作者：Eric Caoili

尽管我们很少听说过有关阿拉伯游戏产业的新闻，但是实际上，中东/北非市场的电子游戏与其它领域一样蓬勃发展着。像去年，游戏便为该地区创造了9亿美元的收益（全球市场的收益为240亿美元）。

很多预测均表示，在接下来几年时间里这些地区的游戏收益将继续提升，甚至超过其它区域。调查公司Ovum相信，在2016年前，阿拉伯市场每年的游戏收益将翻三番，即达到32亿美元（游戏邦注：其复合年增长率为29%，超过了17%的全球复合年增长率）。

当地的游戏开发正快速发展着，而西方游戏开发者也能够在此找到广阔的发展前景，并将自己的游戏带到这些区域——不管你是一家大型社交游戏工作室还是小型手机游戏开发团队。开发者们只需要清楚自己的目标以及需要为此进行哪些准备便可。

为什么应该关注阿拉伯市场？

对于很多人来说，中东成为游戏产业的新兴领域是一个让人吃惊的消息。

来自Digital Development Management（帮助合作伙伴面向中东或世界上的其它国家发行游戏）的Joe Minton便表示，很久以来该区域便始终被划定在电子游戏地图之外。从而导致近年来许多公司都未曾注意过该市场的发展。

Minton说道：“大约5至7年前，我们甚至从未听说过面向中东市场授权游戏。因为如果你这么做便意味着将游戏内容交付给一个需要面对一大片区域但却只能赚得少量利益的经纪人。而因为盗版问题的猖獗以及Xboxes和PlayStation的使用还不够盛行，所以开发者认为面向这一市场发行游戏就等于搬起石头砸自己的脚。”

促成电子游戏在阿拉伯市场迅速发展的原因有许多，如这里拥有大量的青年人口，当地居民拥有较高的可支配收入（如土耳其和波斯湾沿岸国家等），以及支付方式的不断增加（如信用卡和预付卡等）。

土耳其开发商，也是发行商的Peak Games（创造了《Lost Bubble》）的联合创始人兼首席战略官Rina Onur指出：“互联网，Facebook以及智能手机等均以每个月2位数的增长率快速发展着。”

Minton补充道：“这就像是一个几年内突然发展起来的巨大市场，并不断向广大开发者们伸出机遇之手。”

如今有越来越游戏涌进了市场，所以各大开发团队不能再将眼观局限于北美，欧洲和亚洲市场；因为需要在一些主要区域与许多公司相抗衡，所以各大开发公司需要确保自己能够在更多区域占据重要的地位。

哪种游戏类型能够称霸中东市场？

Gamasutra便指出了足球游戏为中东市场一大欢迎的游戏类别——例如艺电便因为其阿拉伯版本的《FIFA》大受好评。非文化特定游戏，即基于其它受欢迎的体育运动的游戏，如《FI Racing》也吸引了广大玩家的注意。

Minton在提及这一市场对于西方RPG游戏的需求时说道：“我们也发现一些本来不被看好的游戏却在这一市场取得了很好的成绩。如射击游戏，益智游戏便都大受欢迎。沿着列表往下看，我们将会发现在这里受欢迎的游戏类别几乎与世界上其它市场差不多。”

Peak Games已经通过创造多人同步游戏，并添加了大量社交元素而取得了巨大的成功，他们尝试了纸牌游戏，桌上游戏以及棋盘游戏（如西洋双陆棋——侧重文化的游戏）等。

Onur解释道：“我认为多人游戏之所以能够在这些区域备受瞩目便是因为一些新兴市场，特别是土耳其的用户并不像西方用户那般自由。”

“在西方国家或北美地区，人们能够随时出门与好友见面，交谈等等，但是在许多新兴市场中，人们的交流总是受到人口以及社会经济因素等约束。所以在这里，人们不仅是把游戏当成是消遣的工具，还把它们当成是与别人交流的主要平台。”

Peak还发现，当人们聚集于这些公共体验中时，他们更愿意进行实时游戏和聊天而不是购买游戏内部筹码，也就是他们更希望将钱用于像私人房间，虚拟礼物等社交元素上。

Onur说道：“经过证明，那些提供了这类型元素，并在Facebook或手机平台上创建了游戏社区的游戏都取得了巨大的成功。”

开发者应该瞄准哪些平台？

尽管中东市场也具有许多的当地社交网站，但Facebook仍是最受欢迎的社交网站（与在英语国家一样）。Onur说道：“我想近期不可能出现比Facebook更加强大的平台。如今在中东/北非区域中共有4000多万人在使用Facebook，并且这一数值还在快速增加着。

从人口统计来看，土耳其是现今Facebook使用率最高的第五大国家——有超过3000万居民注册了该网站，所以Peak便瞄准了这些土耳其用户以及不断增加的中东用户。根据月活跃用户数（超过2400万），该开发商是当前世界上第六大社交游戏公司。

Onur同样也提及了该地区不断快速发展的手机游戏：“从市场总体来看，它还小于亚洲或西方市场，但其增长率却是不可小觑的。我相信在接下来12个月至18月内，我们将看到完全不同的情景，即手机将成为一个真正可行且强大的平台。”

虽然黑莓仍是该地区极其强大的手机平台，但是人们已经开始将注意力转向iOS和Android智能手机与平板电脑了，这两大平台也以极快的速度在此占据着更大的市场份额。在中东/北非国家，人均拥有手机设备数已经超过了1台——有些区域甚至超过了2台。

尽管如此，手机和社交平台并不是开发者的唯一选择。Minton补充道：“随着网络的普及，基于用户的游戏迎来了巨大的机遇，而开发者也可以适当提防盗版问题（在中国和其它区域非常猖獗）。随后他们便可以在该地区创建服务器——尽管这将变得更加棘手。但是对于某些游戏来说，延迟并不是特别重要。”

总部位于纽约的BoomGen Studios（面向中东市场的跨媒体机构）的首席执行官Mahyad Tousi便提倡不要被社交或手机平台所束缚着，还应该考虑通过其它媒体去扩展游戏，不管是通过书籍，电影还是动画。

本土或西方内容

与面向国际市场发行游戏一样，开发者在瞄准中东/北非市场时也需要在一开始便考虑到本土化因素。他们需要确保文本或资产内容能够轻松地进行转译，并且代码库和用户界面置于阿拉伯语言中也同样可行（遵循从右往左的阅读方式）。

但是当提到有多少开发者能够有效地执行本土化策略或将游戏内容更好地融入当地（除了考虑到避开敏感性问题或内容）时，我们并不能明确地说出游戏制作人应该采取哪些方法。Minton认为英语是一种公用语言，而在阿拉伯国家又有许多不同的方言，所以许多开发者最终都会决定忽视本土化元素。

他说道：“在进入阿拉伯市场时，我们需要对哪些内容进行本土化修改？这一问题始终未能得到明确的解答。对于某些区域来说，完全本土化游戏更加有效，但是对于其它区域来说，保持游戏中英语的使用又有助于当地孩子们的成长。”

他认为发行商和开发商应该有效地利用当地用户对于西方市场以及西方娱乐的渴望——不管是音乐，电影还是电子游戏，不应该只是将游戏带到该区域，还应该能为当地用户呈现出国外的风格和内容。

Minton继续说道：“这是该地区用户真正喜欢的内容。我们总是能看到有关中东和西方之间存在着巨大的鸿沟的报道。但事实上却并非总是如此。有许多人真心希望看到它们的连接。”

而Onur则阐述了自己对于本土化重要性的不同看法。她认为开发者应该停止将不同的语言转译成阿拉伯语。她说道：“没有人会愿意在柜台上买一些普遍的游戏，就像城镇建造游戏，如果开发者只是转译游戏并期待着它能够像在西方市场那样吸引广大玩家的注意，但却遗忘了文化转变，那将不可能取得任何出色的成绩。并且最终只会损毁你们公司的品牌形象。”

Peak在面向中东市场发行其第三方授权游戏而做出的转变便包括利用当地特有的节日（许多社交游戏都会根据节日而突出一些特殊事件或内容）。比起强调圣诞节或复活节等与穆斯林文化没有多大关联度的内容，游戏应该更侧重斋月或古尔邦节。

Onur补充道：“同时还需要考虑到游戏角色，例如你的游戏是款农场游戏，那么你就应该呈现出埃及人外观的农民而不是西方人的长相，并且根据当地文化服饰和工作道具进行设定。”她认为游戏公司应该投入更多时间和资源去执行这些必要的改变。

这也是为何Onur一直强调与当地团队合作，或聘请某些曾在这些区域待过的员工的重要性。她说道：“我们必须真正了解目标用户。”

当地的故事与创造性

能够帮助开发者加强阿拉伯玩家与游戏间关系的另一种方法便是从当地的历史或故事汲取灵感。Tousi将中东和北非区域称为“巨大的故事库。这里是三大宗教以及各种神话故事的源头。”

而因为中东与西方又拥有一些共享的历史故事（游戏邦注：如《一千零一夜》，《圣经》等），所以这些内容也不会让该地区以外的用户感到陌生。Minton说道：“西方用户对于这里的历史文化和故事都非常熟悉。这种区别远不及中国与美国文化——这两者之间很难找到神话共性。”

Tousi指出：“开发者应该与区域内容创造者，或那些从事区域内容创造业务的人进行合作，因为他们非常熟悉这一区域，如此才能激励开发者更有效地工作。”

“我们总是忘记，游戏业务不只是关于美元和美分。这是一个创造性环境，主要受到创造性的驱动。而该区域让人着迷的地方便在于它能让所有创意人员在此创造任何自己想要的内容。并且我认为这些内容涉及到更加强大的市场而不是区域本身。”

尽管阿拉伯地区具有很强的多样性，即包含了具有不同文化和方言的国家，但是如果能够与其中一个国家的内容伙伴展开合作，西方开发团队便能够进一步拓展游戏市场。因为邻近其它国家并且处于同种文化背景是不可忽略的优势。

Tousi表示，跨越边界而传播娱乐远远早于游戏传播，他说道：“当我们着眼于中东地区大多数成功的肥皂剧时会发现，这是用阿拉伯语配音的土耳其本土剧。北美有许多非常优秀的肥皂剧，但是为什么该地区不去转译这些肥皂剧？为什么这些肥皂剧在该地区不能取得成功？我想文化关联性便是最关键的因素。”

常见的误区

致力于挤进阿拉伯市场并希望在此占据较大市场份额的发行商们必须意识到，他们必须投入大量的资本去发展并培养人际关系。游戏公司不应该只是委任一名授权者去执行所有业务，而是应该让高层人士与把关人，电信公司，付款供应商以及其他合作者进行交流。

Minton说道：“这是一个要求维护业务开发与个人关系的领域。”如果你习惯于让一个人去完成所有业务过程，“那在该领域便不可能发挥任何功效。”

“你需要保持参与度。如此你才能理解并估算这一业务是否有价值。而如果你不能亲自完成这些任务，你也需要找一名值得信任的合作伙伴代你执行这一任务。”

Minton还提醒游戏公司，当他们亲自在处理这些业务时，他们并不只是在为游戏寻找中东地区的发行商或经销商。

他说道：“他们必须花时间去了解当地的经销商，并谨慎地决定合作伙伴。在这个时代中，当你创造了一款手机游戏后，你将与22个不同的发行商签订合作协议并面向全世界发行游戏，而不是将产品全权交给一家实体公司。任何一家实体公司都不可能帮助你将游戏推广到世界各地。”

Onur也再次强调必须真正了解当地用户，不要再重蹈西方发行商于亚洲市场所犯的错误：“PopCap或Zynga面向中国的腾讯等平台发行他们大获成功的游戏，但却遭遇了惨败。”

同时，手机开发商Robot Entertainment通过与中国的发行商Yodo1合作，将《Hero Academy》带向了中国市场，并根据中国文化去调整游戏，整合中式主题的奇幻角色并执行适合当地的市场营销策略，而最终获取了巨大的成功。

Peak的首席策略官表示，西方游戏公司在进入中国市场时总是强调，新兴市场“完全不同于西方开发者所熟悉的北美或欧洲市场，因为这些国家和地区拥有着完全不同的历史，语言，政策系统，经济，宗教等等。”

Onur发现的另外一个问题便是，开发者并未考虑或投资于当地的支持服务：“我总是认为，比起新兴市场，全球公司总是会面向美国或欧洲市场提供更多服务，因为他们认为很难从新兴市场的用户身上获取利益。但是这就是一种‘因果难定’境况；如果你不能提供给用户必要的服务，他们便永远不可能成为你的忠实用户。”

“我们认为游戏不只是一种技术业务，同时也是一种服务业务，即游戏就是一种服务。所以，不管是用户支持，社区管理，还是支付系统或支付平台，我们都必须在前进的每一步中耐心地解答用户的任何疑问。”

根据Onur，不管开发者决定面向哪个平台或类型推出游戏，他们都能够找到喜欢自己游戏的中东玩家。但是她也表示：“这些玩家们更喜欢高质量的内容以及服务。如果你能够呈献给他们这样的内容，你的游戏便能够有效地在此进行扩展。”

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

What You Need to Know About Breaking into the Arab Market

by Eric Caoili

Though you rarely hear news about the Arab game industry, video games are booming in the Middle East/North African market, just like they are in many other regions around the world. Last year, games generated an estimated $900 million (out of $24 billion for the global market).

And many predict the region’s revenues will continue to shoot up in the coming years, even more so than in other areas. Research firm Ovum believes annual game revenues in the Arab market will more than triple by 2016 to $3.2 billion (29 percent compound annual growth rate versus 17 percent global growth).

The local game development scene is growing fast, but there are also plenty of opportunities for Western outfits to bring their releases to the region, whether you’re a big social game studio or a small mobile team. Developers just need to know what to expect and what to prepare for.

Why you should pay attention to the Arab market

For many, the idea of the Middle East becoming a rising powerhouse in the game industry likely comes as a surprise.

Joe Minton at Digital Development Management, which helps partners release their games to the Middle East and other countries all over world, notes that the area had been off the map when it comes to video games for so long. A lot of companies haven’t paid attention to the market’s progress in recent years as a result.

“Just five to seven years ago, you didn’t hear about licensing games to the Middle East,” Minton tells Gamasutra. “And if you did, it was just getting stuff to one broker to handle the whole region for a teeny amount of money. It was considered a throwaway because of piracy, because there weren’t Xboxes and PlayStations to any sufficient quantities.”

A number of factors have allowed digital games to explode in the Arab market, however, like the huge youth population, the high level of disposable income in places like Turkey and the Gulf states, and the increasing availability of payment methods like credit and prepaid cards.

“Internet penetration, penetration of Facebook, smartphone penetration — all these things are growing at double-digit growth rates per month,” points out Rina Onur, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Turkish developer and publisher Peak Games (Lost Bubble).

Minton adds, “It’s like an immediate massive market suddenly coming online in the course of just a couple of years as opposed to decades. … It’s a staggeringly incredible opportunity for developers.”

And with so many games flooding digital marketplaces now, teams can’t afford to limit their sights to just North America, Europe, and Asia; they need to ensure they’re relevant in as many regions as possible because they’re competing with so many other companies in the main regions already.

What game types succeed in the Middle East?

The game companies Gamasutra talked to immediately answered that question by citing soccer games as a popular category for the Middle East — Electronic Arts, for example, has received plenty of praise for its recent Arabic edition of FIFA. Non-culturally-specific games based on other locally popular sports like F1 Racing tend to do well, too.

“We also see games that you might not think of as being huge there,” says Minton, who mentions there’s even demand for Western-style RPGs. “Shooters are popular. Puzzle games are popular. When you begin to go down the list, it looks very similar to anywhere else in the world.”

Peak Games, though, has found particular success with multiplayer synchronous titles that have a heavy emphasis on social aspects and communication between players. The company has adapted card games, tabletop games, and board games (e.g. backgammon — culturally relevant games) as digital titles with that in mind.

Onur comments, “I think the reason these multiplayer games have been doing so well in these regions is that most of the time, people in emerging markets, especially in [Turkey], they don’t have the liberties that a lot of people in the West have.

“It’s much easier for people in the West, in North America, to just go out, meet people, and have conversations, whereas access to communication, people, or communities is much more restricted in a lot of the emerging markets because of the demographics and socioeconomic situations. I think a lot of the time, people use these games not only as just games as pastime but also as platforms to be able to connect with others.”

Peak has found that when people come together in these types of communal experiences where they’re playing and chatting in real-time, rather than wanting to purchase in-game chips to play more hands, they want to spend money on social aspects like private rooms, virtual gifts, etc.

“Games that provide this aspect, which creates communities on Facebook or on mobile within a game are proven to be very successful,” says Onur.

What platforms should developers target?

Though there are local social networks in the Middle East, Facebook is still the king there, as it is in English-speaking territories. “I think it’s impossible for any other player to break that domination anytime soon,” says Onur. “In the greater MENA [Middle East/North Africa] region, there are over 40 million people on Facebook right now, and it’s increasing really, really rapidly.”

Turkey is the fifth largest country on Facebook right now in terms of population — more than 30 million citizens there have registered on the site — and Peak has capitalized on that by targeting Turkish users and other Middle Eastern gamers who are signing up for the site in droves. The developer is currently the sixth biggest social game company in the world according to monthly active users (over 24 million).

Onur makes sure to mention that mobile is also picking up in the region: “As a market in total, it’s smaller than what it is in Asia or the Western markets right now, but the growth rate is really amazing. In the next 12 to 18 months, it’s going to be a completely different scenario, with mobile becoming very viable and actually a big platform.”

While the BlackBerry traditionally has been very strong in the region, most are turning their attention to iOS and Android smartphones and tablets now, as both are increasing their market share at a rapid pace. Already in many MENA countries, the average number of mobile devices per person is more than one — over two, in some areas.

Mobile and social aren’t developers’ only options, though. Minton adds, “With the internet penetration, [for] PC free-to-play, having client-based games is a tremendous opportunity since you can take care of the piracy issue, as has been done in China and in other regions, or at least keep it tamped down. Then you really come down to do you need to have servers in the region and so forth, which does get trickier. But some games, of course, the lag isn’t as vital.”

And CEO Mahyad Tousi from New York City-based BoomGen Studios, a transmedia outfit with a focus on the Middle East, advocates the idea of looking beyond just social or mobile, and consider attaching other media to increase the reach of their property, whether that’s through books, films, comics, etc.

Local or Western content

As with any title that’s planned for international release, developers need to build their games with localization in mind from the start when targeting the MENA market. They need to make sure it’s easy to drop in translated text or assets, and that the codebase and user interface can adapt to Arabic words, which are read from right to left.

But when it comes to deciding how much developers should localize or adapt their content for the region (beyond taking care to avoid sensitive issues or content), it’s not as clear-cut what approach game makers need to take. Minton argues that since English is a very common language and there are so many different dialects in Arabic, some developers may decide against fully localizing a game.

“I don’t think that the question has been answered yet as to exactly what content needs to be localized into Arabic,” he says. “Certainly, having greater respect for the region, it would intuitively seem as though it would make sense to [fully localize games], but also in some countries, there’s a sense that if it’s in English, it’s cooler to the kids.”

He believes publishers and developers should take advantage of that thirst many have for connections to the West and to Western entertainment — whether through music, movies, or video games — by not just considering bringing their games to the region but also playing up the foreign style and content.

“Those are things that are really loved in the region. It can be very easy seeing headlines in papers that there’s a gulf that is insurmountable between the Middle East and the West. That’s not at all the case. The vast majority of people thirst for and want these connections,” Minton continues.

Onur, however, takes a different view on the importance of localization. In her opinion, developers shouldn’t stop at simply swapping in Arabic text. “You can’t expect to take a generic game off the shelf, like a city-building game for example, just translate it, and expect that it’s going to be a hit as it was in the Western hemisphere. [Failing to make] cultural tweaks is not going to do you any good. The product does not scale. If anything, it’s going to hurt your brand image as a company.”

Some of those tweaks Peak makes with the third party games it publishes in the Middle East include something as simple as implementing region-specific holidays (many social games feature special events or content on holidays). Rather than celebrating Christmas or Easter, which have little relevance in a predominantly Muslim market, the games feature events for Ramadan or Eid al-Adha.

Onur adds, “In terms of the characters that are included, if it’s a farm game, instead of having a Western-looking [farm worker], we have an Egyptian-looking man or a woman that’s covered up wearing a hijab, according to cultural apparel and gear.” She says it’s critical that companies invest the time and resources to make these necessary changes.

That’s why Onur believes that working with local teams, or having people on your staff who have spent time in the region, is essential. “The one thing [you need to] make sure of is understanding the people who you are targeting,” she stresses.

Local stories and creatives

Another way developers can take an extra step to strengthen bonds between Arab players and their games is to draw inspiration from the history and stories the regions. Tousi calls the Middle East North African region the “greatest reservoir of storytelling ever. All of the three main religions, and a number of massive books of mythology all hail from that part of the world.”

And because of a shared history in terms of stories between the Middle East and the West (e.g. Arabian Nights, the Bible), that kind of content won’t necessarily alienate players outside of the region. “All of this historical culture and storytelling is actually very in common and speaks really well to the West,” says Minton. “It’s less unique than going, for example, between China and America, which is a tougher bridge in terms of finding commonality of mythos.”

Game makers who decide to go down that road stand to gain a lot by partnering with local content creators — not just in having access to people who know the stories, who know how to deliver products to that market, and who know how to shape those projects for local audiences, but also in collaborating with people who are motivated to contribute and produce great work.

“It’s good for developers to work with regional content creators or people who are in the business of creating content that’s rooted in that region because they get access to a very, very rich universe, which I think is going to completely excite them to actually do the work,” points out Tousi.

“What we always forget is that the business of gaming is far beyond dollars and cents. It’s a creative environment, and it’s driven by creatives. What is exciting about this region is that it’s rich in terms of content for creatives who want to create that type of content. And I think that content can relate to a far greater market than just simply that region.”

Even though the Arabic region is diverse, comprising different countries with extremely different cultures and dialects, working with a content partners in one of those countries could still go a long way toward helping a game from a Western team find an audience in the broader market. Their proximity to the other countries and presence in the same cultural milieu are advantages that shouldn’t be discounted.

Tousi says this idea of entertainment crossing local borders easily is older than gaming: “If you look at some of the most successful soap operas in the Middle East, they are Turkish soap operas that are dubbed into Arabic. Obviously we have tons of soap operas in [North America]. Why wouldn’t they be dubbed? Why wouldn’t they be successful? What we read into that is cultural relevance and proximity is key and very important.”

Common pitfalls

Publishers looking to break into the Arab market and maintain a sizable presence there need to realize that significant investments in building and fostering relationships are required. Companies shouldn’t presume that they can fly in a single licensing person who will make business deals and head back home. They have to send in senior people to meet with gatekeepers, telcos, payment providers, and other partners.

“It’s an area that really requires sustained business development and personal connections,” says Minton. If you’re “very used to having a person jump off the airplane, expect that they can go around, shake a bunch of hands, sign a contract, and leave,” he says, “That’s just not the way it works.”

“You need to have sustained involvement. And so then there needs to be the understanding, or the calculation as to whether or not that is worthwhile to the business. If you’re not going to do it yourself, you need to find someone who is in the region who you can really use as a partner.”

Minton reminds game companies that when they handle these arrangements themselves, they’re not just signing a blanket deal that gives the Middle East rights for their title to a single publisher or a distributor.

“[They need to take] the time to look at the folks who are selling products there, and deciding who to align with,” he says. “This is a day and age where you’re creating a mobile game for example that you may well end up signing 22 different deals to take on the entire world as opposed to giving the product to one entity and expecting that they’re going to do that. It’s unlikely that any one entity really can.”

Onur also re-emphasizes her point that developers need to have a strong understanding of local audiences, warning them not to make the same mistake some major Western publishers have made in Asia: “Consider PopCap or Zynga, who have launched their very successful franchises in China on platforms like Tencent. They’ve failed miserably and couldn’t scale.”

Meanwhile mobile developer Robot Entertainment, which has worked with local publisher Yodo1 to bring its game Hero Academy to China, was able to find commercial success by making considerable efforts to adapt its game to the country’s culture, incorporating Chinese-themed fantasy characters and providing region-appropriate marketing.

Peak’s chief strategy officer says the struggles of major Western companies in China underscore that emerging markets are “very, very different from what Western developers are accustomed to for North America and Europe, because these countries and geographies have different histories, different language, different political systems, different economies, and different religions. Everything is different.”

Another mistake Onur has seen is developers not thinking about or investing in local support services: “A lot of the time, I think global companies out there provide America or Europe more service than in emerging markets, especially because they can’t monetize these users. But it’s a chicken and egg situation; if you can’t provide the necessary service that they deserve, they’re not going to be loyal users.

“We consider gaming as not only a technology business but also a service business, games as a service. So, starting from customer support to community management to payment systems to payment platforms, you have to be able to answer the questions of the people you’re addressing on every step of the way.”

Whichever platform or genre developers decide to pursue, they’re likely to find an audience with Middle Eastern gamers, according to Onur. But she says “They’re just looking for high quality content that they can relate to, and then the service. If you have these two issues under your belt, it’s possible to scale really, really effectively.”(source:gamasutra)