A new publisher of games for the MENA region called Sandsoft Games has launched today to bring games to all countries in the Middle East and Africa.

The publisher is backed by Ajlan & Bros, one of the largest private sector companies in MENA. The firm also recently established Future Projects, which is dedicated to modernising the region - Sandsoft Games will work alongside this to develop and publish games.

Former Wargaming head of esports and Riot Games head of publishing for the Nordics Mo Fadl will take the reins as CEO of Sandsoft Games. It will offer full publishing services across mobile, console, and PC, including user acquisition, marketing, localisation, and providing its internal developers as support for partner studios.

Speaking the same language

"MENA has for a long time been an emerging market. There are a number of prominent titles that have been localised for the region but what I've often found is the region is an afterthought and products are only translated even though we know just how hungry MENA players are for new gaming experiences," Mo Fadl, CEO of Sandsoft Games.

"It has always been my ambition to push the gaming scene further in MENA. I believe all gamers should be offered the best possible entertainment experience and my goal is to build a team who will help to achieve this for MENA. I'm incredibly excited to be a part of Sandsoft, this is my lifelong passion.

"Sandsoft is international and local, speaking the local language and development language, providing publishing services and access to the wider MENA infrastructure that will allow products of all shapes and sizes to be culturized, not just localized."

Recently, Tencent finally launched its megahit MOBA Arena of Valor in the MENA region. We spoke to Arena of Valor executive producer Ray Ning and TiMi Studios international business director Vincent Gao about why it was the right time for to launch the game in the region.