Superstar Session: A Tale of the $6bn Neglected MENA Gaming Market PG Connects Digital #2

so first of all hello everyone thanks for joining today we're going to talk about yes the key marketing an emerging key market but first of all thanks for tuning in it's the first one for me as well a digital connect quite interesting finally a justification I was asked by my wife and friends what is this and today I can say it paid off so I I was hoping for this day to come and today we're gonna talk about the MENA market it's still being perceived in the industry as you may know as an emerging market it changed it changed dramatically and I hope to the next 20 minutes and the slides and the case

studies I'm able to show you why it's now the time for not only us but as well you and your players in your Studios to double down and become a part of the Union market I'm super excited to share this with you today but as well I'm very excited to share some other news as Chris just mentioned briefly today we are announcing the foundation obviously publication of sense of games it's a new Saudi based Mena publishing developer which I'm very humbled and happy to be able to join as the CEO join the team to create a complete new experience with players there are brief background for for people who don't know me I started 16 17 years in industry as a publisher at blizzards launching one of these small games what of Warcraft started really as good game master AAA like accounting and like the the the proper way to leveling

up after a few years I had a chance to join Chung you the Chinese company in China for a year helping to set up the studio there then I had a chance right away to join NC soft as you may know from ion lineage which two guild wars have been enacted in Europe and 2011 I was approached by an old friend of and colleague from industry like me knew he the former blizzards president for Europe who is founding war game international as a team for Europe and pushing forward I had a chance to be member for to join the team to build the international team for wargaming and World of Tanks to have a small part in this massive movement to transform the game to the successor this today and the multi-product approached wargaming recently three years ago I had a chance then after six years of wargaming in the

publishing board and enjoying Cyprus HQ as much as possible I had a chance to join Riot Games which was going back to the core we're joined gaming 2004 to really refresh me in the end there the gaming spirit the gaming feeling with League of Legends I'm a hot colleague a veteran player a low player myself since there's nine and having a chance we joined the team to learn and work together was one of the most ten of the teams in the industry brilliant minds or something which drove me further and ultimately led to what we just announced today sense of games as well because during this period as well the mindset of what it's important for us who we should focus on came back to the surface of myself the players in the end and this is something for my heritage I'm half eric papp german it was always with me it drove me in the first place into the gaming industry because of the environment the ecosystem in games no one cared who you are people accepted

for being you are online no one cared what you look like ask in your name we didn't matter and this drove me in the game industry the first place and through the last year special my it came up again this focus on me now players focus on players overall and we had one events recently in Saudi Arabia the first time ever that someone went to Saudi Arabia I was riots as an event Nexus something I will share bit more later was the case study but this was one touching point were realized for myself and there as well I met the team from sense of games to realize the industry can do so much better we should do much better we have to level up together in the MENA region from the MENA region two surfers push it to become without doubt the global leader on the market and this is something I will show you now and through our case study here but when using the mini market it still perceived this match before as an emerging market but hopefully after the next few minutes we realize this is the past now is the

time for us we're starting on a micro-level before we step out a micro-level Amina this is the last year's revenue and behavior of the GCC the Gulf states is a very small area within Mena a very small area but you can see what a small area with Mena generates revenue wise and more important and you'll spend behavior-wise of players which surpasses the Nordics in Europe or the u.s. even in annual spending behaviors so there is a massive massive market even within the Meno market which is worth even for you to double down sit hey wait what's happening here this was for us as well it's a new exercise and many companies work for always thinking what's happening me now especially the last several years there was a big big game changer which is reflected here as well these are numbers from 2018 and frankly thankful for a New Zealand super data using data which this was two years ago we will later on show some more accurate numbers from recent numbers where you

can see it's actually happening and you can see if we step one step back you see the actual Nina suddenly from GCC goes times three four point four billion revenue for apps a massive market of audience which is only increasing in regards of especially we talked about before mobile the mobile market is increasing tremendously in a speed unseen and it's the only market worldwide which has a growth rate of twenty five percent growth rate year on here in regards of gaming so the market is evolving faster than anything else we have in the region globally but still being perceived strangely from a lot of industries leaders and companies as an emerging market it's moments most like a minute and mindset but we talked about a moment here you can see the smartphone market specially surpassed last year already 1.1 billion users and something you can see this forecast was made several years ago and yaki this is

where we most likely going to be we surpassed this forecast by far now the forecasts for next year that we surpassed one point for 504 billion users so the users in regards of mobile devices is only speeding up the amount of users based on this naturally as well because technology talking about my phone is done the technology is evolving with the phones which allows us to penetrate the market in the market itself to evolve and a speed never seen before because now certainly we have small devices which perform better than even computers which they have in our household since the slide for developers mainly all the many as publishers development structure we're thinking which kind of if we go to the MENA market which kind of operating system should we focus on because we have the same right now a sense of games we have to look at ok with our test games to me folks in iOS from a while for the mobile games all the folks in Android to cast the market

nationally we could see very clearly that Android is very very dominant for us right now we decided Android is to go to to test the first version actually iOS for following a few weeks but to test the first version regardeth responds together inside from the players what do the leg what I don't like with the test gaming that being said please keep in mind i OS apple where they have a bigger share in the market to Mina these countries have a way higher spending behavior as well so it depends where your focus is in your face one in your product we launched in Mena if you want to focus on primary modernization and a certain core audience or if you want to say I want understand the wider audience and then and face to step down and the heavy spenders or the high penetration markets this something is well we're going to talk very briefly about top publishers friendly as well from the last few years one stands out above all others we have a case study in a moment one empty one empty a top crossing publisher

especially can see iOS because again as much before a very high spending behavior and the game which we talking a moment about you will see why they are so so successful event of Sultan did an amazing job but we will talk about this in the moment in another slide well I want to show you here as well is this is now a non gaming apps for publishers for anyone which are not related that video games but interacting with users of players on the database based on this naturally say hey there is no much difference between mean approach when we see Netflix tinder LinkedIn compared to Western or Eastern audience but something is very important all these platforms they are so successful because they offer something very unique as you know those platforms they offer a user specific and generated content based on the user example tricky if you go Netflix Turkey you see majority Turkish content Turkish movies good series as well very good series there which fits the audience

which fits the market for gaming it's even the knowledge we have to think gaming is not just a passive digesting of content does it at home and watch Netflix which knows what I like to watch in gaming I become a part of the content creation I create my own entertainment so there's way more relevant for us to create games which resonate with the players so they actually feel hey this is my game this is my adventure this is my story talking about stories and my games this is a small forecast again it's from 2016 2021 how the market will perform in regards of revenue and this is something very interesting just a few months ago ten cents came out with the latest forecast for the MENA region saying six point one six point plus billion for 2021 so next year six point plus billion and we already passed now the forecast which was estimated this year in regards of gaming revenue by X amounts so the market is growing like no other market for something if you're

just talking to your CFO in your studio in your organization tell them very clearly report there is a massive audience which is super hungry for content which means something to them and they are very willing to spend the right money for the right content naturally this leads to us how can you successful in the MENA market these are some examples we gather together from the industry from ourselves to share with you what are the best practices so that you're only a few I hope you can take them away and build your own case and this is furthermore but let's take one of these stars right now pop G mobile geo ah amazing game what pop treated with a mobile version is beyond a lot of other industry leaders what they did they made a beautiful adaptation of the game fitting in a mobile devices which is super hard but they made an amazing experience which resonated strongly and still does with Amina audience as you can see the last

three months alone five million downloads twenty-two million revenue Amina alone this is a number you have to think about twenty-two million revenue for one game which localized only then we're going to talk now in the case studies we talked about culture ization and localization aptitude an amazing game with the game itself they knew there is an audience genre heavy audience in MENA region which likes realistic shooters which is which who is on mobile devices and they made a great example but localization is no longer just enough because just recently this is just one example pop gene the 99% of the industry just localized more or less when they go to the MENA market they offer just a localized version of their games to the MENA players which is just the surface it's just like some text they just fixed well s and changed and this it recently they added a new feature content patch which introduced

idols idols where the player can pray to to get some benefits naturally in the me narration this is something which goes against the culture which alienates that player and it created a massive outcry within their player base the hacker player base the audience and hashtags came up with let's delete the game because the players felt which rate this is something this big danger can happen for all of us and every one of us that is self including other companies that work for myself so me creative things not only for me now you do something with the best attention but you don't you're not fully aware of the actual player who you're talking to and more important the region of the cloud for background another case study revenge of Sultan's the one empty one empty did an amazing job I have to say will the revenge of Sultan's what they did they took a mobile strategy game which you can see there are many out there which is already several years old by the way it's an old a matured game it should game but they completely

risk ended the trees with the story the unit's the the weaponary the look that feel everything so it made it mean a specific and it's now since several years they only this genre with amateur game and this shows is very clearly first of all you can make tremendous amount of money if you offer the player something which relevant for them second the player chose prefer to choose content which means something to them because right now they're way more advanced games in the same genre out there better features better engines that I everything but the players prefer to double down on revenge of certain special regards of spending because this is a game which speaks to them which is fierce it's made from Mina for Mina this is something which is very important for all players around the globe they want to feel the experience in entertainment and gaming like it's made for them it has to connect to you this is something is well another example of great culture ization division division where the perfect sample is still being praised in

MENA region here you can see as it's being used to you I in the West mainly like from left to right the look knowing text wise as well the UI is very important in West and moment or the East is being used of this what the division did they created actually the whole UI they flipped the UI they made it fits through the Mina market and resonate so strong with the players and they created only a brand among themselves with doing this as one of the first ones in such a level they create loyalty and commitment of their audience because if you ask a half full game or gamer in Mina what do you think of division within the first three or four points of a race they made this UI flip they created this necessary for me as well it looks quite appealing to be honest this is a different question and that the UI designer another case study Warner for marketing and publishing related a UA approach languages King Wow no we all know this is true languages

King same goes for content as well when you create a campaign marking on you a campaign but what we learned over the last few weeks who we talked with many many a specialists from the industry and our own team doing tests and evaluating the results and what we could see from our own tests and from other companies for colleagues to talk to and worked with in regards to fury testing when you create a marketing campaign this goes to all developer publishers from oversea who just do their thing for overseeing localize and execute a speaker they can for the MENA market when you create marketing campaign in Arabic example wise and the content fits there and the user goes through your you a funnel clicks in but then the final spots the landing page or the app itself is not endemic in their language or design of field which was presented in the initial concept of the the teaser as 80 plus percent drop-off and this is something which is very very because normally think okay English in him will work but

if you promote it in their language in Arabic and you don't follow up through the whole way till the last thing in the app itself being adjusted accordingly you burn money so do yourself a favor and save your money you're a money in your marketing money if you're not willing to go all the way don't go there I'll be happy with 20% of the users which still is not the highest quality of users you could get engage with Airport next point and this is something which comes back to sense of games and 16 plus years of my own experience and the experience of the global team as we're building right now sounds soft announcing it we have a lot of senior members from a global landscape coming together with the best possible talent from the MENA region merging to create this new approach and the best learning to all of us came together to really understand what we have to offer to you through the MENA market to overcome it as a publisher or

is it first of that party is in a real irrelevant at this point because the end you need the same example for sense of games one of our key initiatives are going to throw folks in third-party publishing but for this we created a structure which has a development and product arm within the company that to arms so it's a complete normal set up like any estate you would have as well publishing development but in this case even for third party our development product team will talk and is talking right now exactly to our partners and products to make sure that their games get actually these changes they need if it's sound just now in a game interesting we change the whole music sound effects everything if it's like characters in the game meaning they're like a war in one of the games we are facing right now a bore like a big enemy which no one really cares anymore these days you mean us be okay it's a it's a monster we've changed it because we can do better we change it through like another monster a government monster which the play will engage with to make it feeling more intrusive endemic more

natural for the region and this is something could only recommend for anyone who's double down on mean I hope you know more than ever to think your willingness must be supported by capabilities you have in house that you say our team is going all the way like others did before like one empty does like the vision showed us a sense of games is doing and the second part which we learned very very recently through one event we did before when I was Riot Games we did the Nexus event as mention the first time ever a West End tribulation up Lesure comes to Saudi Arabia reading thousands of players through this event we could even see first of all the passion of the players we were there everywhere all of us were super surprised like especially the Western man like super surprised Wow how is it possible the players are here in crazy amount numbers their hunger to interact is there but as well we realized the diversity of the region in

one country alone Saudi Arabia the diversity is so tremendous so we knew right away for sense of games we have to make sure that we built a very diverse team to offer the best service for the MENA region same we recommend vo please keep this in mind now we're going to the last pieces why now and this goes back to from my personal perspective with seventeen nearly 17 years in the street and all my colleagues in the team from sense of games to found why now and hope this will help you as well to understand as an example why don't look at Mina as an emerging market anymore for this we take again realistic Saudi Arabia because for us it's the biggest market is the biggest market in regards of players from the Arabic countries as well not only spending but as well actually play a base and it's one of these it's one of the core countries in all of me now in the region which wipes out to all other countries in regards of culture religion mindset the country created a vision

which focused on changing their business completely for many reasons and I heard about this many years ago when it's at a great great home is letting up I thought now recently when I was well well after years working way more and deeper with the MENA region evolving was not only as a developer publisher so I actually with the MENA players and the market I could see things are actually changing me on example this day there's a big vision that now reflection Miam is one of these mega cities being built a futuristic city unique worldwide following the vision so it's not only in our vision the vision becomes real now as we speak is being built and I can say it personally I'm super high because we're talking sense of games talking directly as I was neon with a team of my own in regards of gaming entertainment the vision how to adapt that how can we help the region and the city bring gaming to a level had never seen a global scale

never seen before to allow us to level up all of gaming within the region so this is something the next player can see thoroughly vision it's actually happening something unique which will never have before which is a multi-billion v from a building project to create the future right now right here in Saudi Arabia and finally something is were which was for us a time we understand why it's time Ultron grows these are very traditional family from Saudi Arabia one of three families all of me in Mena graded the fortune multi-billion fortune in the last 60 years not through heritage no oil it's good problem to have they'll get me wrong heritage or oil but they actually created through retail to merge creating their own Kingdom more or less in regards of business this family is now the main investor invested in creating as well a sense of games as a partner of mine Abdul Aziz Al Ahram is a partner of mine to actually understand hey we share the same vision we want to create

something which is unique and then they share as well the portfolio and you see it's a family business in the region suddenly creates companies in investing in cloud gaming a payment event it's like achieve an eSports event created by them you realize it's not only visual it's not only a megacity it goes down all the relay down automated down and back up which showed us the market is changing the region is changing more than ever before and the willingness is there so we from the global scale industry should start to think the strongest growing markets the heaviest spenders as well the most dedicated players in regards of if you look at YouTube spend how much time they invest as well as Arabia number one in the world how much they play they have everything and the market is changing now in the next few years it's the opportunity for you to decide please double down and me not because in the end time is of the essence and that is now and something which is very

important for again for sense of games of why we decided all this will be shown now the last 10 20 slides let us give it's much less actually why we get there but let us to the point now is the right time now it's a unique opportunity to become a part of something to move and create a new global leader the regards of gaming and players because every player in the end deserves the best possible entertaining experience and I hope you can agree and come join us to create this for Mena together thank you thank you that was I was very passionate I'm ready to join what jobs you go oh yeah skills but we have really heavy right now over right now over 24 rolls plus it's always six-year-olds being opened right now in hire it's all Chris let me know when and I know well we've

got our careers yeah it shows my said let's just going oh so you've got rolls let's let's known the board um anyway that's no that's brilliant very enthusiastic and very very exciting I'm getting a couple quick questions we are running over it's my format yours so so it was a couple quick questions first off congratulations on some soft games I just want to ask about if there any stories yeah of Mena games Mena produced games going kind of go or being successful outside the region and the might will be obvious ones we thought but you only think you can point to a transparent their stories naturally and as we all know which are being used in transparent but actually funneling Mena itself and the global triple-a level look for this point naturally this is now we can see changing because investment is there and finally as well the talent on a global scale is turning around like example fuzzy from dice

there are a head of design just to talk within a few days ago he was one of the first developer to created a book for the MENA region in Arabic about programming it was never it didn't existed before so now suddenly in the last few years the the industry veterans who left the region including myself through my father left and went to the global scale now coming back home with all we learned with all our networks and connection and trusted friends in the industry and hopefully we can exactly do what you just mentioned do over the next year's to come to bring Triple A games from the market to the globe because the talent in the market is there all they need is a hand and we are gladly we part to hand in the hand well I'm firm belief in site we're saying as you know we've we've been involved in so in in Jordan in the least of the last few years and we ran our first X button for the whole MENA region last year we we are hoping to run something this year more restrictive than it was

but um but no it's voice it was incredible and you can care what you're saying there's a lot of young talent there's a lot of enthusiasm and and we're starting to see some studios obviously you know but be very successful at Bebo obviously yes recently Mays award where three Arabi account of having yes success as well so I think it's if it was like yeah it feels like the things that it's just a matter of time and any of changing and I believe now a lot of studios in the region getting all together and said okay how can we all work together with their Studios those publishers plus the authorities together and said okay let's open a new page and write a new story of the MENA gaming okay um quick questions what you might cover this so sorry to repeating I'm just giving people time so what genre do you think will be most successful in in the MENA region now and

going forward to know what will change and also question about Arabic word games whether they're ASIC so that sort of yes the beautiful thing isn't something which is amazing about Nina the market itself is so diverse you can see like if you ask any researcher makers were in our tests we have 80 to 90% of all females and males are playing computer games like mobile games or games 80 to 90 percent it's a very young market over Mena the 50% is younger than 35 so naturally with this and as the massive split of females were actively playing which is very different compared to the rest of the world when you look at spits that 80 90 percent of females are playing you yes it opened up a complete genre market in lots of games where you can say here these are games you can win only neglected because whatever reason was in the past but now there's a player base which is hungry for them so I would say it comes down to the platform they're important mobile or

PC before the focus why is something which is way popsicle easier and if you play like strategy games a very very popular right now the strategy game something funny to say that is why we look at games like BRS we know all of the BR wave anything which works in global scale will work as well Amina but they are the maecius which I mentioned based on the know the audience we have which is very definite which allows you suddenly a game which was never successful very little few years like farming simulator on Facebook you remember the the farm will something like this will have a time again in the mobile market coming growing again 100% because the market is there and the hunger is there ok I'm going to try and compress two questions into one and going after this other question is grab you in the disco chatter elsewhere quick rate should be quite quick one the first part the first part is if we launch in Mena cannot terms and services policy still be in English one another one which is not related bond times you know

there is um what do you think about carrier caramelization of games the operators role in the region they have that strong stronger relations of their customers is it important to partner with with like Zayn and the second one yes its health it can be helpful especially in the beginning but the market is about changing so fast we see no buy go or Robert see me like this feeling platforms really picking up so strongly as well influence are becoming as well and Amina more relevant than ever before especially now is pop G events happened and the stars coming from Amina reaching the best players in the world so in for tonight as well are coming it's changing suddenly this influencer Idol star proach becomes way more relevant and speaks waste from the audience but it's not for tunity it's very unique which you just mentioned to work very closely exactly was like telcos example wise because they have a very strong endemic reach still a natural one so it's a no-brainer the good thing is telcos

looking for partners as well right now because they see the change and what have you get of it so don't hesitate anyone who's watching reach out to telcos that gladly sit down at least and safety what should we do and regards of the first one in Arabic oh yes if you go to Mina and want to be successful be endemic meaning change adapt fully through the culture and offer them an experience where the players feel and see this is my game I'm not alienate it it's my environment it's my home it's critical otherwise you always show them is something else coming here and offering you a little window to the outside world which we want to change you want to open the outside world window and push and have Mena a part in the bigger world and for this we have to make space as well for the mean our culture and region to allow them and give them what they deserve in their endemic feeling away no no probably well III must I'd love Sochi flowers amazingly well to know um

hopefully we'll be able to catch up facing me thank you so much man for showing their and congratulations and wish every success with you a new enterprise I'm looking for big thanks a lot thank you this or andropause simone everyone thank you you