own Dave if anybody needs new Talent I'm just saying I'm uh could be available for the

right price anyway the nominees are falcons Esports fate Esports GK Esports or GK Sports NASA Esports there's a lot of Esports in the titles be more imaginative um Team rod that's good it's better Twisted Minds and those are the nominees uh do people know ort fans in here there's a few okay right so you'll know if this is right or wrong I don't know I do like orts but I don't necessarily know these teams yet to be to be uh to learn so the honorable mentions go to GK Esports and NASA Esports Round of Applause please and uh the winner according to judges and cour to the independent voting is is team Falcons [Music]

now ironically uh the team the Falcons weren't able to fly today so there you go um probably didn't want to risk a finger with a handshake strain or something um but we will get the award to them Charlie you can come up Charlie's actually our resident Esports fanatic so he can accept a second award we we need a photo Charlie you have to send it to him come on come on faster than that show you show your reflexes Charlie there you go Charlie actually does love Esports so he's he's the best person to [Music] two Awards congratulations well you've just got to pop over to Saudi now and deliver that one I think that's where it's going cool right and we move right along we are we're whipping through this it's great um so next up is next up is is uh away from orts but to another uh area that's very very hot in the region um uh it certainly had

its its uh ups and downs uh but the web 3 space or crypto blockchain or ft gaming whatever you call it uh nevertheless still uh retains a lot of Promise uh for the future of the games industry and many other Industries and has definitely found a welcome home in this region um and I think for good reason um and this award is is kind of effectively sponsored by our website blockchain gamer. bid so if you're into web 3 gaming we've got a a daily website about that with uh interviews and news from the from from the area so do check that out and if you're a web 3 company talk to our guys and we'll cover you what you're doing uh so let's have a look at the nominees for Best in web 3 gaming is this a video it is uh Boomland idome fana Studio kir reverse from param blabs Noo-noo Spirits wner slabs planet Quest from Galactic

entertainment Sana gaming can't pronounce that and the world of nifty craft and we miix uh from we made okay and yay sorry tell why is there a zed no that's it fantastic okay um so those are the nominees uh and as usual there will be uh a couple of uh honorable mentions and a winner that's how it works so the honorable mentions uh go to wner labs and yay yay congratulations to them um good work keep it coming we want to see a big year for wh web three um but the winner and this is again voted for by the uh the judges so you know where they are um is the winner is it's we miix by we made now these are very recent they've actually set up an office they've got an office in development in the uh in the DFC I don't know if we they did register but I haven't met SC them today so I don't everybody's here is there a Wii mixer is there a we maer in there no

who's going to come up oh James is going to come up you you are you're working just what you working with them what are you doing come on Sprint to the stage here we [Music] go would you like to say anything yeah no you know obviously I've been up here before yesterday morning but yeah we mix is one of the projects that I'm working with uh I do like how they do it you know taking the perspective of 20-year-old games company adopting blockchain uh for all the right reasons and so thanks very much for this recognition appreciate it thanks very much cheers thank you and they've got a fancy uh office it's being renovated in the DFC now so good work to DFC with that so uh we move right along we move right along we are we are getting to we're getting to the uh towards the number of it all and the next category uh is there we go is invest for the year

um everyone needs money right to every has any got too much money you've all got too much money my God I'm in the wrong place uh everyone needs money to get along and games companies in particular can be a very cash intensive business especially the start uh so it takes many years of work required before a return can be made uh and it means that investors are from C to VC and and and and and ultimately exits are an absolutely crucial part of our flourishing industry so this award show cases these companies which are putting their money where their mouth is um so the nominees for investor of the year are fine will Capital gem Capital level up and from neon the national Development Fund Savvy games group sharuk Partners expecting a clap there it's good very good clapping from sharuk always uh triple

dragon and those them sorry I keep waiting for an X or Z at the end there isn't one okay all right so uh the honorable mentions who've done very well in in this category were level up from neom and sharuk partners very very well regarded both you however there really can only be one one winner really in this region uh which dominated the voting as dominated the investment landscape in the region internationally recently and really helped make a mark on the medor industry make minor industry make a a bigger mark on the map and the winner is it's the Savvy games group I believe here we go we're honored we we're honored we've got the the the top brass are coming here I should I be bearing here this is good lovely to see you thank you very much for coming there we go let's do aot you got a few words Brian thank you very

much thank you for this recognition this region is the most exciting region in our industry today by far and we are so delighted and honored to be a part of it supporting it and Shining a light on it worldwide and hope to uh support um all of you in in uh in the development of this region and its rapid growth there are two groups of people who deserve thanks um for this sort of um for this sort of recognition the first are the teams that we invest in um scopely ESL fa it many others who like you every day are creating amazing experiences for players and fans all around the world and secondly the people who support us our board the PF working team and the people who uh help make these uh transactions Investments and support of the region possible thank you very much for this thank you thank you very much excellent excellent excellent I've got two mics I've somehow transition between the mics here okay I'll stick with this one um

right okay so we've had I've had what I'd consider as very investors very important group make sure you get all their cards on the way out if you're a developer but now we are on to the uh on to the the the main acts we're on the main acts we're on to the game makers themselves so we're starting off with best developer uh sponsored by ID at Xbox and this is open to any Mina games company that has released a game or successfully grown an existing game during the past year as well as expanded their business or made an impact in the industry through Innovation creativity and other initiatives uh and I'm going to roll the VT and I'm going to invite some there is someone from rjx boox come up and announce the winner so here's the here's the VT of the nominees 2024 Studios aao Creations that was difficult chick Mania everite Studio there we go some love in the room that's good game Cooks

inspired Square it's cool that game is it jawaka mad hook Mel Wards shanab games spoils there's more games ones always table KN games some love there Taro games UMX studio and yala play that's a lot okay right do we have someone from we do have can we have he's got a t-shirt I should have known that please come to the stage this is from uh can we Round of Applause please for from our ID Xbox represent what's your name sir tamy ah tamy I don't you be hi um do you want to say anything about you know well I'll give you the winner to announce minute but you want to say anything about what you guys are doing and um yeah sure hi everyone um I think I gave a talk earlier today about what we do so I won't bore you all but um

we're looking for developers from the Middle East working on cool games encouraging them to come to the Xbox platform and supporting them in multiple ways to be successful when they ship so um we've been very pleased with everything we've seen over the last couple of days um as Brian said this region is possibly the most exciting region in our industry at the moment so yeah really happy to be presenting this award cool so first of all I'm going to do the n let me move this way around I'm do the uh the the honorable mentions first and I'm going to hand this almost envelope it's not quite an envelope to you to reveal the winner so the honorable mentions that clicks oh God what what a what a time it uh joea and UMX studio so fantastic but you get to open up the piece of paper and you can announce who the winner is oh and the winner is mad hook congratulations guys [Music]

I do need to say this category and the next one were so incredibly close coulding six or seven people could have won it but you did so congratulations [Music] would you like to say something thank you very much good job would you like to say something uh thank you thank you everyone uh thank you guys for this event this amazing event I'd like to thank also our team in uh mad hook back in Jordan um and hopefully many years to come um for madok and for the gaming industry in the Mina region you good speech fantastic oh do you want to get in as well oh here we go uh actually I'm very happy and always glad to be part of Pocket Gamer uh I

wasn't expecting to win we so I'm um very excited I'm very happy and thank you very much fantastic thank you very much mad hook there we go so uh where you find uh great game uh developers uh fabulous Publishers are usually not too far away either so here we are moving on to best publisher um uh there's obviously a fine line these days between make makers and marketers uh and this award is for media companies that have assisted developers in releasing a game during the last year whether through publishing support marketing code development or investment and are considered more publish than developer I guess again it was incredibly tightly contested but uh here we go we will start here are the nominees [Music]

don't have the nomies all in front of me now the honorable mentions go to ball games and NBC groups so thank you for them of those amazing Publishers you saw there can only be one uh one winner and that winner uh decided by the voters uh by a narrow margin was Tamm there must be a Tama here he is it's Mr Tamm himself sorry [Music] congratulations there's clearly an optim spot they have to get in here like it can't just take picture at the same time

it's like jostling at a wedding anyway you you're all over the Middle East where are you where are you based now um we're based in Aman Jordan and in Abu Dhabi and in Saudi and Saudi not hopefully in duai soon but thank you so much thank you Pocket Gamer for the amazing recognition tomam has a journey of 10 years now uh to try to tell people that the Middle East is the up and cominging and uh an amazing amazing um landscape for game developers to come to and localize their games and focus on the this amazing Emerging Market thank you so much for this great recognition and uh we look forward to work with all the game developers here thank you so much appreci thank you very much and apologies again to other Publishers I I make sure you get lots of love in in the the media right up um can't win them all but there you go um right so we in now to the last three Awards so we're nearly there well done for holding with us so this next award we've gone from Tamar

this is the the the big tamale uh this is the uh Mina game of the year uh in association with exola funding not exola exola funding very important um so it's a relatively self-explanatory title uh but this award recognizes the finest games experience released this year based on creativity play mechanics technical artistic and oral achievement innov audience engagement and critical Commercial Success so to be eligible for this award you must have given a release or done a significant update within the last year um okay and the nominees are Avo escape space from game Cooks DC heroes and villains from Jam City St sansoft fake Emperors from persal land fatil from [Music] Evite table night games I'm sorry I can't do that Joel G some friends sorry I've been making an attempt uh Canda

from Ral merge kingdoms from Yow game spades master from yellow play a lot of yellow uh UHD uh mad hook that's not an order VIP Belo from tamam West hunt from New Gen Studio there we go so a lot of great games there so can I have aola representative oh it's a friend coming up that's good you can come around come around this side cuz I get confused easily cool so so Michael how are you I'm doing great how are you I'm all right so far bit tired it's been quite a stressful week but you know uh I'm nice and dry so that's good so no um yeah so tell us a little bit about exola funding so exilla funding is a uh is a department of exilla that makes all the effort to get you guys your project funded right so if you're looking for funding make sure to check out exile. comf funding and and uh enroll onto our platform will help you get the money you

need to finish your project cool okay so what we're going to do is I'm going to as usual I'm going to re uh reveal the uh honorable mentions and then we'll I'll let you open this envelope it's not anvelope but plent is and you can tell us who the winner is so the honorable mentions are Avo escape space from game cicks again ibody love that game and West hunt from new genen studio but honest yeah it's not it's not the winner is gone yeah and the winner is DC heroes and villains by Jam City and sansoft congrats [Music]

fantastic would You' like to say something David sure first of all thanks to everyone that trusted us to support their games second thanks a lot to our teams that make this game possible and really special thanks to the team at Jam City at ludia that TR trusted us to be their publisher thanks everyone as well in the judging team I appreciate your votes and definitely congratulations to all of the winners here thank you fabulous thank you very much okay oh it's spit hop here um right so we are now into two uh sort of special uh final Awards and then that's it you can go and have lunch um or come and argue with me about the results whatever um this the uh this this special Lifetime Achievement Award let me go over here is this some that's the same yeah okay this special Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes uh a person from the region who has not only achieved a considerable amount of success in their own career but also ideally being a leader within the region and helping the industry um it's selected directly by uh the organization Committee of the awards there's no nominations or voting prices

for this one so instead I'm going to go through a few words explain why this person was chosen uh and who they are uh and it'll be revealed quite quickly who they are but we go through this um so our our first minia Legend This our first ever Mina Market Legend has been working in the mobile technology space for for over 25 years starting out as a business development manager with infel in 1999 then working for yala golf cone swap Co in Ciro guitar and France not in the middle at least uh before founding his own game development Studio masel Wards in Aman Jordan over 20 years ago um the first mobile game development studio in the Middle East he was a genuine Pioneer for both gaming development gaming technology in the region as well as creating a whole load of casual card and board games for devices from back in Java devices we showed at the start and blackberry platforms before IOS and Android in 2014 the company expanded service to include publishing um and uh and has gone on to be very successful uh uh with uh with big IP uh for the likes

of Cut the Rope uh and others um crucially while she enjoy success with his own Studio n's impact is much deeper than that as as he set out not only to drive his own business um but to help Propel the whole Jordan gaming scene and indeed support Mina region as a whole uh working with the King abdulla Fund in Jordan nor overa the development of uh the Jordan gaming lab and initiatives various initi on campus the app challenge code buses and various other initiatives that saw thousands of young people from across the region learn the skills uh to engage in the gaming industry or related Industries and produced the game makers and entrepreneurs some of whom been honored tonight um so and also he's he's also done a lot of other things this is some of the initiatives this code bu is incredible he's really really really great stuff um he has been a uh you've seen him around he's been a a speaker at many prestigious events and he also set up uh one of the most respected events early on in the region which was the G Jordan

gaming Summit which I had the honor of being invited to um which sought to celebrate the local gaming industry as well as bring International speakers and companies to the region um we were we I said we were lucky enough to be involved early on uh and then as part of that experience I also got a hand in how I got insight into how he how he works things and how he he brings other people into things when I found out I was then going to be running the Jordan gaming uh Summit for for some years afterwards that was an interesting meeting with the government and uh and the world family I will never forget but anyway but we're very honored to to do that that was our first own event in the region with uh the GE with kfd and and and no and that team uh suffice to say we haven't kind of looked back that that event had over a thousand delegates last year last time we ran in the Dead Sea we'll be back again in November um and it it started our journey uh on towards uh to to to to R and of course here for the game exper Summit last year and again this year and into the future um um nor is a frequent traveler you'll see

him all over the world constantly traveling around um he is a famous for his glasses and his soral Elegance as well like a glass wear of the year um um but now he's also a a a Esports kind of a champion of I know he's an orts Champion but he's a champion of Esports just last week he ran was involved in running the most insane event series I've ever heard in my life which took it was day after day after day of East sports events all across Jordan uh absolute Madness uh so that was well done for him for doing that um but and crucially his influence is not only in Jordan he's already been working uh in the region with neom uh on helping expand similar education programs there with a d Dubai game crit is here I think as a as a challenge is going to be announced at the end and also to start an orts academy um so he's already scoped scoop the mobile gaming Legend award before and now he's going to have to M find some more space on his mantal piece I do hope he's here he was his way uh if he is please welcome our first Mina Market Legend who is no Christ is

no here he is here come on no look at that test box don't you that what's wrong Come Along come along we've uh how are you you you're getting bored of this aren you right I've got award I forgot the award [Music] minut thank you I I will start by inviting you all today we have fantastic

group of young um uh future developers who participated with the boot camp we started here in Dubai few weeks ago um uh please come and and see them interact with them this is the future we are building the future and I was just saying yesterday the beauty of of being doing this boot camp in Dubai is seeing for me seeing different people from different cultures just coming together and building a game together for the first time ever to meet through the boot camp and this is basically what we are doing here in in in gaming I'm delighted to be part of Pocket Gamer award for the Mina I was last year a legend in in London GL Global Legend now I I I think uh what is good today what we can see today is the bridges that we are all building between Jordan UAE Saudi Arabia and hopefully more to come with with Europe and and the rest of the world um

for all the developers you know as as a self-funded operation for the past 22 years uh I can I can tell everyone you can do it and you can do it and and always create great games from the Mina region thanks for for Dubai for hosting us this year for trusting us to build a boot camp and despite the Reigns and the challenges we managed to to get a few good games to Showcase today thank you Chris Che thank you very much awesome and uh yeah the I think we're showing some of those boot camp games actually right at the end of the the day after the uh the big Indie pitch and the audience Choice Awards so we are here on the final award for the day uh which is another slightly special one it's it's not something we've done before and this is all about celebrating uh uh the best sort of local Dubai based games businesses I um so okay here we are and it's called a Dubai game Star uh and

this special award recognizes uh Dubai based uh games or game related company who have demonstrated a considerable amount of success influence and impact um and obviously by its nature it makes for a very um a very kind of uh eclectic mix here um so the the nominees uh are Boomland DMC uh C gaming center Nifty craft she the last chance to clap you might as well clap them as they come up but Wess Labs pretty pie sour group Yow group and those are the nominees uh and as I say this has been voted for by people in the region so I will do the usual thing um I to to present the final uh Awards I have the pleasure of welcoming to the stage Ahmed alajar I believe he is he's there sorry right in front of me look at me all the time please please give him a big round of

applause fantastic he has uh he has assumed the the the gentle walk up and gone straight for the cheeky stairs um cool good to see you sir thank you very much for your all your support um so what I'm going to do is I'm going to just announce who the the the two sort of uh nominees are the two so honorable mentions and then I'll let you uh talk about what you know what you'd like to say and then we'll reveal the winner so so the honorable mentions um are the dmcc gaming Cent and sour group so before we announce the winner would you like to say anything would You' like to say a few words uh thank you so much uh a great to see all of you over here uh uh today and uh uh it's been an amazing journey over the past two days uh apart from the weather challenge challenges uh today I'm glad that you have all uh made it uh

I would like to thank everybody uh who helped to put this event together it's a a a such an amazing Gathering that shows the future of this industry how is it forming how is it shaping all the support from uh uh the sponsors to the organizers to the par participants all the way to the speakers uh uh through all our panels thank you so much so much and uh uh thank you for the amazing job that keeping everybody entertained over the past two days thank you so much cool so if you could open the the the sort of an envelope so that the winner is Dubai games Stars winner is yella group [Music] [Applause] [Music]

[Music] congratulations hi everyone and thanks for this amazing event uh I just want to highlight that we are not only the Dubai game Stars we are the first unicorn based from Dubai listed on NYSE and this has happened because of the support we have gained from the government of UAE and especially Dubai all the efforts that's been made during the past four years since we've been listed and we have shown alhamdulillah a great

performance year over year and we have seen lots of collaboration with the gaming entities in the region and right now as we speak we are collaborating with Dubai tourism and we are creating activities that is related to Dubai thanks for this event and thank you everyone fantastic thank you very much and thank you very much for your support I really appreciate it a big huge shout out to everyone who's made this possible and to everyone at the D here they've been incredible all the government partners and supporters um that's I think is there anything else I don't think there's any massive surprises though that's it um so I was I keep waiting for my under re award every time I'm here waiting but it never comes um so thank you all for for joining us this afternoon um uh thank you on behalf of our wonderful category sponsors I do Xbox exola funding on behalf of everybody the DT and related uh sponsors of this event um and also our media websites pocketgamer.biz and blockchain gamer. beers who will be covering as much as they can about what's going on in this region uh I'm

going to take a break now and grab some lunch and we all can uh and then listen to your inevitable arguments about what who should have won uh but then we'll be back for the final quarter of the day so let's finish strong I know I'm really I'm really grateful for everybody kind of coming out I know that we was a bit uncertain about the rain but it seems to be okay so thanks for coming out and supporting us let's make the M let's finish strong um and take care and see you sing thank you very much indeed