Column: Letters from Istanbul
Snapshot from the popular Okey game © Peak Games
Turkey-based social gaming company looking to capitalise on online connectedness in the Middle East
Last updated: March 1, 2012
While international gaming giants such as EA and Zynga turn to Western markets to find users, Istanbul-based Peak Games has found a strategy that evolves around emerging markets, with a particular focus on Turkey, the Middle East and South America. Turkey is an exceptional case, according to TechCrunch as much as 5 million people downloaded free games over the last year – a 534 per cent increase compared to 2010. That’s more than 14 per cent of Turkey’s population.
Whereas Western markets are highly competitive, the Middle East is more open for penetration as large numbers of gamers are coming online and becoming connected. As a result, Peak Games has seen a huge interest in its social games and daily active users have now reached 4 million according to AppData.
The social gaming explosion in Turkey can be seen in light of a larger trend that involves more interaction with social media sites such as Facebook (as of September 2011, Turkey was the fourth largest Facebook market with 30million+ users, according to TechCrunch). Other countries in the region are tagging along as well. Peak Games recently acquired Saudi Arabian social gaming giant Kammelna Games and now opens a new studio in Damman, Saudi Arabia.
blog comments powered by Disqus
