This Region Is A Hidden Goldmine for Game Developers

[Music] there's a Vibe at Pocket Gamer very positive which is excellent for 20125 a great way to start but we've been always hearing so much also about Mina and now I can have a sit down have a proper chat with nor who I consider to be the great connector of mina mess award which is the name of the company which says it all I didn't realize it but it's about lion and strength and seems to fit 2025 thank you for the past 22 years we have been carrying the pride of the lion from the region happy to be here in in Pocket Gamer starting the year with this positive energy you talked about it's great it's great great to be starting a uh on the positive side of the industry hopefully I'm hearing that I'm hearing more people tell me I just did an interview with somebody went from 1

million to 10 million I mean it can be done it's not simple we didn't say it was simple but nothing in life is simple and we're also talking more about Mina because you and I we've been chatting now for two or three years when I did some Mina reports uh for Pocket Gamer as well about the region where but it's a varied region so you can't say where in the Middle East but I will ask about some of the opportunities there because they've shifted it shifted it changed uh recently thanks to the quick changes that investment that is happening in our industry especially from the Saudi side so Saudi Arabia a big player today in a global scale in gaming uh from the acquisition of scopely up to the esport investment and in the entertainment side also that uh something a uh a very strong driver to our industry uh so the region changed um when you look into the Mina region between the Gulf region GCC countries which sui UAE Qatar

Levant which is the Jordanian Syrian Lebanese and and today with the new political changes that is happening in Syria this is a big Market that we all uh think that will drive all more traffic to the especially to the gaming sign Entertainment sign and then we have Iraq Yemen and all the North African side and the African Egypt and so people when they talk about Mina region it's one word but it's a very Diversified word with the different cultures even sometime the language spoken is totally different and but it's the most growing markets as we always talk about uh in in in the world year by year and great opportunity for 20125 for everyone I mean it's it's a good Market for games so it is a revenue opportunity it's where you can make money but also the talent we chat a lot about the untapped Talent how is that re evolving because for it was there was a talent Gap but

that was three years ago so I'm imagining some of these programs are really literally bearing fruit at this point so in in in Jordan and and through the gaming lab we played a major uh role in in filling the gaps when it comes to building the capacity not only young jordanians who are into the gaming for the region itself so because Jordan has been in the for for front of uh Tech in the region so we have been feeding the region with tech people and uh 13 years now through the gaming lb training building conferences happily we host together Pocket Gamer connects every year in Jordan 2,500 people attended this year which is a huge number for a country like Jordan and the region so the talent Gap is being a bit smaller investment thanks to the regional investment coming from Saudi Arabia UAE whether Abu Dhabi Dubai and recently we are hearing more news from qar investing

into the gaming scene entertainment scene together I think we will have a a and we have a user base as you know huge user gaming user base especially the mobile I think we will be building a new generation of uh gaming business uh different than the previous years uh why I'm saying different because today is the time you expand to the region you expand this is what we are trying to promote you expand building your Hub in Jordan having resources a few meters away from Big markets like s Arabia and investment huge investment Iraq which is a big mobile market uh we can see big names like uh fortnite and and and uh big PC games that are selling more in Iraq than any play place in the world and I think this is the opportunity of using uh the growing user base the in in the region and Talent based that we

have and also another thing I find interesting about the region is there is a game possibility I'll say an untap possibility for gaming in Telegram and I'm hoping maybe that this year will be something because now this infrastructure is there you know there is a way to share sell games on telegram very and and yes if we go to gaming it's all about culture and the Middle Eastern culture is or the mediteran culture which Middle East is part of this culture we like to interact the social life is very important so when Snapchat or social platforms came on the Middle East was we were one of the top user of Snapchat or Facebook or Instagram or or Twitter even Twitter yeah so why because we love to interact we love the social interaction today uh

the telegram phase uh the Tik Tok phase people love to be there showcasing or showing their life showing their interaction and when you have a platform like uh telegram having a gaming component and gaming is Big you will see more user you know shifting there turning to that that platform and I think you know this is a great maybe it's you know we always said maybe it's not relevant for a European market to talk about Snapchat or or or or telegram or whatever but it's very relevant to the Mina region great opportunity uh still in early stages politics play a role to be honest you know the platforms we all we all know today is all connected by politics so we are waiting but I I I saw here in the early this morning few game developers presented their games to us uh building just games on telegram for the Mina region so and they are based here in the UK so it's a uh yeah so it's it's a it's a new phase

uh is it solid I think whoever will make it solid or not is the user if the user is convinced in the region and willing to invest time and and and and you know money and efforts inside a platform uh they will keep it alive uh and and as we did with Snapchat I I think this is a reality that Snapchat stayed active because of the regional usage of Snapchat and I mean that's what's so exciting exting about it there's nothing like a new platform we saw that so often even with Tik Tok early days it was like get in there figure it out it's a blue ocean right now that's always a great place to be speaking of the opportunities in Mina we talk about the opportunities for games there but I'd like to drill down a little bit more into what are the games that do really well I was talking to people about you know casual but it's also a lot of not just hybrid casual casual a big

Community element as well so what works in Mina what genres so first 80% 83% I think uh uh mobile gamers in the region and this is by by by Logic because the infrastructure was so challenging in the Middle East we created Telco operator GSM operators to facilitate you know the infrastructure side and luckily the Middle East the mobile became a driver for technology telecommunication and therefore for gaming so mobile casual is number one we like cultural games board games puzzle games that's a big driver uh I I think uh very few hyper hybrid casual games very few small new generation of user the te te users the Tik Tok user we started to see them playing uh those games and uh but we like card games we like uh board games

puzzle games domino games all the classical games and then you have this niche of players who play you know the you know the top fighting games or strategy games or RPGs Etc but it's a I think more than 70% casual gamers uh the female power is strong in the Mina region the female players are very strong these days even in the video gaming not only the mobile but in the mobile especially in Saudi Arabia we see huge number of female players coming on on board and developers because it's two things linked together if you have increasing number of game developers female definitely you have more increasing number of female players cuz the exactly exactly so in SES we see a lot of Indies are female indes and the developers and we see Rising numbers of female Gamers mobile Gamers so that's a

great opportunity talking about marketing your games in the Middle East how expensive it's definitely is not expensive is it cpis are in a in a good range and so it's an opportunity so you can spend less money have a huge number of 100 million of user playing your games you have a great opportunity for revenues so I I I I think this is the time where you need toh it is it is coming we are unfortunately to be honest linked with also what is happening around us political uh uh upsets that is H happening now it's being more into the direction of more relaxed hopefully 2025 so I through Pocket Gamer I I talk with people since this morning I'm telling them keep an eye a very close eye to the Middle East this is especially for the small Studios I'm not talking about the big names talking about the young two three developers sitting next to me

in Limington Spa trying to build the game trying to go to the US market the tier one country I'm telling them you know I'm I'm 3 hours away from you cheaper cpis and I can make you maybe not 100 but 60% of what you'll be expecting to to generate in in the US by spending or tier one countries so start with us and expand absolutely and it's not just about the cpis it's also the experimentation we know we have to keep testing we have to keep evolving improving those cpis make a big difference when you want try to make a big successful game and I had the pleasure of also working and Consulting with some companies in the Middle East and we were all chatting about you know when will we see the game from a Mina company hitting the market and having impact any thoughts on that cuz I I think we're further along I mean this

was three years ago that we were chatting about this I think we're closer where's our where's our big name success I I I think we were very close um the the the IP itself the definition of Ip in the region is all you know affected by the investors who invested in the startup companies that created games and we know IPS takes times to basically show their potential and most of the investors unfortunately in the region were afraid to invest in IPS they invested in Publishers and and Publishing houses that brought more mature IPS to the region localizing culturalizing it and selling it because the money is easier and can be calculated easy recently we have a new uh generation of investors to wake up people who especially when we have foreign investor coming to the region that yes perfect that you have money but this is not your IP you need to create new IPS or you have IPS let work on it

we have today few gaming Studios working heavily on their technology IPS and I think in you know in the coming few years especially with you know people always some positive and and negative uh feedback about the investment that happened in scoly for example or the positive side people started to realize how important an IP to acquire an IP this big number of so people start to say ah I might be the next next IP to be acquired so I can work on my IP so this refreshed a bit the importance of Ip and I agree without an IP your industry is very weak and and this is what we are have been telling myself 22 years building my own IP is telling everyone you know the IP is everything and and and and IP means a game user base technology and it's not about only a drawing or or a game play It's All About a component of things you know how that

unfortunately we did not have this uh education in the region hopefully soon we will see something coming soon well with you there thank you I have to say with you there and all the years I've known you absolutely and um very much the spirit of the lion you have you have thought of your name very very carefully very well great fit and a great future to you nor keep doing what you're doing thank you this show is all about how to do your job better how to make an amazing game how to Market it and you have a say so if you have a story or know someone we need to shine a light on then we would love to hear from you we want to hear from you we want to reflect the reality of the mobile games market and all its wonderful complexity and strangeness so if you have any suggestions for us if you have any feedback for us you can always get in touch you can email us at podcast pocket gamer. Biz you can find

us on Twitter @ PG Biz and you can reach out to us through the pocketgamer.biz website if you're interested in listening to all of our podcasts you can find them at pocketgamer.biz SLP podcast and we would love to hear your thoughts on future shoes and we've got you covered on all the major platforms so subscribe to the audio podcast as Brian said look for us on YouTube if you want to read it hey you can do that too because we have a companion post for you as well on the pocketgamer.biz website tune in again for the next edition of the pocketgamer.biz podcast and we look forward to speaking to you in the near future until then I'm Brian Bago I'm Peggy and saltz and that's a wrap until next week [Music]