Saudi Arabia's gaming market is booming. Due to Saudi tycoons spending money lavishly on games, Chinese gaming companies, which started exploring the Middle Eastern market as early as 2009, have reaped substantial rewards through strategic localization. As the Middle East gaming market continues to evolve, understanding the region's unique preferences and opportunities is crucial for companies aiming to thrive in this dynamic landscape.
Author | Xinran Zheng
The first Esport World Cup (EWC) in Saudi Arabia is currently in full swing, and there is even more exciting news. On July 12, the International Olympic Committee announced that it would collaborate with the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee to host the first Olympic Esports Games in Saudi Arabia in 2025. This proposal will be submitted for review at the 142nd International Olympic Committee Session to be held in Paris. Analysis by relevant experts suggests that the likelihood of approval is high.
On the other hand, while major international eSports projects are being developed at the national level, the tycoons in the Middle East continue to splurge extravagantly on games. In just a few years, why has Saudi Arabia become such a globally prominent eSports powerhouse? How are Chinese gaming companies navigating this gold rush in the region?
After 15 years of expanding abroad, the money-making model remains the same despite the changes in approach.
Chinese gaming companies began expanding into the Middle East as early as 2009.
At that time, a PC game called Conquer had become a huge hit in China. The company behind it, Fujian NetDragon, saw a market opportunity and decided to re-skin the game: without changing the core gameplay, they translated the language into Arabic, altered the characters' images and costumes to reflect Arab culture, and incorporated Islamic traditions such as Ramadan and the Hajj. The game was directly launched in the Middle Eastern market and achieved remarkable success, becoming a pioneer for domestic games venturing abroad. Typically, the lifespan of a standard PC game is about five months, but Conquer lasted for seven years, generating tens of millions CNY in revenue each month.
Arabic Version of Conquest
The success of Conquer alerted other gaming companies to the potential in this market. With the rise of smartphones, a wave of re-skinned domestic games started to dominate the Middle Eastern market. In 2014, elex released Clash of Kings, which achieved a monthly revenue of 377 million CNY by 2016. In 2015, ONEMT followed suit with REVENGE OF SULTANS, which remained among the top 5 in download rankings in the Middle East for seven years. Since then, various gaming companies including Tencent, NetEase, miHoYo, LONG TECH, Lilith Games, and MOONTON have all joined in. Both large and small gaming companies tirelessly pursued this well-validated path, consistently achieving significant returns.
Are Middle Eastern wealthy gamers really "unsophisticated"?
Games that are considered low-quality by Chinese players have attracted a large number of enthusiastic fans among wealthy individuals in the Middle East. Why do such games, with flashy effects and easy-to-pick-up gameplay, thrive in the Middle East? Tamatem, a local game publisher in the Middle East, revealed to EqualOcean through Will Wang, the General Manager of Tamatem China, that "the interests of domestic and Middle Eastern players differ. They prefer games that provide immediate impact. Games with strong visual stimulation and simple gameplay are more likely to appeal to them."
Some of the UAE’s Best-Selling Games, with War and Casual Games Frequently Topping the Charts (Source: Diandian Data)
There are primarily two types of games that have become immensely popular in the Middle East. One type is war strategy games, where titles like REVENGE OF SULTANS and many similar games have effectively tapped into a core interest. The Arabian Peninsula has a glorious history, and the cultural resonance of "building an empire" can resonate with players. This is one of the significant reasons why this genre has thrived. "Middle Eastern players prefer games with grand and straightforward mechanics," Will explained. "For them, the simpler and more direct the game, the better—just start fighting and you can win by spending money."
The other type is casual games. Middle Eastern players have a superficial understanding of game genres, a fact Will finds this quite insightful. To them, action games are simply "click, click, click," and casual games are just "set it down and it moves." Consequently, casual games that are easy to pick up and play with a low entry threshold attract a large number of novice players, helping them pass the long and hot days of summer.
The development trajectory of the gaming market in the Middle East is fundamentally different from that in China. From the Famicom, to Snake and Tetris on Nokia phones, and then to early PCs, Chinese people have experienced a wealth of youthful memories associated with these games, witnessing the evolution of game developers and a diverse flourishing of game types today. Will offered an explanation: "Unlike our gaming market, which has undergone a gradual development process over six to seven years, the Middle East has relatively weaker local development capabilities and has not followed a similar development path. In the past two years, it has been directly impacted by foreign games, leading to the current state of the market."
Localization is the key
In the Middle East, generally referring to 24 countries and regions in Western Asia and North Africa, including the resource-rich and high-income Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as emerging developing countries such as Turkey and Egypt, covering an area of over 15 million square kilometers with a total population of around 500 million. This vibrant region still holds a tremendous allure for Chinese gaming companies due to its highest ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) globally and its highly youthful population structure.
According to World Bank data, the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region is characterized by a highly youthful population, with more than half of its population under the age of 30, and nearly 30% being between 0-14 years old. The younger demographic is more open to new things and is a major force in the gaming community. According to Snapchat’s 2022 Middle East Mobile Gaming White Paper, Saudi Arabia’s ARPU stands at $270, the highest in the world.
Despite this enormous market, it has not received corresponding attention. Unique religious and cultural aspects in the Middle East create significant barriers for many games to enter, with language being just a basic and superficial aspect. Arabic is written from right to left, yet related game UIs still follow the mainstream left-to-right reading habit, which is not simply solved by translation. Islam also has prohibitions against pork, alcohol, and crosses. Consequently, games like REVENGE OF SULTANS, which make these changes, have shown Middle Eastern players a great deal of respect and sincerity, earning them enthusiastic support, underscoring the importance of localization. EqualOcean’s New Wave of Going Global released this year provides a detailed discussion on localization, for specifics please refer to How to Execute the Ten Steps of Going Global.
Source：Tamatem
In the joint report by SocialPeta and Meetsocial, 2024 H1 Global Mobile Game Market and Marketing Trends Insights, it is noted that Chinese companies lead the market significantly, with 40% of market share, far surpassing the 16% of the US and 6% of Finland. The impressive achievements are supported by the increasingly complete gaming industry chain. Beyond well-known developers and publishers, there are numerous upstream and downstream companies providing support: IP copyright agencies (such as Disney, Scopely), game market intelligence firms (such as Sensor Tower, Niko Partners) monitoring data performance and public sentiment, marketing companies customizing promotional plans for games, and financial payment enterprises offering secure and convenient payment methods for players.
What other opportunities exist for Middle Eastern game expansion? EqualOcean provides a few reference suggestions.
First, with the drive towards secularization in the Middle East, the "female economy" shows significant potential. Many housewives have ample time and disposable income, making casual games a good choice. Second, Middle Eastern internet users are extremely enthusiastic about socializing; combining games with social features can offer new experiences. Third, as an emerging gaming market, the Middle East still requires significant improvement across various aspects of the gaming industry. Chinese companies outside the gaming industry should not merely envy but target market gaps early to share in the opportunities.
The "Saudi Vision 2030" views gaming as a key area for driving economic development and social progress, with sovereign funds also actively investing in Chinese gaming companies. The opportunities are far from over, and it is believed that more Chinese games will "conquer" the Middle East in the future.