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PGC Digital: MENA games market to hit $6 billion in 2021

So saysArslan Kiran, Yoozoo Games' CEO of YooZoo and MENA

PGC Digital: MENA games market to hit $6 billion in 2021

The coronavirus swept the globe last year, causing numerous problems worldwide. However, the mobile market saw some benefits as a result of the pandemic.

As part of Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #6, Yoozoo Games' CEO of YooZoo Turkey and MENA Arslan Kiran, took to the stage to deliver a session on expansion in mobile gaming through challenging times and markets.

Last year, $160 billion was generated in the global games market, the majority of which was earned in the Asia Pacific region.

Not everything has been easy for the games industry.

Granted more money was generated due to people being stuck at home in lockdown. However, developers faced unprecedented challenges, as did publishers.

Mobile games are the leader in terms of development, with 78 per cent of survey respondents developing smartphone titles, while 70 per cent were working on console and PC games.

Overall, RPGs have proven to be the most popular title to be developed during the pandemic, followed by shooters and fighting games.

Priorities

"The pandemic has made this expansion topic quite hard, it came out of motivation by developers and publishers to expand in different countries," said Kiran.

In terms of priority markets, Europe and the US have proven to be "the hottest markets."

However, MENA is a top priority market given the growth it has experienced throughout the ongoing pandemic. The market was expected to grow to $6 billion by the end of 2020.

South-East Asia, Russia and Europe should also be considered when expanding into priority markets. The latter is a good focus given the increasing number of mobile gamers and smartphone penetration.

Incentives

"As a mobile gaming company, there are good incentives to enter the UK market," explained Kiran.

There are affordable soft-landing opportunities to be found within the UK, while there are also 20 per cent-to-50 per cent salary incentives for employees. Moreover, the video game tax relief fund has also been introduced.

However, there are also incentives to be found within Germany, particularly when it comes to developing prototypes.

PGC Digital #6 will run from April 19th to April 23rd. To keep up to date with all of our coverage, check out the roundups here. There's still time to sign up - to find out more and book a ticket, head to the website.


Staff Writer

Kayleigh is the Staff Writer for PocketGamer.biz. Besides PGbiz and PCGI she has written as a list writer for Game Rant, rambling about any and all things games related. You can also find her on Twitter talking utter nonsense.