Interview

2014 in Review: MJ Fahmi, Babil Games - Both developers and publishers must compromise

Future trends from the remembrance of things past

2014 in Review: MJ Fahmi, Babil Games - Both developers and publishers must compromise

As 2014 begins to fade into memory, we're taking a look back at the events that have dominated the last 12 months in mobile gaming.

As such, we've asked the industry's great and good to give us their take on the year, as well as predicting the trends that will dominate in 2015.

MJ Fahmi is the CEO of Arabic language publisher Babil Games, which focuses on releasing mobile games in the Middle East.

Pocket Gamer: How did your business focus change in 2014?

MJ Fahmi: In 2014, we changed our approach by expanding the platforms we publish games on, focusing on mobile games.

We also saw the success release of the second game in our Nida Harb franchise on iOS and Android

What was your favourite mobile game of the year?

Hearthstone The game is excellent in terms of graphics, stability, originality and monetization mechanics. Much respect to Blizzard for achieving that addicting formula so flawlessly.

Everyone loves Hearthstone

What do you will be the most important markets for your games in 2015?

The Middle East, North Africa and Turkey

What do you predict will be the most important trends in 2015?

The absence of big players in the region will see new developers rising. We'll also see more games from Asia.

What's your New Year's resolution and what resolution would you enforce on the industry?

For me personally my biggest resolution for 2015 is to excel at my Master's degree in e-commerce.

As for the industry, it has grown so vast that many areas would need improvement. If I'd choose one, I would strongly encourage developers and publishers alike to have open communication channels with each other, and for both to understand that sometimes compromises have to be made on both sides to achieve synergistic results.

Thanks to MJ for his time.

You can check out all of our 2014 in Review interviews here.

Contributing Editor

A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.