BEntrepreneur is thrilled to have the chance to interview Hussam Hammo, the dynamic and charismatic founder of Tamatem; a games publisher, serial entrepreneur, and like most of us a dreamer. Read on to find out why Tamatem is a great idea, the way they are changing the game in the MENA region, and how they localize their games.

BE: Can you give us a brief background of yourself, Tamatem, and what inspired you to start this revolutionary game publishing business?  

HH: I studied Computer Science and Programming at the Princess Sumaya University for Technology in Amman and from there looked into working in anything related to the field. I was always so fascinated by the world of computer technology. But like most twenty-something-year-olds, I wasn’t sure how to pursue my passion.

After graduating, I delved into a variety of different projects and companies before launching and co-founding my first company in 2006, ‘Faye3.com’. Faye3 was the first-ever Arabic Social Network with over 1 Million users. It was during that time that I began to realize the enormous need for Arabic content and how much people wanted to consume content in their own language. Faye3.com was integrated with Internet Portal Maktoob, shortly after Maktoob got acquired by Yahoo.

Following the success of Faye3.com, I was persistent in following the same suit of creating content that was in the native language of our region and our people. I entered the world of social online game development and founded a gaming studio named ‘Wizards Productions’. With Wizards, we launched the first Arabic 3D Game on Facebook and developed around 10 games that gathered 500,000 users. Although the games were a big hit, funding efforts failed to succeed and so it had to shut down. Despite the lack of investment in Arabic web online games the need for Arabic content was unquestionable. There was less than 1% of Arabic content available online and an Arabic-speaking market that was 300 million people strong. The market was essentially begging to consume relatable content in their own language and I was fixed on meeting that demand. I spent a year analyzing what went wrong with Wizards and realized that the answer lied in mobile games. Albeit my past experience was more with social online computer gaming I could easily see that the mobile games market was much less saturated, almost even untouched and with that, in 2013, Tamatem Games was born.

BE: Here at Bentrepreneur, we are obsessed with great ideas. Why did you think Tamatem was a great idea. What gap were you trying to fill in the market?  

HH: The demand for Arabic content that was culturally relevant to the Arabic-speaking world was the reason why Tamatem Games was born. People want to be entertained with content they can relate to. The market opportunity was tremendous and very much in our favor. There were almost zero mobile gaming companies that published mobile games that fit the language and culture of the Arabic-speaking market and demand was growing day by day. With less than 1% of Arabic content available online and an almost completely untapped market, the answer was simple, Tamatem Games.

BE: What’s your money model? How do you monetize this idea? 

HH: Tamatem partners up with mobile game developers from across the world to bring their games to the MENA market. We receive the game and localize it from A to Z making sure that the game perfectly fits the language, culture, and world of the market and fully meets the demands of the Arabic-speaking user. Monetization happens within the game through in-app purchases and in-game advertising from there we work on a split share revenue model with the developers we partner with.

BE: Let’s talk about culture and localization. How do you localize games that were bought from other areas/ regions? Are there specific things that you need to include? 

HH: It is very important to differentiate between translation and localization. Of course, when launching a game in a foreign market it is important to have the language in the mother tongue of the user so they are able to maneuver the game, but it doesn’t stop there. A simple translation job won’t do it. The users need to feel that the game was made for them, not just translated from one language to another.

Translation is a part of localization but not a substitute for it. The ultimate goal of localization is to have everything from the language, design, characters, storyline, and even social media pages custom-made for the user.

Before we take on a game, we assess its potential success rate through a rigorous testing phase based on certain metrics. Once we see that the game could potentially sell and succeed in the market we take it on and begin with our localization process. Each department at Tamatem is dedicated to a specific localization procedure. We handle everything from data analytics, design, social media, marketing, translation, and community support. Our games are not only fine-tuned in design and text to enhance user experience but are also launched into the market with massive data-driven marketing efforts that amplify user acquisition, app store optimization, growth, and monetization. This whole process is overseen by our product management team that also manages the post-launch phase of the game to ensure that the users are constantly engaged, entertained, and satisfied with the product.

BE: What is the future that you can see for Tamatem?  

Tamatem’s future is extremely bright. Our growth process over the past couple of years has been outstanding. With over 100 million game downloads and more than 40 games launched we are dominating the market. In 2013 we started off with 10 employees, now we are a team of more than 75 people. The future for Tamatem is to continuously bring the best mobile games to the Arabic-speaking market, games that entertain and satisfy our customers. Whether it’s expanding into developing our own mobile games or multiplying our partner portfolio we will always strive and grow to bring only the best mobile games to the Arabic-speaking world.

For more information:

Tamatem

Amman (AFP) – Its logo is a tomato, not an apple, but in just eight years Jordanian company Tamatem has already bitten a chunk out of the lucrative market for Arabic mobile games.

“Less than one percent of internet content is in Arabic, even though there are 400 million Arab users,” said the company’s founder and CEO Hussam Hammo.

“There is a very big gap in this market that we are trying to fill,” added the 38-year-old entrepreneur, sitting in his elegant Amman offices.

Hamo founded Tamatem — which means tomato — in 2013 and it was the first Arab company to win investment from the “500 Startups” programme based in Silicon Valley, California.

Eight years on the company has grown to about 80 staff who convert mobile phone games into Arabic, also adapting content to fit Arab culture.

“Language was a barrier to mobile games growth” in the region, said Nour Khrais, founder and chief executive of games developer Maysalward.

“The Arabic language connects (the player) emotionally.”

With offices now in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Tamatem has published more than 50 mobile games, which have been downloaded more than 100 million times on Apple and Google Play stores.

“Seventy percent of smartphone users in the Arab world have set their phones in Arabic, which means they like to use content in their mother language,” said Hammo.

“Sadly when you search in English for a game in app stores you will find millions of games, but when you search in Arabic there are only a few thousand,” he added.

‘Billion-dollar industry’

But competition is fierce, and Khrais said the Middle East and North Africa region was “the largest growth region in the world in the field of electronic games”.

Market analysts Mordor Intelligence said the global gaming market in 2020 was valued at $174 billion, and was expected to reach $314 billion in 2026.

Tamatem, which has partnerships with companies in the US, China, France, South Korea, Bulgaria and Croatia, converts games by replacing characters’ voices and names, adapting music and clothing, adding Muslim holidays like Ramadan and even changing car licence plates.

“We don’t only do translation, we do the most important thing which is educating by making the content relevant to the Arab culture,” said chief operating officer Eyad Al Basheer.

“Hollywood Story” from Nanobit.com, in which players can become movie stars, strut the red carpet, hang out with fans and even shoot blockbusters, was renamed “Malekat al Moda” — or “Queen of Fashion”.

Instead of locations in New York and Los Angeles, the avatars travel between Dubai, Beirut and Cairo, in an Arabic game which has now been downloaded more than 15 million times.

Strategy multiplayer and civilisation-building game “Clash of Empire” from developer Leme Games launched its Arabic version “Tahadi Al-Molouk” or “Challenge of Kings” this year.

‘Next industrial revolution’

To fit Arab audiences, the figure of the notorious crusader Richard the Lionheart has been replaced by legendary dynastic Muslim leader, Salah al-Din al-Ayubi.

One of the company’s biggest hits is “Shake the Metal” which taps into the popular sport of drifting. Featuring car models beloved in the Arab world, it has now been downloaded five million times.

The most popular of Tamatem’s Arabic mobile games however, is “VIP Belote”, which is based on the French card game and has been downloaded more than 20 million times.

In a 2019 report by the World Economic Forum, Tamatem was chosen as one of the best 100 Arabic companies “shaping the fourth industrial revolution”.

And the Covid-19 pandemic has proved a boon, with the number of mobile gamers soaring by 150 percent, Hammo said.

“Tamatem made games easier, and we understand things that we didn’t understand before, because it was in English,” said player Khader Hamid, a 28-year-old civil engineer.

Mona Rummaneh, a 30-year-old working in e-marketing, said Arabic games left her “confident that all the content is appropriate for our culture and morals”.

She recalled how after the Beirut port explosion in August 2020, she and other gamers voiced their solidarity with Lebanese players.

“So it is more than just a game,” she said.

Article By France 24

(MENAFN– PR Newswire) AMMAN, Jordan, April 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Tamatem, the leading mobile games publisher in the MENA region, launches ‘Girl’s Secrets’ in the Middle East in partnership with Nanobit, the Croatian mobile games developer. Girl’s Secrets is the localized and ‘Arab-ized’ version of Nanobit’s extremely popular narrative game ‘My Story’. 

Girl’s Secrets is not the first localized game in partnership with Nanobit. In 2020, Tamatem published the successful title ‘Fashion Queen’ also known as ‘Hollywood Story’ that took the MENA market by storm with over 10 million game downloads. 

Dina Rashdan, Tamatem Product Manager, states: “We have high expectations on the launch of Girl’s Secrets in the MENA market. This narrative game will be the first of its kind in the region and will surely get users captivated as they determine the fate of their very own personalized characters!” 

Tamatem’s collaboration with Nanobit in 2020 was only the beginning of a fruitful partnership in publishing extraordinary mobile games in the region. Dominik Safaric, Project Manager at Nanobit states “After the successful launch of Fashion Queen, we’re delighted to continue our joint venture with Tamatem in localizing and publishing one of our most popular international hits in mobile games, ‘My Story’, into Arabic. This continuation of our partnership has not only allowed us to strengthen our relationship but also expands existing opportunities in taking ‘My Story’ to the MENA region and reach Arab gamers who have been enjoying the game tremendously even before the localization. We are confident that Tamatem’s extensive knowledge of the market and audience will have a significant impact on the Arabic story-telling gaming landscape and that this partnership will provide Arab players with exciting experiences.”

Tamatem has worked with a handful of renowned international game developers to bring only the best games to the MENA market. Today, Tamatem stands at the forefront of the industry with over 100 million game downloads and counting. You can download Girl’s Secrets on both Google Play & App Store.

Article By MENA FN

Developers from around the world have found that during Ramadan they see an increase in activity from people in the many countries where the holy month is observed. This provides a significant opportunity to reinforce or increase engagement, uplift monetization, and enhance a game’s success.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It’s observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting, prayer, reflection, and engaging with the community. As the Muslim calendar is lunar, the dates of Ramadan in the Western calendar vary. This year Ramadan starts on April 2 and finishes on May 1. The end of Ramadan is marked on May 2 by Eid al-Fitr, a national holiday in 19 countries.

In 2021, according to World Population Review, some 1.8 billion people were followers of Islam, meaning that approximately 24% of the world’s population observed Ramadan. Most Muslims live in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Indonesia, for example, is the world’s largest Muslim country and home to 13% of all Muslims.

How games are affected

During Ramadan, people abstain from food and drink from dawn to sunset to cleanse the soul and practice self-restraint and control. They also stay at home more and work less, meaning they often have more free time. This behavior results in higher digital activity in many countries, often focusing on games. For example, according to eMarketer, 44% of Indonesians choose online gaming as their preferred digital activity in the first week of Ramadan.

The market is also significant. According to Newzoo in 2021, Islamic Asian & Middle Eastern countries (ID/MY/PK/BD/SA/TR/UAE/EG) generated $4.32 billion in mobile revenue and had about 300 million mobile players.

On Google Play we have seen a 20% YoY growth in people who spend on games in the Middle East, Africa and SouthEast Asia. When we look at the effect of Ramadan (2021) we see that compared to the 31 days before Ramadan games show a:

• 18% MoM growth in new paying users (NPUs).
• 12% MoM growth in games revenue.

We also highlighted the Ramadan effect in the different sub-regions for the past two years. In 2020, we noticed a higher growth, which is expected due to COVID-19 lockdowns.

In Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and Pakistan during Ramadan:

• Spending grew by nearly 7% in 2021 and 30% in 2020.
• New Paying Users grew by 17% in 2021 and 51% in 2020.
• Purchases grew by 12% in 2021 and 45% in 2020.

In Turkey, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar during Ramadan:

• Spending grew by 14% in 2021 and 26% in 2020.
• Purchases grew by 9% in 2021 and 26% in 2020.

Therefore, looking for ways to engage with players from the Muslim world during Ramadan has the potential to reap rewards.

Ways to engage players

Optimizing your player engagement during Ramadan starts with getting the basics right. Then look for ways to give your players something extra and ensure you’ve got the promotion in place so players know what you’re offering.

Get the basics right

Before you can boost your performance over Ramadan, you need to ensure that players can find your game and use it to its full extent. So:

• Make sure your store listing, game, and LiveOps are localized. In your game, pay attention to the UI, especially for Arabic, as it is written from right to left.
• Localize your pricing. Many of the target players are in markets that monetize well on Google Play — such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar. However, you also have large potential audiences in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Egypt, where the habit of paying for game content is still developing. To convert more users in these markets, consider using Google Play’s Sub Dollar pricing option to offer your players more affordable purchases.

Give players a treat

The best way to engage with players during Ramadan is to offer them something extra during the month. For example:

• Create special offers and sales.
• Offer gifts that celebrate the month of Ramadan, such as unique skins, boosters, and alike.
• Add a Ramadan theme to your game, including new or time-limited characters and content. The theme could include historical figures, localized characters, or items such as clothing and content including special mini-games or levels.
• Offer Ramadan-themed creatives; typical Ramadan motifs include the moon, stars, lanterns, and minarets.
• Allow users to play more without additional payment. This approach encourages players to spend more time in the game and increases the likelihood of new players converting and converting players buying more in-game items.

Enhance your promotion

When you do something special for Ramadan, make sure your audience knows about it. So, in addition to in-game promotion, consider:

• Using your social media channels and videos featuring the new offerings on YouTube to spread the word.
• Consider partnering with local payment partners and carriers. These partners look for special offers they can share with their customers.
• Use push notifications for Ramadan events, particularly for daily events and perks.

Tip: Through all of these activities be mindful that players are fasting during Ramadan, so avoid showing food and beverages.

How other developers found success

Tamatem created an overall look for Ramadan

For Ramadan 2020, Tamatem Inc. adapted Fashion Queen’s environment and promotions to increase engagement and revenue. They changed the game’s icon, Play Store previews, loading screen, background music, outfits, and neighborhood decorations to celebrate Ramadan. They also ran LiveOps for the month that included exclusive Ramadan-themed outfits and events.

These initiatives achieved a 20% increase in average session time per user and a 12% increase in subscription revenues during Ramadan.

“Ramadan is the most anticipated season of the year. We usually expect a 50% revenue increase in our LiveOps promotions and offers during the month and an increase in user engagement. We plan months ahead to ensure the best experience for our users in this special month ,” Dina Rashdan, product manager at Tamatem said.

Rise of Kingdom introduced special Ramadan bundles

In 2020, LilithGames produced a special Ramadan gift bundle in Rise of Kingdoms, and their players loved it.

Following the success in 2020, they created a Ramadan-themed package in 2021 called Stars and Moons. The theme pack contained an Islam Theme Frame, Tome of Knowledge, Dazzling Starlight Sculpture, and other items. The package name and items reinforced the connection to Ramadan. For example, the crescent moon and stars are important symbols in Islam, with the new moon’s crescent signifying the beginning and end of the fasting during Ramadan.

“Ramadan is one of our important seasonal offers. The 2020 Ramadan-themed IAP package brought a 40% increase in a 7-day average billings in Southeast Asia,” the LilithGames operation team said.

Moonton enhanced the festival atmosphere for Ramadan

Moonton localized many of the in-game materials of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang to strengthen the connection between the game and the Middle East community during Ramadan. Updated game elements include:

• Islamic style design elements, such as crescent moons, mosques, and alike.
• Themed designs, including UI and avatar borders.

In 2021, these changes achieved a 15% increase in first-time downloads and a 6% increase in daily active users.

“Satisfying players with in-game cultural elements increases player loyalty and enjoyment. In turn, this helps maintain the healthy long-term operation of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang” — Moonton operation team.

Babil Games goes big during Ramadan

Babil Games prepares diligently for the holy month of Ramadan, as it is the crucial event in the year for MENA LiveOps. For their game, Nida Harb 3: Alliance War, this planning culminates in:

• Special offers.
• Exclusive events, including new weekly awards and daily login gifts.
• Exclusive Ramadan-themed and unique base decoration items.
• Chat decorations.
• Social media engagement posts and marketing creatives.

In 2021, these initiatives resulted in a 48% increase in IAP revenues and a 6% increase in daily active users during Ramadan.

“It has always been our focus to provide the best localized content for our players in MENA. Ramadan gives us the opportunity to take this to the next level with amazing themes and a color palette befitting the holy month,” Hisham Haddad, Babil Games General manager said.

Article By Nimrod Levy
Medium

It’s that time of year again. You know the one, where PocketGamer.biz reveals its Top 50 mobile game makers of the year. 

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, PGbiz’s Top 50 2020 took a digital turn this year. Hosted by Steel Media CEO Chris James, a selection of the mobile industry’s finest came together for an evening of talks, Q&As and panels before the live unveiling of our Top 50.

The night was a great success, with over 400 people across 50 countries tuning in to catch the action.

A huge congratulations to Zynga, as the American company held on to the No.1 spot for the second year running, an impressive feat. Although, there were many fantastic winners, all of whom have had a great year despite any issues that may have been thrown their way due to COVID-19.

Other winners included augmented reality specialist Niantic, Chinese tech giant Tencent, Sayonara Wild Hearts publisher Annapurna Interactive and hypercasual specialist Kwalee. To check out all the winners, be sure to visit our official Top 50 Mobile Games Makers 2020 list.

We’ve also made a super lovely, downloadable brochure of all the winners, which you can get ahold of here.

Great opportunity

As part of the evening, Zynga president Bernard Kim took to our virtual stage to take part in a Q&A. Kim discussed how the past 12 months has treated Zynga, including acquisition and deal opportunities, such as Gram Games, Rollic and Peak Games, the latter of which was purchased for a staggering $1.85 billion.

Furthermore, the exec explained why the company felt that now was the right time to jump into the hypercasual market.

“Every single year, the category increases; it continues to capture the minds of players. What we see is player activity, and not every player wants to jump into a marriage with a video game,” said Kim.

Heading to Asia

The first talk of the night was held by Lucrion GmbH CEO Don Kim. He discussed the current climate of the Asian market, and what to expect from G-Star 2020 – the biggest B2B event in Asia – and why it is an important event for those within the industry to attend. 

This year’s G-STAR b2b exhibition will be held online, so everybody will be able to meet top Asian gaming companies in a more convenient environment. G-STAR has also partnered with PocketGamer.biz again this year to make registration easier than ever. Even better, if you book to attend Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki Digital 2020 at the same time, you can save 20 per cent off the price of both events.

Nearly half of the global games market is in the Asia-Pacific region, at 47 per cent, according to Kim. Furthermore, in 2020, the mobile sector makes up 48 per cent of the industry worldwide. In Korea, the mobile games industry has grown by 15 per cent over the past year.

“With the COVID-19 situation, the Korean gaming market has grown pretty fast,” said Kim.

“The Asian gaming market is very important, and is a worthy region to explore.”

On the rise

During the Top 50 event, we held a panel that focused on upcoming companies within the mobile games market. A trifecta of industry CEOs joined the panel to offer their thoughts and opinions on how new firms should approach the industry: Tamatem founder and CEO Hussam Hammo, GameJam CEO Christian Calderon and East Side Games CEO Josh Nilson.

The second panel was focused on the past, present and future trends within the mobile space. Combined, our four panelists have a wealth of knowledge and experience within the games industry – Super Evil Megacorp CEO Kristian Segerstrale, Stillfront Group COO Alexis Bonte, Playrix business development director Sergei Zaitsev and Scopely vice president of corporate development Rob Ricca.

When it comes to trends, it would be impossible to not discuss the coronavirus outbreak, given it posed a variety of challenges. However, as our experts revealed, many mobile firms saw an increase in downloads and playtime due to users being at home in lockdown.

“It definitely had an impact in terms of engagement, as people had not a lot to do,” said Bonte.

Positive workplace

The final panel before the reveal of the Top 50 Mobile Game Makers 2020 was focused on company culture. Industry experts tackled topics such as how to build a successful culture within a company. Taking to the stage, we had Kwalee’s head of development Simon Platt, Niantic head of diversity and inclusion Trinidad Hermida and Voodoo studio and game lead Sophie Vo.

“The culture isn’t just about strategy for any one aspect, it makes the people happy, it makes the work better, and ultimately the people that we’re working for, the consumer,” said Platt.The Top 50 Mobile Game Makers show will be made available online for those who missed it live.

Article By Kayleigh Partleton
Pocket Gamer

Hussam Hammo is as confident about the prospects for his games publishing business, Tamatem, as any start-up founder.

“We’re looking at doubling, and tripling, the size of the company. If we are 55 employees today, we want to reach 100 by the end of the year,” he tells The National over a videoconferencing interview from his home in the Jordanian capital of Amman.

However, he also admits being more careful with the cash provided to him by investors – the company has raised $6 million (Dh22m) so far through two significant funding rounds – than many of his competitors.

“I hold on to money that investors give, because I saw it before and I don’t want that repeated,” he says. “A lot of investors say ‘go crazy, do what you want to do and money will come’. Then they do all of these things and the money doesn’t come. And they will be starving.”

Tamatem, which means tomatoes in Arabic, is Mr Hammo’s third venture so far, despite being only 37 years old.

His first, faye3.com, was started in 2006, a year after he graduated with a computer science degree from Princess Sumaya University in Jordan, alongside Sohaib Thiab. It was sold to the founders of Maktoob by 2007. The pair’s second, a games development company started in 2009, had to be wound down in 2012 due to a lack of funding.

“That was a very devastating time for me because I thought that I had my share of success and we did not see failure coming. And we come from a culture, the Arabic culture, where it’s very difficult to accept failure. It’s similar to the Japanese culture in that if you fail, you are doomed. No one will believe in you any more,” he says.

Those earlier ventures taught him valuable lessons, though. With faye3.com, it was patience. The site, one of the first Arabic social networks, was a natural fit with Arabic e-mail provider Maktoob and the pair continued to work in the company for another two years and nine months before deciding they would rather go off and start a games company.

But had they stuck around another three months, they would have earned Maktoob shares that would have made them very wealthy a few months later when the business was bought by US internet company Yahoo! for $164m.

“Maybe we lost a million dollars in the process. Imagine you are 25, 26 years old. That’s a significant amount of money. Especially as we started our company in the middle of a crisis,” he says.“No one was investing.”

He also identifies mistakes he and Mr Thiab made at the second business, a games development company called Wizards Productions, which he now puts down to a “lack of maturity”.

These include not being thorough enough in market research and using an engine to develop games that is now widespread but at the time was too technologically advanced to run on some devices.

Attracting funding when starting Tamatem off the back of this failure was tough, he said.

“Every time I talked to an investor, they would tell me ‘Hussam, you succeeded one time [and] failed another – go and find yourself a job. You are 30 years old and most people at your age now are accomplished.”

Eventually, he raised money through 500StartUps in Silicon Valley in 2013, before gaining $2.5m in a 2018 Series A funding round led by Wamda Capital and another $3.5m in follow-on funding in February this year.

Tamatem localises content from games that have been successful elsewhere in the world, but to do this it needed to build its own games first as proof of concept.

Mr Hammo signed his first deal with a games developer in 2016. He now focuses solely on publishing, working with mobile games creators such as NokNok and Tamalaki to develop titles for smartphones. The offerings are typically free to download but require users to pay to unlock new levels, characters and other rewards.

The localisation not only involves changing the language to Arabic, it also makes sure games are culturally appropriate.

Although gamers in the Arab world will often encounter these in games developed by western companies, if something is specifically geared towards an Arabic audience these need to be addressed, he says.

“It’s very similar to watching a movie in the cinema. From a Hollywood movie, no one cares. But if you are an Arabic producer, producing the content yourself … you need to be careful about the perception.”

The company’s other significant selling points are its active community engagement and the wealth of insight it has into the region’s gamers.

For instance, he says users of popular games worldwide can report a fault with a game and the company responsible will generally have a policy of replying within 48 hours.

“Our team has a target that they need to reply within 20 to 25 minutes. Because otherwise we will lose a player. We are a very customer-centric company.”

The gaming industry worldwide is now about the same size as the movies industry and the music industry combined.

A Global Games Market Report from consultancy Newzoo forecast industry revenue of about $159.3 billion this year, which will be a 9.3 per cent year-on-year increase.

Arabic games account for just 2 per cent of this, Mr Hammo says, despite it being the sixth-most commonly spoken language worldwide.

“Yet, if you capture the right audience, you can make so much money from a very concentrated pool of players,” he says.

It is one of the fastest-growing markets globally, with more than 300 million smartphone users who want to consume content in Arabic.

“But the most important part is countries like Saudi Arabia have the highest average revenue per paying user in the entire world. It is seven to eight times higher than China, and three times higher than the US,” he says.

The company works with developer partners from all over the world on a straightforward revenue-sharing basis.

Data plays a key role in the games it chooses and analysts form the biggest group of company employees. Playability is also considered, but given a much lower weighting as it is more subjective.

Test campaigns are run among different focus groups in various countries, with results driven by return on investment.

Tamatem currently has a stable of five games including popular card game VIP Baloot and role-playing game Bandar’s Farm, with five more in the pipeline. Deals have been signed and localisation of content is under way.

“We hope to sign another five games by the end of the year,” Mr Hammo says.

“I won’t deny that it is very challenging to find the right games, but it’s a momentum-based business. Every time we sign a new deal, it makes the deal after easier.”

And although some of the global gaming giants take on the Arabic market themselves, he says that Tamatem can help any company earn more.

“If we launch that game, we will make 10x more from that title. So although that developer is sharing revenue with us … they will find the revenue share they will take is much higher.”

Q&A with Hussam Hammo, founder and chief executive of Tamatem

Which other successful start-up do you wish you had started? 

I would say something that really had an effect on people’s daily lives, that solved a major problem for users – like, for example, Careem [or] food-ordering apps such as Talabat.

What new skills have you learnt since launching your business?

Sharing. When I started my previous company, the culture here with the investors was everything should be a secret. You would never tell people your valuation, who your investors were, how much revenue you were making, how many employees you had. When I went to Silicon Valley to 500Startups, the first thing they did was tell me to stand up and say who my investors were. Sharing information opens up horizons.

Where do you want to be in five years?

We want to be a leading games publisher in emerging markets. So we want to expand beyond the Arabic market. We have one of our investors based in South-East Asia and we are looking into franchising Tamatem into that part of the world and providing culturally relevant content into Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

If you could do it all differently, what would you change?

I would be faster and bolder with my decisions. When I started, everything took too long because I was getting myself more comfortable with every decision we needed to take. Even hiring people and changing the people who were not optimal.

If I do it all again, I think we would have achieved the results today maybe two or three years earlier.

Article By Michael Fahy
The National

AMMAN, Jordan, July 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Tamatem, the leading mobile games publisher in the MENA region, has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Tamalaki – the mobile games publisher – to release its popular game, Home Designer Blast Makeover, across the MENA region, Turkey, South Korea and several Southeast Asian countries. The game will be localised and renamed to ‘خبير تصميم المنزل Home Design Expert’ to make it more culturally relevant. 

Under this partnership, Tamatem will be responsible for Home Design Expert’s monetisation, marketing, and support – as is the case with all of its other games. The game will be published in multiple languages – including Indonesian, Turkish, Malay, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino, Arabic, and English – and will be published in Indonesia, Turkey, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, Philippines and MENA Region.

Commenting on the partnership, Hussam Hammo, Tamatem Founder and CEO, said: “We are excited to launch Home Design Expert game across multiple regions for the first time. The game is addictive and fun to play. We are also excited about our latest partnership with Tamalaki and look forward to greater collaborations in the near future.”

Martine Spaans from Tamalaki said: “Working with Tamatem on the distribution of our game, Home Designer Blast Makeover felt like working with an extension of our own team. We learned a lot in the process, and it was great to see that Tamatem truly cares about the details. We managed to go to market not just in Arabic, but in six new languages!”

In turn, Dina Rashdan, Tamatem Product Manager, stated: “Localising Home Design Expert to multiple languages with Tamalaki was challenging yet rewarding! Lots of hard work went into this project from both teams to ensure the perfect localisation. This is our first experience targeting non-Arabic speaking markets, and I’m positive that everyone will enjoy this game.”

Home Design Expert is a simulation game for everyone. The game helps in training the brain with challenging puzzles and awakening the player’s inner stylist with gorgeous designs! The game will also allow players to help clients turn their drab living space into fantastic rooms, and solve matching puzzles as they design and decorate the perfect home with beautiful furniture that ranges in style from rustic to modern, contemporary to Victorian, and shabby-chic to industrial.

About Tamatem:

Established in 2013 by Hussam Hammo, Tamatem is the leading mobile games publisher in the Arabic speaking market. Tamatem is entirely focused on serving Arab smartphone users with games tailored for the language and culture of the region. At Tamatem, popular international mobile games are localized so that they are culturally relevant for the Arab gamer www.tamatem.co

For any further information on Tamatem, please contact:
Name: Timothy Bendt
Title: CGO
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +962 7 97165019

About Tamalaki:

Tamalaki is a publisher of mobile games since 2013. We mainly serve an audience of women 30+ who love Hidden Object, Match-3, Simulation and Puzzle games. In close cooperation with independent development teams worldwide we’ve published several hit games with millions of downloads.

Contact details:
Martine Spaans
Owner
[email protected]
http://tamalaki.com/

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1190471/Tamatem_Logo.jpg

Related Links
https://tamatem.co/

Article By Tamatem Inc.

MENA region mobile games publisher Tamatem has partnered with publisher Tamalaki to release Home Designer Blast Makeover across the MENA region.

The game will be launched as خبير تصميم المنزل Home Design Expert, with Tamatem handling monetisation, marketing, and support in the new countries. Outside of the MENA region, this will include Turkey, Indonesia, Vietnam, and more.

Moreover, the game will feature translations into a number of languages, and localisation to ensure it is culturally relevant to the MENA region.

Learning a lot

“Working with Tamatem on the distribution of our game, Home Designer Blast Makeover felt like working with an extension of our own team,” said Tamalaki owner Martine Spaans.

“We learned a lot in the process, and it was great to see that Tamatem truly cares about the details. We managed to go to market not just in Arabic, but in six new languages!”

“We are excited to launch Home Design Expert across multiple regions for the first time,” said Tamatem founder and CEO Hussam Hammo.

“The game is addictive and fun to play. We are also excited about our latest partnership with Tamalaki and look forward to greater collaborations in the near future.”

Tamatem recently partnered with Tilting Point to bring Food Truck Chef and Languinis to the MENA region. Meanwhile, Tamalaki recently worked with Sakura Games to launch Car Girl Garage.

Article By Ric Cowley
Pocket Gamer

Tamatem, the leading mobile game publisher in the Arabic speaking market, signed a strategic partnership with mobile game developer and publisher Tilting Point to publish two of its mobile games in the Arabic market. The two games they will be working together on are Languinis and Nukebox Studios’ Food Truck Chef.

Within the next 3 months, Tamatem will be working closely with Tilting Point to localize both games, making them more culturally acceptable and relevant to the Arabic market. Tamatem will also work on the games’ monetization, marketing and support as it does with all of its games. The games will be available for everyone to download for free on Android and iOS devices.

Languinis and Food Truck Chef have proven to be huge successes for Tilting Point; both games have seen great user engagement and downloads, and are expected to gain a lot of traction in the Middle East as well. Given the popularity of both titles, Tamatem, in partnership with Tilting Point, will give the Arabic users the ability to play and enjoy these games in their own culture and language.  

With this partnership, Tamatem will get to align with a respected global publisher that has similar experience, but on a global level. Tilting Point has provided top development studios, including Food Truck Chef’s Nukebox Studios, with expert resources, services and operational support through its user acquisition fund, technology platform, experience in game development and publishing and live publishing model. Both companies will be sharing skills and knowledge to publish the games in the best way possible. Being Tilting Point’s Arabic publisher of choice for these two titles is such an honor for Tamatem, and this will only be the start for more future partnerships between the two companies.

Commenting on the partnership, Hussam Hammo, CEO of Tamatem said: “We are very excited to be working with such a well-established, global game developer and publisher like Tilting Point to publish Languinis and Food Truck Chef to the Arab world. Providing those games to the users in their own language will help them in relating to the games in terms of language and culture. We look forward to more partnerships with Tilting Point in the future. Being Tilting Point’s Arabic publisher of choice for these famous titles is such an honor for us, we look forward to learn from them and share skills and best practices between the two companies’”

“Given Languinis and Food Truck Chef’s existing fan base and global success, we have no doubt that both games will resonate extremely well and garner a lot of traction with Arabic speaking players,” said  Samir El-Agili, president of Tilting Point. “We are thrilled to partner with Tamatem and leverage their expertise within the Middle Eastern market, giving players the opportunity to enjoy both games in their own culture and language.”

Article By Startup MGZN