Most popular international mobile game ‘Hollywood Story’ set to be localized for Arab gamers

MENA: April, 2020: Tamatem, the leading mobile games publisher in the MENA region, has announced the signing of a strategic partnership with Nanobit, a world-class game developer based in Zagreb, Croatia. The agreement was signed by Hussam Hammo, CEO of Tamatem and Zoran Vučinić and Alan Sumina Founders of Nanobit.

With this partnership, Tamatem localised one of the most popular international hits in mobile games, the “Hollywood Story” into Arabic. This game has taken the world by storm, and quickly becoming the top mobile game in the whole story-based genre. Mobile game lovers across the MENA region are now able to take advantage of the game in their own language under the name of “Fashion Queen ملكة الموضة”.

Commenting on the announcement, Hussam Hammo, CEO of Tamatem said: “Our partnership with Nanobit, a leading game developer, is in keeping with our strategic plan to expand our reach and offer the best international game “Hollywood Story” in Arabic. We are very delighted to collaborate with this highly professional world-class team who have been leading the story based mobile game genre for the last 4 years with more than 300 million downloads. At Tamatem, we are also particularly excited as this is the first time that a game targeting female users will be published in Arabic.”

“In the MENA market, mobile games are expected to more than triple in size in the coming few years, from $680 million 2015 to $2.3 billion in 2022. With the highest Average Revenue Per Paying User (ARPPU) in the world, and an incredibly under-served Arabic market, we are confident that we can significantly scale our business to the next level and succeed with a partner like Nanobit in the coming years.”

Tamatem is a mobile games publisher for the Arabic speaking market. The company focuses on arabizing the most popular international mobile games and serving the Arab smartphone users with games tailored for the language and culture of the region. Although Arabic is the fourth most popular spoken language in the world, yet there is less than 1 percent of content available in Arabic.

Whilst there are around 400,000 games in English, in the Arab mobile game market there are only 850 Arabic games available on the App Store. The region has one of the world’s fastest adoption rates for mobile apps and with more than 100 million smartphone users in the Middle East, but 60 percent of these users prefer consuming content in Arabic.

Zoran Vučinić and Alan Sumina founders of Nanobit said: “Step aside, Hollywood, the biggest celebrities are coming to MENA! We are sure Fashion Queen will take the MENA market by storm. Tamatem has a proven track record and clearly understands the needs of the market. We believe that this partnership will definitely become the top mobile game in the whole story-based genre in the MENA and help us to establish our brand in a new market. We are looking forward to a long-standing partnership with Tamatem.”

Tamatem localized the game Hollywood Story from a language, artistic and cultural perspective, and launched it to the Arabic market, under the company’s strong local publishing brand in the region. Tamatem also carried out and is still working on all marketing, live operations, monetization, whales and user support, while working closely with Nanobit to take this game to the next level.

Hollywood Story takes the user from a humble beginning in a rough part of New York, Through the ranks of the rich and famous to lead a glamorous lifestyle everywhere from Las Vegas to Paris and then to Los Angeles. The user must make the best career choices and capitalize on all the best connections, while battling an intense personal life, to build the most successful life possible.

-ends-

About Tamatem:

Established in 2013 by Hussam Hammo, Tamatem is the leading mobile games publisher in the MENA market. The Startup 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.

The post Tamatem Announces Strategic Partnership with Nanobit appeared first on Tamatem.

This, coupled with a complete shut down of outdoor activities has given the region’s population more time and incentive to play games on their mobile phones. The size of the mobile games market across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) is expected to reach $2.3 billion in 2020 according to Statista, a 238 per cent increase from $680 million in 2015.

One of the region’s largest mobile phone publishers, Jordan-based Tamatem, is one such gaming company that has noticed a growth in demand. Just before the outbreak, the company raised $3.5 million in an investment round led by Wamda.

We spoke with Tamatem’s Hussam Hammo, who founded the company back in 2013.

What has been the impact of Covid-19 on your business?

Despite this very difficult time for humanity, for the entertainment and gaming businesses, now is the big time. The main reason is that people are staying at home with no outside entertainment options. So in the past, we, as a gaming company were not just competing with other gaming companies, but anything that takes times from the users, like the cinema, parks, going out, doing anything is a sort of a competition for time.

Most people are indoors, with powerful devices and an internet connection and they’re willing to try new things now.

We have seen significant growth in daily active users. We have seen a 20 per cent increase in revenues since the beginning of March. We have also seen growth in the time spent playing games. This year, we’re looking to break records.

How have you responded to the rise in demand?

I think the quarantine will take longer than expected. Our aim is to acquire as many users, we’re doubling down on our marketing efforts to acquire as many users as we can. We have increased our marketing spend by 200 per cent since the beginning of March.

We are seeing that we are acquiring users for a significantly lower cost, the main reason behind that is there is less competition for brand advertising. Advertising in general has gone down on a global scale. We have acquired users outside of the region, mainly Arabs living in the US and Europe, who are usually more expensive to acquire.

Have you noticed any negative impact?

The only negative impact is on business development. We’re a publisher, we have a B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) side. The B2C side went up in an excellent way but the B2B has been hit. The main reason behind that is the other companies we are dealing with are also in lockdown and they are afraid. They are trying to manage their work remotely and things are changing.

A lot of the business development efforts we do depends on us attending events and conferences. One of the biggest gaming events, where about 100,000 people attend was cancelled. So many other conferences have been cancelled and meeting partners to go and close deals has not happened.

What makes the gaming market in the Middle East such an attractive investment?

The main reason why it is an interesting market is because it has the highest average revenue per paying user in the entire world and Saudi Arabia is the country with the highest rate in the world, we are looking at seven to eight times higher than China. The average spend per user in Saudi is $270. We have seen in our games averages of $450 spend per user. We have heard stories from our partners and friends in China and South Korea who are targeting the Arab market because some users are paying $1000-2000 in a single game.

It is an industry that is not affected very much on a day to day basis. We compare it a lot to buying a cup of coffee, even if the price of oil goes down, you still buy your coffee. Most of these people who spend lots of money on games, this is their main source of entertainment, they spend hours playing them.

How have you adapted to working remotely?

We tried to be pioneers and implement a quick plan to work from home. We anticipated things would escalate quickly. We gave managers and employees training on how to manage work from home, it required us to learn how to do that and we found a lot of networks and material online. I am seeing excellent results. I believe the entire community will learn how to work from home and maybe we will start doing that and start hiring people to work from home.

As a culture, we’re very sensitive about that, we want people to sit at their desk at the same time, check in, check out. We have employees who take one and a half or two hours to commute to the office, if we eliminate that stress, I believe this will be the big outcome of this Coronavirus.

What can we expect from Tamatem?

We are blessed we were able to close the round before all this happened, otherwise things would have been much slower and more difficult. Tamatem today is still growing at 20 per cent month over month. We are launching two new games, and for the first time we are targeting female players. Currently 80 per cent of our users are male.

The investment, we are using today is for more marketing pushes and more awareness for the company and to grow the company further. We want to hire and increase the amount of employees by 20-25. We want to reach 75 employees.

Article by: Wamda

The post In conversation with Hussam Hammo of Tamatem appeared first on Tamatem.

This was published by deltaDNA on March 3, 2020 by Jon Watts.

Tamatem is the leading publisher of mobile games in the MENA region and a long-standing user of deltaDNA. Their use of segments and multi-channel messaging provides an excellent blueprint for any developers looking to maximize the lifespan and value of their players with little development effort in exchange for a big impact.

The game

Tamatem uses deltaDNA to engage players in 2 games currently, with another 2 soon to be released and integrated. This case study focuses on Tamatem’s hard segmentation and sophisticated campaign strategy in VIP Baloot, which resulted in a 50% increase for revenues from promotions.

Process

Keen to move away from generic promotions, improve engagement, and reduce churn, Tamatem decided to start segmenting their player base on a more granular level in 2016.

Since then, they have developed a complex messaging strategy that combines email and push notification with constant A/B testing to ensure that all VIP Baloot players consistently receive engagement content that is both fresh and relevant to them. The specific use cases for each are as follows:

Email

In VIP Baloot, email messaging has 2 exclusive functions:

1. Retargeting lapsed players with news of fresh features and updates to prevent churn.
2. Retargeting lapsed spenders with discount offers and bundles to encourage further purchases.

Push notification

Tamatem uses funnels to see where players drop out of any given flow and then targets them with rewards for resuming play. Campaigns change month to month and no player will receive the same message twice within a 2-3 week period.

On top of conversion and retargeting initiatives, Tamatem uses messaging campaigns to engage players with announcements, user surveys, fun facts, onboarding messages, tournament news and more.

Outcomes and learnings

On both the macro and the micro-level, Tamatem’s constant experimentation and optimization have revealed lots about how best to engage their players.

Big stuff

1. The more segments, the better
   Tamatem is constantly adding segments to its library to facilitate greater precision and sophistication in its messaging campaigns.
2. Monetization is only one of several successful outcomes
   The majority of mobile game players will never make a purchase in-game, but that isn’t necessarily a problem. By NOT trying to monetize non-spenders and instead serve them other content, Tamatem managed to retain those players for longer and generate value in other ways.
3. Generic KPI metrics can be deceiving
   In a real-world live environment, there are countless variables affecting players on both the individual and game-wide levels. For example, new features, updates, and acquisition campaigns bring in lots of new users. If there is an influx of new users at the same time as a specifically targeted promotion, overall ARPDAU might decrease – even if the promotion performs well with its target segment. Be aware of the wider context and evaluate your actions appropriately.

Specific stuff

By testing anything and everything, every month brings new learnings about how to optimize tiny details and best practices. Some highlights include:

1. Value comes down to player perception
   Exposing the value of discounts/promotions is crucial to engagement. In VIP Baloot, rigorous testing showed that some players/demographics respond well to percentage stats and others are more likely to engage with multipliers (eg. 10x) or currency totals. Personal opinions on the business side don’t matter – the players show what works best.
2. Limiting purchase options is crucial
   Some players were buying discount In-App Purchases (IAPs) in huge multiples, which became detrimental to revenues due to the huge values conceded. By limiting the maximum number of times that each player could purchase a single offer/IAP, Tamatem made sure that all parties could get value out of the transaction without a negative impact.
3. Variety is key
   Everyone is looking for a good deal, but surfacing the same offers over and over will reduce their penetration and frustrate players – maybe even to the point of churn. By varying the content and presentation of offers, players were kept interested for longer.

Tamatem’s dedication to testing, iterating, and segmenting has resulted in great progress and uplift ever since they first started using deltaDNA. Operating games for long-term success is all about maintaining enthusiasm and dedication to a constant cycle of measurement, analysis, and engagement. Tamatem does all 3 extremely well, so their results come as no surprise.

Source: deltaDNA

The post Tamatem Transforms Revenues with Targeting and Rapid Optimization of Offers appeared first on Tamatem.

This was published by Daily Sabah on February 25, 2020.

The winners of Startup Istanbul 2019 have been announced. The delivery team came first in the startup category, while Alotech won the scaleup finals, participate by growth-oriented startups.

The event, which was dubbed one of the top 10 events in the global startup scene by the Global Accelerator Report, looks to make Istanbul and Turkey important locations in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Startup Istanbul 2019 was organized for the seventh time by Etohum. Apart from other programs it analyzed for the first time, startups in the growth phase, something Turkey badly needs.

In that context, juries selected the winners of Scaleup Istanbul, where growth-oriented startups whose income exceeds $1 million or have received at least $1 million investment competed.

According to the Turkish startup ecosystem intelligence firm, Startups. Watch, the total investments made in 43 startups in the first nine months of 2019 amounted to $13.9 million.

Compared to the previous years, the number of growth-oriented enterprises was not high, which led to a decrease in investment figures. There are now platforms that support the launch of not just the seed stage but also full ventures and their opening to global markets.

160,000 applications

The 7th Startup Istanbul, sponsored by Esas Ventures, hosted some 100 entrepreneurs, selected from among 160,000 applications from around the world. They had the opportunity to make presentations before the world’s leading investors and institutions.

This year’s top prize went to Palestine’s weDeliver, which provides crowd-funded B2B transportation services. While Saudi Arabia’s OrbitCrops, which operates in the agricultural sector and increases the productivity of farmers, took the second prize. Kenya’s Fleetsimplify, which measures the performance and profitability of companies operating in the transport sector, came third in the competition.

Growth-oriented startups on stage

In the Scaleup Finals, organized for the first time this year, companies with an annual income exceeding $1 million or firms that have received more than $1 million investments so far were eligible to participate.

The third place was shared by Greek startup Welcome, which provides an easy, personalized travel experience, and Pakistan’s Oladoc, a doctor’s appointment platform. The second place went to Jordanian mobile game publisher Tamatem.

The winner of Scaleup Istanbul was Turkish AloTech, which provides cloud-based call center services to corporations. The Startup Estonia special award, on the other hand, went to Turkish Neurocess that developed “internet of things” (IoT) device and services that predicts athlete injuries.

Startups from over 65 countries meet in Istanbul

Inaugurated by Burak Büyükdemir, ETohum’s Startup Istanbul event continues to grow and expand its scope without any public support. “Today, 7th Startup Istanbul hosted entrepreneurs from more than 65 countries,” Büyükdemir said.

“Once again, we have taken important steps in making Istanbul one of the world’s most important entrepreneurship events location. Every year we continue to make Istanbul a bigger part of the global entrepreneurial ecosystem,” he said.

Bridge between ecosystems essential

Fethi Sabancı Kamışlı, a founding partner at Esas Ventures, recalled the founding of the company. “We aim to build a bridge between the Turkish and global ecosystems. To do so, we have invested in many different geographies. The important thing here is to know that investing is not enough,” Kamışlı said, adding that “you need to visit these companies and see what is physically happening there. Otherwise, there is no possibility of adding value to these companies. We want to be a part of these stories by creating sustainable value.”

“Kamışlı said being here is not enough to build bridges between the different ecosystems. Traveling to other regions is also important. We need to understand what is going on there and bring it back here and blend it because this is no longer a regional game,” he said. “Network development plays a key role here. That is why Startup Istanbul is so important. Esas Ventures will continue supporting it.”

Smart devices send ‘possible malfunction’ warning without asking

With the world’s smallest wireless vibration sensor, Sensemore monitors machine tracks with intelligent technologies, enabling improvements to be made at the right time and reducing maintenance costs, thus making sure measures are taken before the malfunction occurs.

Smart sensors and the IoT technology are at the heart of the Industry 4.0 transformation. It is exciting to witness the efforts of Turkish startups to gain power in the global market.

Currently preparing to open its European office, Sensemore also looks to expand to the U.S. soon. It manufactures “the smallest wireless vibration sensor in its class.”

Founder Çağlar Aksu said Sensemore received investments from Proline Ventures, a concern of the Turkish technology company Proline, to support startups working in the smart cities field.

It is currently working with different companies in the automotive, aerospace, machine manufacturing, robotics and white goods sectors. Aksu said their sensors, which they have been working on since 2016, enable vibration measurement that previously required very expensive equipment and a long time.

Aksu said the vibration sensor is very easy to use. “Normally, companies need to buy a sensor and extract a cable from the sensor, connect this cable to the so-called logic analyzer and then to the recorder. In our case, it is enough to connect Sensemore to the mobile phone via Bluetooth,” Aksu said.

“Furthermore, for the first time, third-party software can be integrated directly with the vibration sensor thanks to our API. It is also possible to share vibration records via popular applications like WhatsApp.”

Meanwhile, Türk Telekom and Nokia have carried out Turkey’s first 5G trials in the Industry 4.0 standards with the Smart Factory trial conducted by using 5G’s low latency, high bandwidth, and high data transmission speed capabilities to minimize errors in critical industrial applications and increase production and productivity.

U.S. market targeted in 2020

Aksu further elaborated on their future goals. “We have started to receive European orders for Sensemore, which is designed and produced by Turkish engineers,” he said.

“We are opening our European office in Poland in the last quarter of 2019. We will manage our European orders from there. In 2020, we aim to grow faster by managing the U.S. and North American orders from this office.”

Warning before malfunction occurs

Aksu said there were three stages of the system, namely research, quality control and predictive maintenance. He added that these three service lines come together and ensure that machines can be traced throughout their lifetime, making factories smarter.

“In the research and development (R&D) studies, we take measurements quickly and easily, ensuring that the measurement can be collected even in the most challenging environments. Sensemore can measure vibration even underwater. It can also measure in pressurized and closed containers,” Aksu noted.

“In the Quality Control phase, we create a company-specific quality control process and apply it to the production line, thus reducing the amount of faulty production and enabling companies to increase customer satisfaction. Under Predictive Maintenance, companies can monitor machine health on the production line with continuous measurements. In this way, problems can be solved before they occur, and production costs are reduced.”

Smart screen for farmers with İmeceMobil

With the İmeceMobil application, farmers can instantly follow the wholesale market, stock market and feed-milk prices, as well as frost, rain, weather and humidity forecasts in their region on their smartphones.

Farmers can use the free İmeceMobil app to check and record information related to fields, gardens and animal husbandry, as well as weather forecast reports. Farmers can receive warnings about accidental weather events such as frost, hail, lightning, storm and heavy rainfall. They can also talk to agricultural engineers and veterinarians at any time about crop production and animal husbandry.

Within the scope of the application, developed by İş Bank’s technology startup Softtech, farmers can learn the latest wholesale market/stock prices of agricultural products, feed, meat, milk, and egg prices and access various news on agriculture.

Farmers can also be notified about İşbank’s campaigns for the procurement of agricultural inputs in their regions, while İmece Cardholders can easily access their card information via the “İmece Kart’ım” option.

Istanbul hosts Entrepreneur Games

Otsimo, Bluedot and Phoenix Energy, which earned the highest virtual investment, won the GREAT Entrepreneur Games Turkey competition.

Each country is working to attract successful startups. The United Kingdom is one of the most active countries in this regard. The U.K. Department of International Trade (DIT), which opens the doors to the most successful and innovative entrepreneurs from Turkey, organized the GREAT Entrepreneur Games Turkey competition. Otsimo, Bluedot and Phoenix Energy won the competition by attracting the highest virtual investment.

“GREAT Entrepreneur Games” first started at the London Olympics in 2012, then spread around the world in different versions in Singapore, Australia, Chile, Argentina, Mexico and Poland, before coming to Turkey.

$8 billion investment

The British Consul General and Southern Europe and Central Asia Trade Commissioner Judith Slater said in her keynote delivery that they are delighted that a growing number of Turkish investors are striving to achieve their global goals through strategic investments in the U.K., particularly in the technology sector.

“The U.K. is one of the most exciting technology centers in the world and is also attractive for technology companies,” she said. “The number of digital technology companies born in the U.K. in the last 20 years has been booming.

Besides, according to 2018 data, U.K. technology companies attracted venture capital investment of more than 6.3 billion pounds ($8.1 billion). As you can see from these data, the U.K. is an excellent investment destination, and our investment team in Turkey has prepared to talk about how we can help you with your future investment plans.”

Competition for investment

In the event, designed by DIT’s Global Entrepreneur Program (GEP), 50 startups selected by the jury among nearly 200 applicants competed. During the full-day event, entrepreneurs and investors came together at the Consulate General of the U.K. in Istanbul to compete to attract investors’ interest through a mobile application designed specifically for the event.

Both entrepreneurs and investors were allocated a virtual balance of 1 million pounds on the application. On the day of the game, the entrepreneurs tried to collect investments by making short and effective presentations to investors and other ventures in free format. At the end of the day, Otsimo, Bludeot and Phoenix Energy, the top three entrepreneurs who received the highest virtual investment, won the competition.

Training trip to U.K.

These three startups will be awarded a three-day training trip to London as the prize for winning the competition. There, they will be mentored by GEP business developers and brought together with potential business partners to achieve their goals of growth. That way, the Turkish startups will have the opportunity to grow their business in the U.K., become part of an international network and connect with the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Source: DailySabah

The post Entrepreneurs Set Sail From Istanbul to Grow in Overseas Markets appeared first on Tamatem.

February 2020: ​Tamatem, the leading mobile games publisher in the Arabic speaking market, has raised a $3.5MM Series A follow-on round. The round was led by existing investor ​Wamda Capital, with participation from  Modern Electronics Company (a subsidiary of AlFaisaliah Group) and North Base Media.

The purpose of this round is two-fold: to double down on Tamatem’s efforts in the region, and to expand beyond the MENA to underserved markets worldwide.

In 2020, Tamatem will grow the marketing scale of its existing titles, including through offline events- a key piece of the region’s marketing landscape. In addition, the company will open its offices in Riyadh. With the support of Modern Electronics Company, they aim to foster business development opportunities in the region’s largest market. Tamatem will also see a stark increase in the number of titles they work within the region. With multiple titles launching in Q1 2020, the company will leverage its existing data science capabilities and market expertise to compound their dominance in the publishing space and become the region’s premier launching engine for new games.

Following great success in the Arabic speaking market- with over 75 million downloads, 3.5 million monthly active users and a $2.5MM venture round in 2018- Tamatem will expand beyond its current regional boundaries. In 2020, Tamatem will be publishing titles in other emerging and underserved markets.

Speaking about the company’s growth potential, CEO Hussam Hammo said “lots of startups in the Middle East feel their market potential is limited to this region. I love seeing startups expand beyond those boundaries and I am proud that the team at Tamatem is now looking beyond just the Arabic speaking market. I believe this latest round of funding will allow us to deliver on our vision of becoming the top mobile games publisher for every underserved emerging market in the world.”

Turi Munthe, Venture Partner at North Base Media, said: “The games market in the Middle East is set for extraordinary growth, and nobody is better placed to drive it than Tamatem”. Wajih Beiruti, CEO of Modern Electronics Company, added “Tamatem has led the mobile gaming space in the region for 6 years and we’re very excited to be working with them on a closer basis. Being the distributor of Sony for 50 years and having worked with them on building the gaming ecosystem in Saudi Arabia through PlayStation and other key publishers, I believe we can create tremendous value for Arabic speaking gamers by working closely with Tamatem. I look forward to working with Tamatem on their expansion”

Tamatem started as a mobile games developer, creating casual titles with a broad reach and relatively low monetization. After building up the largest database of Arabic user downloads in the region, Tamatem pivoted to a publishing model in 2016, working with leading developers from all over the world to expand their reach in the market.

Tamatem is the leading mobile games publisher in the Arabic speaking market. Arabic is the 4th most spoken language and yet, only 1% of online content is available in Arabic. In addition, the region boasts the world’s highest ARPPUs (Average Revenue Per Paying User) presenting a great opportunity for international developers interested in the MENA market.

This, combined with high barriers to entry for foreign developers due to language complexities, cultural specificities, and unique monetization mechanisms, makes Tamatem an ideal publisher choice for any mobile games studio looking to maximize their global reach.

This round of funding follows Tamatem’s series A in 2018 and the signing of multiple new titles set to launch in Q1 2020.

• Name: Timothy Bendt
• Title: CGO
• Email: timothy@tamatem.co
• Website: www.tamatem.co
• Link to Baloot: www.vipbaloot.com
• Tel: +962 7 97165019

The post Tamatem, raises $3.5M to expand beyond the MENA market appeared first on Tamatem.

This was published by Pocket Gamer on November 7, 2019 & written by Charlie Scowen.

Following successful events in London, Seattle, Hong Kong and Helsinki, the final outing of the Pocket Gamer Connects conference series in 2019 was also our very first in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Despite being a brand-new show, PGC Jordan boasted some impressive numbers with over 700 registered delegates from 30 countries taking part, including a broad representation of MENA countries plus stars from Europe, USA and Asia.

Over the two days, visitors were inspired by 60 speakers providing 35 hours of content across 10 tracks, and took part in well over 500 organised meetings using the free Pitch & Match system.

As well as showcasing talent from across the region and being the largest b2b games event yet seen in MENA, the event was noticeable for its gender split, offering a pleasingly high percentage of female delegates.

Packed schedule

Suffice to say there were plenty of fringe events too, with a high quality of local talent displaying the fruits of their labours to publishers, press and platforms in the Very Big Indie Pitch, Publisher SpeedMatch and Investor Connector sessions. The Very Big Indie Pitch was won by Hako Games’ Mulled 2 (mobile) and Monupon’s Wild Thieves (PC).

Delegates also enjoyed an exhibition area featuring sponsors such as Huawei, AppsFlyer, Adjust, TPay, Unity, Gaming Lab, Tamatem, Plug In Digital, Libring/App Annie, iDreamSky, Snap and Kwalee alongside a selection of indie developers.

During PGC, the IMGA MENA awards took place on Saturday evening, with this year’s Grand Prix going to Shadow Of Naught by Iran’s Hassan M Golshan, who also won three other awards. The People’s Choice gong went to Hados 2 by Iran’s Mehdi Peighaminasab and the Jury’s Honorable Mention went to Linn: Path Of Orchards by Zeynab Mousavi from UAE.

A further 12 other categories were celebrated at the ZINC campus at the King Hussein Business Park in Amman, just around the corner from the PGC venue.

A wonder of the world

To showcase the culture and tremendous hospitality of the region, the event was book-ended by a traditional VIP dinner on Friday night, and a day trip to Petra, one of the wonders of the modern world, on Monday. Delegates travelled 230km south from the capital to the fantastic archaeological site in the company of a guide, to explore the world-famous location.

The Jordan Gaming Summit will continue after Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan 2019 by travelling round the country. The tour begins on November 15th and runs for two days, visiting the south, centre and north of Jordan. The Gaming Lab team took notes from all this week’s sessions and will share key insights with the community who could not attend the show in person. So the success of Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan 2019 doesn’t stop with the 700 people who registered in Amman – the knowledge and workshop information will spread.

Nour Khrais, Jordan Gaming Lab technical partner and chair of the Jordan Gaming Task Force, commented: “Today, in partnership with a global conference such as Pocket Gamer Connects, we reaffirm that Jordan is the gateway for global game developers to access the Middle East and North Africa. Jordan is once again the bridge between the East and the West, as it was at the time of the Silk Road. Thanks to the continued support of the King Abdullah II Fund for Development in supporting the gaming cluster in Jordan since 2011.

“The conference brought together a group of world-class speakers from leading gaming companies and industry leaders in the region to share their experiences with the latest developments in the gaming industry technology and business.”

Steel Media CEO, Chris James, was clearly encouraged by what he saw: “Our intent was to try to recreate the same quality, community and business matchmaking that we deliver elsewhere. And I think the Steel Media team, in association with our local partners from the King Abdullah II Fund for Development, did a fantastic job.

“We were bowled over by the passion, enthusiasm and talent in the region, as well as the incredible hospitality on display. Combine this with an ever-growing (and currently underserved) Arabic-language market and its fair to say there’s something really special happening here that the rest of the industry should take note of – we’re certainly privileged to play some part in it and will most definitely be back next year!”

The Pocket Gamer Connects series may be over for 2019, but it will return in 2020, starting with PGC London on 21st-22nd January. And, as usual, we’ll also be sharing videos from the show on our YouTube channel in a month or so’s time, so if you missed out last weekend you’ll be able to catch up with our world-class speakers and panellists then.

Source: PocketGamer

The post Pocket Gamer Connects launches into MENA with 700+ delegates at PGC Jordan appeared first on Tamatem.

This was published by Pocket Gamer on October 28, 2019, & written by Charlie Scowen.

Pocket Gamer Connects expands its reach into the Middle East this week, and we’re proud and grateful to have some of the finest companies backing us on the event’s first trip to Jordan.

As they’re joining us at the King Hussein Business Park in Amman with support from the King Abdullah II Fund, we’d like to give them a special shoutout to these amazing firms that believe in what we do and continue to support our conferences.

Tamatem

Tamatem is the leading mobile games publisher in the Arabic speaking region, working with successful international developers to bring their apps into the market. Arabic is the fourth most spoken language in the world and yet, only 1% of online content is available in Arabic. Couple this with the highest ARPPUs in the world and you’ll see why Tamatem has been the go-to choice for game developers of all sizes in the Arabic speaking market for five years now.

Source: PocketGamer

The post Tamatem is the Main Sponsor at Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan 2019 appeared first on Tamatem.

This was published by Pocket Gamer on October 22, 2019 & written by Charlie Scowen.

In just a few days, the Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan conference opens its doors to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region for the very first time.

Whether you’re looking to realise the potential of the MENA region or you’re looking to expand into new horizons, this event can help. Tickets are still available, but space is filling up and the free meeting system is already online. Don’t miss the chance to make new friends in the burgeoning region.

Why MENA?

The Middle East and North Africa region represents one of the most exciting emerging markets for the games industry today, with over 600 million online users and 375 million mobile subscribers. The region was also one of the fastest-growing economies in 2018. With an increasing smartphone penetration and improved networks in the coming years, there’s massive potential for MENA’s mobile games market to grow.

Newzoo’s Trends to Watch in 2019 report cited MENA as one of the “high-potential markets”, especially for Chinese investment. While it currently accounts for a small proportion of the global games market, it has an incredibly high growth rate (reportedly 25% year-on-year compared with 13.9% growth in Latin America and 9.2% growth in the Asia Pacific region in 2017, for instance).

It is also home to some of the finest talent in the games industry, including Tamatem, Wixel Studios, Play 3arabi, Maysalward and many more. And this new Pocket Gamer conference is the perfect opportunity to meet them, as well as some of the world’s biggest industry names who have travelled to the region specifically to take part.

A conference that brings the world together

Getting to know the industry and meeting its key figures one-on-one is a rare opportunity. Even rarer is the chance to do that in the company of guests from around the world. And all in a place steeped in history with a unique vibe.

Part of an international series of B2B events for the games industry, Pocket Gamer Connects expands its reach to the Middle East for the very first time this November 2nd and 3rd. It comes to the King Hussein Business Park in Amman with support from the King Abdullah II Fund For Development, the Gaming Lab and the Gaming Summit.

It may be an exciting new destination for a Pocket Gamer Connects event, but it’s the same chance to network, learn and do business you may well already be familiar with from London, Helsinki, Seattle and Hong Kong this year alone. Within two days, there will be 10 essential conference tracks featuring 70 of the world’s leading authorities and some of the local talent in the games industry. Speakers and panellists include Unity, Ubisoft, Epic Games, King, Tamatem, Play 3arabi and more.

You can meet them with our online meeting scheduler, which is free to all attendees, helping you network efficiently and track down that essential contact for your business. We also run a whole host of networking fringe events, such as our Publisher SpeedMatch which is focused on pairing publishers and developers together in a series of speed-dating type style meetings. Or if you’re seeking investment, you can sign up to our Investor Connector and have one-on-one meetings with investors looking to spend the right kind of money in the right sector. In both events, our experts hand-pick the meetings, so you know you’re meeting the right people. There’s still time to sign up for these valuable fringe activities – just!

All that awaits if you can tear yourself away from the expo space with its dedicated Big Indie Zone for indie developers to showcase their amazing projects. And if you’re one of those up-and-coming indie developers, check out the Big Indie Pitch competition, where developers go head-to-head presenting their games to publishers, media and experienced insiders. Three winning teams will receive a promotional prize and press coverage. It’s a great way to meet industry experts and secure important contacts that could be beneficial in the near future.

Joining the event in Amman this year will be the 4th annual IMGA MENA. The International Mobile Gaming Awards launched in 2016 are a highlight of the domestic calendar, celebrating the best in games development in the region. The final judging will take place during Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan 2019, with a panel about the process on the afternoon of day one, followed by the ceremony itself.

And after a busy day of getting to know the local game scene, you can keep the networking going until late while letting your hair down with our Global Connects Party. Held on the evening of day one, Saturday, November 2nd, It’s a great opportunity to meet our staff, speakers, sponsors, local and international visitors. So with all that being said…

Experience something new with us

Jordan is an exciting new venue for Pocket Gamer Connects, and we’d like you to join us on our journey for Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan 2019.

Whether you’re a newcomer to our conference series, or you’ve been with us before in other territories, you will find a warm welcome and plenty of ideas and connections for your business, on November 2nd and 3rd.

Source: PocketGamer

The post Explore the Middle East games market NEXT WEEK at Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan 2019 appeared first on Tamatem.

This was published by Pocket Gamer on October 22, 2019 & written by Charlie Scowen.

In just a few days, the Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan conference opens its doors to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region for the very first time.

Whether you’re looking to realise the potential of the MENA region or you’re looking to expand into new horizons, this event can help. Tickets are still available, but space is filling up and the free meeting system is already online. Don’t miss the chance to make new friends in the burgeoning region.

Why MENA?

The Middle East and North Africa region represents one of the most exciting emerging markets for the games industry today, with over 600 million online users and 375 million mobile subscribers. The region was also one of the fastest-growing economies in 2018. With an increasing smartphone penetration and improved networks in the coming years, there’s massive potential for MENA’s mobile games market to grow.

Newzoo’s Trends to Watch in 2019 report cited MENA as one of the “high-potential markets”, especially for Chinese investment. While it currently accounts for a small proportion of the global games market, it has an incredibly high growth rate (reportedly 25% year-on-year compared with 13.9% growth in Latin America and 9.2% growth in the Asia Pacific region in 2017, for instance).

It is also home to some of the finest talent in the games industry, including Tamatem, Wixel Studios, Play 3arabi, Maysalward and many more. And this new Pocket Gamer conference is the perfect opportunity to meet them, as well as some of the world’s biggest industry names who have travelled to the region specifically to take part.

A conference that brings the world together

Getting to know the industry and meeting its key figures one-on-one is a rare opportunity. Even rarer is the chance to do that in the company of guests from around the world. And all in a place steeped in history with a unique vibe.

Part of an international series of B2B events for the games industry, Pocket Gamer Connects expands its reach to the Middle East for the very first time this November 2nd and 3rd. It comes to the King Hussein Business Park in Amman with support from the King Abdullah II Fund For Development, the Gaming Lab and the Gaming Summit.

It may be an exciting new destination for a Pocket Gamer Connects event, but it’s the same chance to network, learn and do business you may well already be familiar with from London, Helsinki, Seattle and Hong Kong this year alone. Within two days, there will be 10 essential conference tracks featuring 70 of the world’s leading authorities and some of the local talent in the games industry. Speakers and panellists include Unity, Ubisoft, Epic Games, King, Tamatem, Play 3arabi and more.

You can meet them with our online meeting scheduler, which is free to all attendees, helping you network efficiently and track down that essential contact for your business. We also run a whole host of networking fringe events, such as our Publisher SpeedMatch which is focused on pairing publishers and developers together in a series of speed-dating type style meetings. Or if you’re seeking investment, you can sign up to our Investor Connector and have one-on-one meetings with investors looking to spend the right kind of money in the right sector. In both events, our experts hand-pick the meetings, so you know you’re meeting the right people. There’s still time to sign up for these valuable fringe activities – just!

All that awaits if you can tear yourself away from the expo space with its dedicated Big Indie Zone for indie developers to showcase their amazing projects. And if you’re one of those up-and-coming indie developers, check out the Big Indie Pitch competition, where developers go head-to-head presenting their games to publishers, media and experienced insiders. Three winning teams will receive a promotional prize and press coverage. It’s a great way to meet industry experts and secure important contacts that could be beneficial in the near future.

Joining the event in Amman this year will be the 4th annual IMGA MENA. The International Mobile Gaming Awards launched in 2016 are a highlight of the domestic calendar, celebrating the best in games development in the region. The final judging will take place during Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan 2019, with a panel about the process on the afternoon of day one, followed by the ceremony itself.

And after a busy day of getting to know the local game scene, you can keep the networking going until late while letting your hair down with our Global Connects Party. Held on the evening of day one, Saturday, November 2nd, It’s a great opportunity to meet our staff, speakers, sponsors, local and international visitors. So with all that being said…

Experience something new with us

Jordan is an exciting new venue for Pocket Gamer Connects, and we’d like you to join us on our journey for Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan 2019.

Whether you’re a newcomer to our conference series, or you’ve been with us before in other territories, you will find a warm welcome and plenty of ideas and connections for your business, on November 2nd and 3rd.

Source: PocketGamer

The post Tamatem at Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan 2019 appeared first on Tamatem.

The post 4 Programs Jordan’s Queen Rania’s Center For Entrepreneurship Offer You Didn’t Know About appeared first on Tamatem.