As the technical possibilities of console and computer games become more evedent, new venture capital investment deals with leading Middle East technology companies look set to advance the take-up of online gaming in the region. Like Fast-and-Wide (see recent gaming blog), Abu Dhabi’s twofour54 media centre is keeping an eye on industry analysis and an ear to the ground – and it is aiming to build its place in game development in the Arab world.
Recent agreements struck with Tahadi Games and Jawaker will boost the local gaming cluster in Abu Dhabi, as well as raising twofour54’s position as a development hub. ‘Gaming represents a huge area of growth,’ says Wayne Borg, Deputy CEO and Chief Operating Officer at twofour54. ‘These investments, with two of the region’s most promising companies, clearly shows twofour54’s commitment to supporting the development of an Arabic gaming industry.
‘The worldwide revenue of the industry is enormous with consumer spending expected to surpass US$74bn by the end of the year, and online spend expected to double from US$11.8bn this year to some US$28bn by 2015 [Gartner 2011],’ he says. ‘However, until recently the gaming landscape in the Middle East was significantly under-developed, despite appetite from local consumers for games that they can culturally identify with, and good levels of local developer and entrepreneurial talent. Our new agreements – which combine Tahadi and Jawaker’s online gaming expertise with twofour54 ibtikar’s investment and strategic support – will help to strengthen the regional gaming industry in addition to Abu Dhabi’s position as the Middle East’s leading Arabic gaming hub.’
Established in 2008 by the founders and previous owners of Maktoob.com, the region’s biggest Arabic language portal, which was recently purchased by Yahoo, Tahadi aims to be the region’s leading online games publisher for client and browser based massive multiplayer online (MMO) games that target the Middle East. ‘This investment partnership with twofour54 ibtikar will allow us to focus on our core strengths, while utilising their regional and international network and international industry experience to license, develop and publish tailored and relevant content that appeals and resonates with Arab gamers,’ says Tahadi CEO, Steve Tsao. ‘With the support of twofour54 ibtikar our aim is to publish up to ten localised games over the next five years.’
Jawaker is a multiplayer card gaming website developed especially for the Middle East and North Africa region. Launched in April 2009, it is regarded as the leading online card gaming community in the Middle East with over 500,000 registered users, 95 per cent of whom use the site in Arabic. Jawaker serves over 17 million page views per month, and currently has approximately 100,000 visitors per month.
‘twofour54 ibtikar’s investment in Jawaker will enable the company to capitalise on the rapidly expanding popularity of online gaming regionally,’ says Mohamad Haj Hasan, Co-founder of Jawaker. ‘With the region’s extremely high percentage of young people combined with increased broadband penetration, we will look to work with twofour54 ibtikar to expand our current offering and develop and publish a wide range of Arabic card games for the region’s burgeoning online audience.’
Tahadi and Jawaker have become established players in the Middle East’s rapidly developing online gaming industry - total user registrations are increasing at roughly 100 per cent per annum for both companies. Investment from twofour54 ibtikar will not only see the companies have access to the capital required to grow, but it will also see them provided with the active support necessary to capture revenue and profit opportunities from within the twofour54 ecosystem and beyond. It is these factors that are vital for the development of a sustainable and indigenous digital games industry.
The twofour54 ibtikar remit is ‘to support creative entrepreneurship through venture capital funding and operational support for start-up and early stage businesses and talented young Arabs across the Middle East and North Africa. twofour54 ibtikar investment activities focus on Arabic content creation businesses and creative individuals or entrepreneurs’.
twofour54’s vision is to establish a sustainable Arabic media and entertainment content creation industry in Abu Dhabi through creative and professional partnerships in the television, radio, film, publishing, online, mobile, music, gaming and animation industries.
More: www.tahadi.com
More: www.jawaker.com
More: http://ibtikar.twofour54.com/en
