Pocket Gamer Connects London is fast approaching, and PG.biz is excited to share insight into the panels and presentations on offer from the speakers themselves.
Aras Senyuz, country manager at Tencent, will be speaking at PG Connects London with his talk, A Global Success Case Study: PUBG Mobile TR, which will detail how PUBG Mobile (PUBGM) has become a cultural and social phenomenon in Turkey, including localisation, marketing, esports and the use of dedicated regional and local teams.
The full list of Pocket Gamer Connects London speakers and presentations is available through this link.
PocketGamer.biz: Could you give us a teaser of what we can expect from your talk at Pocket Gamer Connects London?
Aras Senyuz: The main focus of my talk is why localisation matters and how local marketing and social media initiatives can drive esports and helped grow the PUBGM community. I will provide examples on the value of working with celebrities and key opinion leaders (KOL) and how such activations are integrated into a 360-degree marketing strategy.
Is there any key background information or context people should be aware of coming into your talk?
PUBGM is almost in its 4th year and continues to grow its global player base and attract an ever-increasing audience for its esports element - this is especially true in Turkey, where it is the most watched mobile game.
What were the key localisation challenges for PUBGM?
The biggest challenge is to really understand the local culture. As you know, PUBGM is published in more than 200 markets globally, and we are the top game in many countries. The key for that success is our good localisation, not only in Turkey, but also in other markets. It is not always easy to understand a different culture or language such as Turkey as we have thousands of years of heritage from both Asia and Europe, but we managed to overcome that and put a good system in place for localisation.
Esports are enormously popular in Turkey; according to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, there are around 15,000 grassroots esports teams. What unique support is Turkey providing to have facilitated this growth?
We have established an esports system globally and locally - amateur, semi-pro to pro - which provides a platform for emerging Turkish esports talents to play and grow.
Mobile esports remains nascent in territories like the US and UK. But regions like China and, of course, Turkey have been much quicker in engaging with it. What is the core appeal of mobile esports in the country?
Turkey is a country with a very young population compared to most other western European countries. As a result, the engagement to gaming overall is higher, thereby resulting in a more active user base for core games. Since most of the esports teams are owned by influencers and KOLs who themselves are targeting young audiences, we are seeing more interest in mobile esports compared to western Europe.
Finally, you have one sentence to persuade someone why they should come to your talk. What would it be?
If you want to learn how to create a gaming culture with the help of localisation and local marketing, this is the one talk you shouldn’t miss.
You can read all Road to Connects interviews and articles at this link.
