Session: Türkiye’s Game Development Boom – A New Hub For Innovation & Investment - Irmak Tamgac.

[Music] First off, I would like to welcome from Bill Kent Cyberpunk. who's going to be talking about the Turkey's game development boom a new hub for innovation investment so please welcome good morning everyone it's pleasure to be here with you to to share insight about one of the most rapidly and evolving se ex existing sector in Turkey which is the gaming ecosystem today I will take you a journey that I highlight the strategic development of the sector and inspiring success stories that reflect the tremendous potential of the Turkey ecosystem. Let's begin. So to

think uh to give you a brief uh road map of our session, we will start by introducing Bean Cyber Park and the value that we bring to bring to technology ecosystem. Then we will we will talk throughout um gaming specific programs. Next, we will explore how the gaming ecosystem in Turkey has evolved over the years with key milestones that paved way for its current growth. We'll also take a closer look at success stories that demonstrate the global competitiveness of Turkish game studios. Finally, we will end a snapshot of current landscape of Turkish game ecosystem. I will give you a brief information about our company, Beac Cyberpark. Bilan cyber park was established in 2002 as a joint initiative of Bilant University and Bilan Holding. Today it stands one of the uh leading to technop park in Turkey fostering innovation and

entrepreneurship. We currently host over 320 companies with R&D functions. Our programs are tailored for different segments from students and academicians to startups andmemes. For early age startups, we provide pre-inccubation and startup guidance programs, entrepreneurship uh trainings and mentorships. And for more established companies, we accept we offer access to office spaces, investor and customer meetings and also micro capital support, acceleration programs and international exposure. Furthermore, a wide range of support mechanisms are provided to strength the growth and competitiveness ofmemes. This includes sectoral clusters, national and international fairs and business forums that offer valuable opportunity for partnership and networking. We are proud to have been recognized as the most successful technop park in Turkey by Ministry of Industry and

Technology. Over the years, we identified gaming as a strategic sector with high uh global potential and we tailored several unique programs to support its development. Let me highlight few of them. Global game jam is one of the most exciting event that we host. It's a intensive uh game development marathon where developers come together to create a new prototypes in short period of time. And cyber culture is also digital cultural entrepreneurship program. We launched the support of the ministry of culture and tourism. It focus on helping early stage entrepreneurs transform culture ideas into the successful business models and 100% game jam is another successful in successful initiative as a part of celebration of republic of Turkey. We brought together 100 entrepreneurs to create game inspired by Turkeykey's 100y year history values and legacy. In last year, we extend our ecosystem

building efforts beyond national borders through international programs and GDC San Francisco forum was one of them. With the support of Minister of Trade, we brought together 10 10 Turkish companies and facilitated over 250 B2B meetings and Gamescom was one of them. uh one of the Europe's largest gaming expos marked our entry into the European ecosystem and the Japan Turkey game forum was another milestone that we brought together uh nine Turkish companies to meet with key pillars in Asian market. So these forums fostered collaboration and partnership opportunities with with renewed gaming studios and industry stakeholders in different parts of the world. So let we uh let we look at the game ecosystem in Turkey timeline. In '90s you can see gaming ecosystem in Turkey consist of only game distributors and media and there were with uh only few

developers. However in 200 uh a new label a new law enabled universities to establish technop parks with strong incentives and laying the foundation of uh turving gaming ecosystem. And in 2005, Turkeykey's first AA game studio Tailwords began as individual developers. And then the first gaming inc incubator Atom was founded and also Pak games was founded initially focusing on social gaming industry later become a key player in mobile games. And then in 2009 uh in 204 the game developer association of Turkey was established to present and support the local industry. And then the Ministry of Trade in introduced new financial in initiatives tailored for game de uh game developers making marking the beginning of unprecedented government support for

the industry. Turkey was selected as official partner country at Gamescom and and which is evaluating its global presence in gaming sectors and then two years after accuring GR games, Zinga expo exposed its presence in Turkey by accuring Peak and Rolic games in deals exceeding $2 billion. Dream games also founded by former Pak games executive achieve its unicorn status in two years which is solifying the solifying the Turkish uh Turkey position as a major g major player in global ecosystem but big ex big exist doesn't just make headlines they also reshape the entire industry in case every major accusation has has led a new wave of game studios investors and talents It all started with the Peak Games which become Turkeykey's first billion dollar gaming acquisition when Zenga bought it for $18 billion in 2000 in 2020. Before

that, GR GR games and Role were also occurred and these deals didn't just bring foreign capital into the industry. They create a build a blueprint for how to build and scale successful game studios in Turkey. And the momentum hasn't stopped. Just last week, Dream Gates Royal match was reported as the third highest grossing mobile game in the world, generating $2 billion dollar in revenue in last year. That's not just a big deal for Turkey. It's a massive milestone for mobile gaming globally. And but uh here where is the things even get more interesting. These exist didn't just benefit a few companies, but they triggered entire generation of new game studios. After the P game exist, former employees launched 82 startups with 37 of them focused on gaming and the similar effects happened after GR games and rollic. So many of their team members

went on their own business and or or even create a game focused VC fans. Beyond mobile, we we are now seeing a major shift in Turkey game development focus. The recent breakout success of Liarsbar and supermarket simulator on stream is a proof that Turkish developers are moving beyond mobile into a wider range of platforms. Liars bar took off its unique simulation mechanisms and market simulator become a surprise it on its detailed. Both games immediately triggered a wave of similar titles showing that Turkish studios are adapting quickly, innovating and capitali capitalizing on market trends. This success also highlight a crit a critical turning point. 2K is no longer just a casual or hyper hyper casual game powerhouse. Developers here are now bracing into the might core simulation and proving that the industry muring and ready to compete on multiple fronts. So

what we are seeing isn't just isolated success stories. It's a self-sustaining cycle of innovation. Every major exist and breakout hits creates hits u creates new founders who build the new studios, hire talent and attract more investment. This is what what makes Turkey game ecosystem unique. It's not dependent on one or two big uh studios. It's a build a continuous pipeline of new companies, experienced entrepreneurs and growing pool of capital of investment. Let's look at the numbers that reflect Turkey stands today in gaming industry. This year, Turkey has over 815 gaming startups and Turkish publishers have released more than 13 uh,000 games on Google Play. So, in the last 5 years, there have been a 22 major exists. The average annual investment in the sector nearly $200 billion dollars. Turkey is

now uh home to two gaming clusters and also 22 accelerators dedicated solely on gaming industry and of course we have two unicorns proving that our ecosystem is not only thriving but also competing at global level. These numbers are strong indicator that how far we came and a promise that what we can still achieve. If you look at the top gaming deals in last month, we can see funding activities like Spike Games and Ground Games um and also this clearly demonstrate a strong investor confidence in Turkish game studios and their global potential. When we talk about investor activity, several players stand out like Big and DJ with several investments. On the exit side, like we discussed, Turkey has made global headlines. The most ex iconic exit is the peak game and other notable exit uh include rolic and ground

games. We also keep players actively occuring Turkish studios. Zinga alone has made seven accusation showing their commitment to Turkish market. These figures not only represent the financial success but also show the global competitiveness, creativity, scalability and of Turkish game developers. the system is maturing rapidly with a strong blend of talent, early startup mechanisms and uh and active investors. All of these factors combined Turkeykey's position as a key hub for gaming innovation and investment in the region. To wrap up, I want to emphasize the gaming ecosystem is in Turkey growing growing faster every day, driven by patient developers, supportive policies, strong institutions, and vibrant community networks. At weekend Cyberpark, we are committed to being an active part of this journey, nurturing talent, supporting startups, and

building bridges between Turkey and global market. Thank you very much for your attention. [Applause] I'm so sorry. Can you hear me? Yeah, I hear myself here. Um, yeah, that was fascinating. I know a I I learned some things myself about this. I know those big companies, but I was really fascinated by the number of other small exits for for people that are not in circulation. Do you what is there incentives to go over and set up or engage like like if you know people in the states or elsewhere in Europe? Are you looking to encourage more people into the cyber path and is there any like government incentives or support to

do that? Sorry about that. Okay. Actually uh the government incentives are mainly based on Turkish companies uh but uh the government also uh supporting the uh supporting the cooperation with uh foreign uh game studios. So maybe the cooperation was the uh can be the best alternative for you. Uh and in Bean Cyber Park of course we are open to uh game studios but there are some restrictions about it uh for the foreign uh game studio for the foreign um companies. Does anyone else have questions? Hello. Hi. Um why Turkey? What's going on? Why is Turkey killing us so badly? Uh actually as as I mentioned the government incentives are massive and

they they are uh helping game studios very much for um investment and also developing uh games and also mostly uh hiring new talents and also the strategic position of Turkey as you know uh is a key for the uh global global achievements. It's a it's like a hub uh in Europe and also Asia. So I can I can say that these are the main reasons for uh success of the game studios right now.