Gaming companies going ‘local’ to lure Arab audience

Manama : The gaming industry is witnessing a boom in the region as companies are intensifying its ‘localization’ efforts, according to an industry expert.

Tariq Mukhttar, a successful game developer and a well known activist for the gaming community, said  international gaming companies are in the process of establishing ‘localization offices’ in the GCC. Such localization offices aims to make games tailored to an Arab audience.

Bahrain could attract huge investments from gaming companies in coming years he said,  “Bahrain is seen as an attractive place for investment, I am sure that international gaming companies are interested in Bahrain,” he told DT News.

Explaining localization of games he said, “Localization is not just about taking Japanese games and translating it into Arabic. There are certain cultural references that cannot be transferred by translating the language alone, so the game has to be changed. If there isn’t a proper localization done, the game may come out as inappropriate or offensive for the users in the region. They tried localization in Lebanon and Morocco but it still did not fit well for GCC audience. This is why the game companies want to establish localization houses in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the rest oft he GCC.”

He said that companies have been offering scholarships to local talents. “The talents available in the region is quite advanced and is improving year by year exponentially. The problem is when it comes to business, we are not quite there yet. So in recent years there has been a trend that international companies have been offering training sponsorships,” he said.

“These big companies train the local talent in other countries such as Japan or Europe. The companies then come in and establish local branches and the talent that have already trained with them will likely work for them. These companies have understand that there is a lot of profit to be made here. They have been unable to fully tap into the markets here for decades and now they are taking steps to reach the Arabic market, “ he said.