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Dr. Nilgün Birgören Premium Member Group moderator
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Growth potential for Arab online gaming industry
The Arab online gaming market in the Middle East offers huge growth potential and a very exciting area fuelled by increasing broadband penetration in the region, top industry experts said.

"Online gaming, which is one of the fastest growing sectors in the global interactive entertainment, is predicted to cross $13 billion (Dh47.7 billion) by 2011, which is around 15 per cent of the global video game industry.

However, this sector is one of the fastest growing segments and expects Middle East to be in the top 10 by 2014," said Steve Tsao, CEO of Tahadi, which claims to be the first Arab online gaming company.

The Dubai-based company, part of Jabbar Internet Group, is driving Massively Multimedia Online Role-Playing Gaming adoption and excitement among Arabic audiences by launching Crazy Kart and Runes of Magic in a language and content format that is culturally relevant.

He said Crazy Kart is expected next month while Runes of Magic is expected to be released early next year.

The games are free for users to download and play, thereby encouraging adoption whilst also creating a significant new opportunity for brand and product marketing to reach an expanding young, affluent and educated audience via in-game advertising.

Networking specialist Cisco estimates that yearly traffic will increase at an average compound rate of 40 per cent to exceed two-thirds of a zettabyte (one sextillion bytes) within the next four years, with the Middle East and Africa region expected to post the fastest growth at 51 per cent. Internet gaming is projected to grow at an average compound rate of 39 per cent during the same period.

"Given the region's mainly young population and aggressive investments into IT infrastructure, internet gaming has the potential to become a major income generator in this part of the world, said Muhannad Ebwini, General Manager of Saudi-based OneCard.

Ebwini said the Arab gaming industry needs to explore opportunities and broaden its market so that it can keep pace with the exponential growth in global online gaming and eventually become one of the rapidly evolving industry's key markets as internet usage in the region has grown more than 1,300 per cent from the year 2000 with many users attracted to online gaming.

Tahadi aims to launch three games every year — all for free — with an eye on generating revenue through in-game advertising and the optional purchase of virtual items in each individual game whilst at the same time contributing to the development of Arabic media content in an entertainment industry dominated by other languages and culture.

"We are bringing the excitement of some of the world's best games to the Middle East and connecting players across the region in their native language," Steve said. He added that his firm's top market is Saudi Arabia, followed by other Gulf countries and Egypt.
- 01 Nov 2009, 5:22 pm
Dr. Nilgün Birgören wrote: > The Arab online gaming market in the Middle East offers huge growth > potential and a very exciting area fuelled by increasing broadband > penetration in the region, top industry experts said. > > "Online gaming, which is one of the fastest growing sectors in the > global interactive entertainment, is predicted to cross $13 billion > (Dh47.7 billion) by 2011, which is around 15 per cent of the global > video game industry. > > However, this sector is one of the fastest growing segments and > expects Middle East to be in the top 10 by 2014," said Steve Tsao, > CEO of Tahadi, which claims to be the first Arab online gaming > company. > > The Dubai-based company, part of Jabbar Internet Group, is driving > Massively Multimedia Online Role-Playing Gaming adoption and > excitement among Arabic audiences by launching Crazy Kart and Runes > of Magic in a language and content format that is culturally > relevant. > > He said Crazy Kart is expected next month while Runes of Magic is > expected to be released early next year. > > The games are free for users to download and play, thereby > encouraging adoption whilst also creating a significant new > opportunity for brand and product marketing to reach an expanding > young, affluent and educated audience via in-game advertising. > > Networking specialist Cisco estimates that yearly traffic will > increase at an average compound rate of 40 per cent to exceed > two-thirds of a zettabyte (one sextillion bytes) within the next four > years, with the Middle East and Africa region expected to post the > fastest growth at 51 per cent. Internet gaming is projected to grow > at an average compound rate of 39 per cent during the same period. > > "Given the region's mainly young population and aggressive > investments into IT infrastructure, internet gaming has the potential > to become a major income generator in this part of the world, said > Muhannad Ebwini, General Manager of Saudi-based OneCard. > > Ebwini said the Arab gaming industry needs to explore opportunities > and broaden its market so that it can keep pace with the exponential > growth in global online gaming and eventually become one of the > rapidly evolving industry's key markets as internet usage in the > region has grown more than 1,300 per cent from the year 2000 with > many users attracted to online gaming. > > Tahadi aims to launch three games every year — all for free — with an > eye on generating revenue through in-game advertising and the > optional purchase of virtual items in each individual game whilst at > the same time contributing to the development of Arabic media content > in an entertainment industry dominated by other languages and > culture. > > "We are bringing the excitement of some of the world's best games to > the Middle East and connecting players across the region in their > native language," Steve said. He added that his firm's top market is > Saudi Arabia, followed by other Gulf countries and Egypt.

UAE/TURKISH BUSINESS RELATIONS

Growth potential for Arab online gaming industry