Game Business in Middle East 2009

With a population of 338 million and several countries that are the richest in the world, the Arab region can be said as a big market for the online games. But the absence of official statistics and market studies is a still a big problem for the companies that want to march into this market.

Arab World Map

Fortunately, Gamepower7, an Arab game publisher, just made their own research in this respect based on the data collected by their offices in the region.

According to the statistics in the Gaming Business in the Middle East KOGAI 2009, there are currently about 450 thousand MMO gamers and 1 million browser-based gamers in this region. Due to the lack of real MMOs, several existing browser-based games like Travian, Bite Fight, and Gladiatus have achieved great success. With 36.5 million internet users, the Arab world is still an unexplored online gaming market.

There are currently 4 MMORPGs and 19 browser-based games in the Arab gaming market (according to the data from Arabmmo.com):

• 4 MMORPGs: Rappelz, زمن المحاربين, كونكر أون لاين (Conquar Online), RAGNAROK
• 19 Browser Based Games:

According to the document, most countries in the region have started to make large investments in broadband infrastructure. And each country witnesses an average yearly growth of 50-120% in broadband lines. The high rate of Internet usage and broadband growth does support a good expectation for the future of the online gaming market.

About Arabmmo.com

Arabmmo.com is the first Arabic online game directory and community specialized in Massive Multi-player Online Games and Browser Based Games in Middle East and North Africa market. The aim of Arabmmo.com is to build a player centered online game portal in the language of Arabic for the MENA players, as well as other Arabic speaking players.

About Game Power 7

Game Power 7, a Middle Eastern publisher of online games, announced that it is celebrating the one year anniversary of its popular Arabic MMORPG, Arabic Rappelz on December 22, 2009.

Reference Link:

Gaming Business in the Middle East:Opportunities, Challenges,and Lessons Learned (Arabmmo.com)

Gaming Business in the Middle East KOGAI 2009.pdf