原文作者：Lara Noujaim 译者：Megan Shieh

游戏是世界的通用语言，因为全世界的游戏玩家都认识‘Gaming’这个词。

这包括来自MEA（中东和非洲地区）的人们，游戏被认为是他们日常生活的重要组成部分。MEA是世界上最活跃的游戏社区。当人们听到这个观点的时候，总是会觉得难以置信或表示非常惊讶。

中东地区一直被视为是冲突的基石，这一印象已经根深蒂固。然而该地区拥有很多的潜力，游戏可以作为一种工具，用来改变人们对MEA单一的看法，让标签和刻板印象变得无关紧要。

new zoo（from gamesindustry.biz）

数据分析

Newzoo的数据表示，在2017年，MEA地区的在线游戏玩家人数达到了5.87亿人，而这些玩家也开始对该地区的游戏利润份额产生影响。

该地区接近60%的在线用户都是PC、游戏机或移动游戏的玩家。虽然这些人口仅占了整个游戏市场份额的3.6%，但该地区仍是全球增长率最高的区域。（注：整个全球游戏市场总规模高达1089亿美元）

目前MEA地区的年增长率高达25%，明显地超过了其他增长率较高的市场，比如拉丁美洲的增长率为13.9%，而亚太地区(Asia Pacific)的增长率则为9.2%。

这也与增长缓慢停滞的大市场形成了鲜明对比，比如北美(只有4%)和西欧(4.8%)。

这些数据表明，该地区的游戏市场肯定是值得关注的。

增长率排名前三位的国家是埃及、阿联酋和沙特阿拉伯。这其实一点都不奇怪,因为阿联酋和沙特阿拉伯都是世界上智能手机普及率最高的国家,普及率分别是80.6%和65.2%。

沙特阿拉伯

此外，沙特阿拉伯是该地区最大的游戏市场，游戏收入达到6.51亿美元。今年，该国通过游戏收入跻身全球Top 20。

由于沙特阿拉伯的保守文化，公民们能够接触到的娱乐活动项目有限，因此，玩游戏成为了它们消磨时间的主要方式之一。

该国的年轻一代拥有许多的空闲时间和普遍较高的可支配收入，他们选择将这些花费在游戏上。实际上，该国玩家平均花费在游戏上的时间是美国和欧洲玩家的三倍。

沙特阿拉伯的绝大多数大R玩家都居住在海湾地区，这个地区的玩家普遍拥有强大的购买实力。

-落后国家

同样值得注意的是,某些MEA国家的游戏市场并不像沙特阿拉伯这样繁荣，疲软的互联网基础设施和较低的信用卡普及率，使得玩游戏成为了一种奢侈的爱好。

这些区域的应用商店主页看起来与世界上其他应用商店的门面十分相似，它的主要位置也都是被国际知名的游戏所占据。

然而，虽然阿拉伯语是世界上最受欢迎的五种语言之一，但应用商店里的阿拉伯游戏数量仍然出奇的低。这一现象正在慢慢改变，因为开发商和平台所有者逐渐地意识到了本地化对该地区销售数据的巨大影响力。

迎合文化需求

目前已有少数几家公司亲身体验了本地化带来的成果。Game Cooks在2012年推出了《Run For Peace》，该游戏是首批出自阿拉伯的手游之一。

顾名思义，游戏讲述一个叫Salim的角色穿越中东，散播和平的旅程。《Run For Peace》于阿拉伯的春季发布，在短短几周内，它的下载量就超过了25万次。

游戏的很大一部分玩家来自中东，他们对游戏中的主角Salim、中东式幽默以及丰富有趣的文化背景产生了共鸣。

另一个著名的例子是游戏巨头EA Sports。

中东是EA的FIFA（国际足联）游戏关键地区之一，因此在2011/2012年，EA推出了完整的阿拉伯语菜单，并增加了地区性足球传奇人物的配音。

这一举动确实得到了回报，它得到了阿拉伯FIFA球迷社区的好评，销量也大幅度地上涨，导致其他开发商纷纷效仿。

这证明了MEA游戏市场中存在的机遇，该市场还存在很大的增长空间。当地游戏开发商可以通过迎合用户的需求，来提供与当地文化相关联的内容。

游戏开发社区

虽然该地区的游戏市场正在增长，但游戏开发社区却还没有跟上。

目前有少数的游戏工作室正试着从该地区推出游戏，但成功的案例少之又少。MEA地区的游戏开发行业才刚刚兴起，因此这里的游戏开发社区很少，规模也很小，合作、分享和相互学习的机会甚至更少。

再加上某些国家薄弱的互联网基础设施，使得开发游戏变得更加困难。

资源短缺

除此之外，该地区的游戏人才市场也呈现短缺状态，因为缺乏机会，所以大多数的当地人才都选择投奔国外的大型游戏工作室。

要想成为像美国或欧洲这样的大型游戏中心，MEA还有很长的路要走。此前，由于没有地区性的游戏会议，开发人员很难建立交友网络并接触到新的想法和技术。

资金短缺也是一个问题，该地区的投资者们都试图回避这个行业，因为他们认为这是一项风险较大的业务。

种种短缺都从某种程度上抑制了当地游戏市场的发展，因此，当地开发商就只能眼睁睁地看着自己的市场被外来的游戏所侵蚀。

渐入佳境

然而情况正在发生改变，该地区的独立开发集群正在逐渐扩大。游戏催化剂也正在涌现，比如贝鲁特的带头游戏社区Arab Arcade。

将游戏开发作为职业的现象也越来越普遍，尤其是在黎巴嫩和约旦等市场，那里有几个老牌游戏工作室和一个不断发展壮大的游戏开发社区。

日前，该地区甚至发展了自己的游戏会议，在迪拜举行的《Digital Games Conference（数字游戏会议）》带来了来自世界各地的专家，鼓励知识共享，并帮助前来参加会议的业内人士了解当地的游戏市场。

当地开发商的绝对优势

与国际发行商相比，当地游戏工作室拥有文化方面的优势，他们更有机会接近MEA地区玩家，并充分地了解他们的喜好。当地开发人员正在利用这一点将自己与国际开发商区分开来。

一些当地的游戏工作室正在出借他们的语言和文化知识，帮助国际发行商将现有的游戏本地化，从而减少国际游戏与地区的文化隔阂。本地化可以是简单地改变语言，也可以通过融入当地文化、加入相关人物和声音等因素，来进行进一步优化。

另外一些本地游戏工作室则正在根据全球最热门的游戏类型来创造全新的游戏,不同的是，这些游戏的设计和审美更多地迎合了当地的玩家。

一些当地开发商正试图通过本地化和关联文化内容来解决市场问题，而另一些当地开发商则希望通过创新来脱颖而出，并向世界证明：中东也可以创造出震惊世界的热门游戏。而这正是Game Cooks推出《Vindicta》的原因，该游戏是首款来自中东的VR游戏。

人们总是将中东和非洲地区与负面新闻联系到一起，但是如果你忽略掉这些负面新闻，就会发现这些地区在历史、文化和游戏方面都作出了很大的贡献。

本文由游戏邦编译，转载请注明来源，或咨询微信zhengjintiao

Today, the world appears to be more divided than ever.

In times like these, with differences emphasized rather than celebrated and people frequently ostracized, there’s a desperate need for a universal language that connects individuals from all around the world.

Prior to being part of the Game Cooks team, a VR game studio based in Beirut, and while living for a few years in Santa Clara (CA), it was clear how far apart the two cities were from every perspective: geographically, culturally and everything in between.

It was during the start of my tenure at Game Cooks back in 2012, and following numerous back and forth trips to the US to attend gaming conferences, that the distance between both cities started to notably shrink to the point that it became almost irrelevant.

While differences faded away, similarities and shared passions came alive, with every encounter that came my way. It felt nice, right even, and it was all thanks to gaming. It was at that moment when it really made sense how gaming was the universal language the world needs, since gamers all across the globe uttered its familiar words.

And that includes people from the MEA (Middle East and Africa) region, where gaming is considered a big part of everyday life. The MEA is home to the world’s most active gaming community. That statement is often met with looks of disbelief and surprise.

It is difficult for many to think of the Middle East as anything other than a bedrock of conflict. Yet, the region has a lot of potential and gaming is a tool that can be harnessed to change the rhetoric and make labels and stereotypes irrelevant.

The MEA region enjoys a hefty population of online gamers – 587 million in 2017 according to Newzoo – and these gamers’ favorite pastime is starting to have an impact on the region’s share of gaming profit.

Close to 60% of the online population are gamers – playing PC, console or mobile games. While that population accounts for only 3.6% of the $108.9 billion games market, it is the region with the highest growth rate globally.

The MEA is currently gaining at a whopping rate of 25% year-over-year growth rate, and the region is ahead of other fast growing markets such as Latin America at 13.9% growth and APAC (Asia Pacific) at 9.2% growth; it also contrasts with larger markets where growth is slowly stagnating – such as North America (just 4%) and Western Europe (4.8%).

Looking at these figures, the region’s gaming market is definitely one to keep an eye on.

The top three countries leading said growth are Egypt, UAE, and Saudi Arabia. That comes as little surprise considering the fact that both UAE and Saudi Arabia are among the countries with the highest smartphone penetrations in the world, standing at 80.6% and 65.2%, respectively.

In addition, the Kingdom is the biggest gaming market in the region, with gaming revenue reaching $651 million. This year, the country made it on to the list of top 20 countries by game revenue.

Taking a closer look at a country like Saudi Arabia paints a clearer picture of what the gaming market looks like in the Middle East. Thanks to the country’s conservative culture, its citizens have limited access to a diverse range of entertainment and as a result, turn to gaming as a pastime.

The Kingdom’s young generation has a lot of spare time and an above average disposable income, which they choose to spend on gaming. Saudi gamers actually spend three times more than American and European gamers, on average.

Indeed, most of the gaming whales, both men and women, reside in the Gulf area where players have large purchasing power. At the same time, it’s important to note that certain countries in the MEA have not enjoyed such a thriving gaming market – a weak internet infrastructure and low credit card penetration has made gaming a harder hobby to get into.

The regional app store homepage looks quite similar to other app stores’ storefronts around the world; several of its top positions are occupied by well-known international titles.

What’s specific to the region’s app stores, however, are Arabic titles. And while Arabic is one of the top five spoken languages around the world by population, the number of Arabic titles on app stores is still surprisingly low. This is slowly changing as both developers and platform holders have come to realize the great impact that localization has had on sales numbers in the region.

Today, a handful of companies, both local and international, have understood and experienced first-hand the result of localizing their titles. In 2012, Game Cooks launched one of the first Arabic mobile game titles, Run For Peace.

As the name implies, the game was about a character, called Salim, on a peace-spreading journey through the Middle East. The game was launched around the time of the Arab Spring and within a few weeks, it had received over a quarter of a million downloads.

A large portion of the game’s player base came from the Middle East – players who related to the character Salim, the humor and the abundant funny cultural references in the game such as the flying watermelon shishas and hummus collectibles.

Another, well-known example is gaming giant EA Sports.

The Middle East is one of EA’s key regions for its FIFA titles, so in 2011/2012, EA introduced full Arabic menus, along with commentary from regional football legends. The move really paid off, as it was well received by the Arab FIFA fan community and resulted in a steep increase in sales, which led to other developers following suit.

This served as proof of the opportunities that exist within the MEA gaming market, which has a lot more room for growth. Regional game developers can take advantage by catering to that audience and providing them with culturally relevant content.

While the gaming market is growing in the region, the game development community has yet to catch up.

Currently, a small number of game development studios are launching games from the region and there are only a handful of success stories. The game development scene started picking up traction on this side of the world not too long ago, and so there are only clusters of very small game dev communities and even fewer opportunities to collaborate, share and learn from one another.

Furthermore, weak internet infrastructures in certain countries has made it harder to get work done, and on top of that, there is a shortage of gaming talent: a lack of opportunities means that most talent tends to leave to work for big gaming studios abroad.

The MEA has a long way to go to become a major gaming hub like the US or Europe. A lack of gaming conferences until recently made it harder for developers to network and get exposed to new ideas and technologies. Lack of funding is also a problem; investors from the region shy away from this industry, seeing it as a risky, hit-driven business.

This, in turn, makes it hard for the game development market to grow. And finally, local developers see their markets eroded by top international titles that are favorites in the region as well.

However, things are changing and today the indie development clusters are growing. Game accelerators are popping up, such as Arab Arcade in Beirut, and interest in game development as a career choice is becoming more common – especially in markets such as Lebanon and Jordan where there are several established game studios and a growing game dev community.

Today the region has its own gaming conference, the Digital Games Conferencein Dubai, which brings in experts from around the world to encourage knowledge sharing and provide attendees exposure to the local gaming scene.

One advantage regional game studios have over international publishers is cultural know-how, of course. Proximity to the MEA’s players and fully understanding their gamer profiles is a big deal.

Regional developers are using that to differentiate themselves in several ways: localization, new culturally relevant content, and innovation.

Some regional game studios are lending their knowledge of the language and culture to help international publishers localize their existing games to make them more relevant to the region.

Localization can be as simple as changing the language or it can go further to include cultural references, relevant characters, sounds, etc. Other game studios are creating brand-new games that fall within the same genre and type as well-known international titles but with a design and aesthetic that appeals more to the region’s players.

While some developers are tackling the market by way of localization and culturally relevant content, others are looking to stand out by innovating and showing that great content can emerge from the Middle East. And that’s exactly why Game Cooks launched Vindicta – the first VR title to be published by a Middle Eastern studio.

The MEA, as most news headlines can attest to, is by far one of the most talked about regions in the world and often not in the most positive of ways. However, if you look beyond these daily news round-ups you’ll discover how much this region has to offer in terms of history, culture and yes, gaming.（Source: gamesindustry.biz）