Turkey Game Market Report Expert Views Part 2

Turkey Game Market Report Expert Views Part 2!  Let us continue to share with you gaming expert views from Turkey Game Market Report 2019.

Turkey Game Market Report Expert Views Part 2

BURAK GÖZALAN – FOUNDER CEO INGAME GROUP
Digital games and esports continued to gain momentum in 2019 in our country, which has significant potential with its young population. As a group of companies aiming to contribute to the growing digital game industry with investments and innovations, InGame Group has also made significant investments in this field since the first month of 2019. As InGame Group, while continuing to develop games with the Zula Game, we organized one of Turkey’s two official esports league. At the beginning of 2019, we opened Turkey’s first and Europe’s biggest esports center; Nonstop Zula Esports Center. Zula also undertakes the mission of promoting our country with the most popular MMO FPS game of our country and places such as Maiden Tower and Nemrut, which are also included in the game as playable maps. Zula meets players through local publishers in Brazil, Europe, Iran, Russia, and Latin America; and has a total of 27 million players in the world including Turkey. In 2019, we made a total investment of TRY 10 million in the field of digital games and esports. Millions of TRY’s were awarded to esports players in the Zula ecosystem, especially at the Zula Super League and the Zula Competition Tournament. This year, we also launched a special project that will have future reflections. We signed in cooperation with “Ay Yapım” for the first gamified content in Turkey. First time in Turkey, characters, and story of a television series, were included in a digital game. This was an innovative step towards the future of the entertainment industry. As the game industry continues to grow, we will continue to project exciting works.

BARIŞ ÖZİSTEK – ChaIrman at Netmarble EMEA
The Turkish game market should be evaluated in two aspects. If we look at it as a domestic market, we have not had a good year, especially because of the sudden fluctuations in exchange rates. Revenues for games on a USD basis fell below expectations. Especially on the mobile gaming side, Apple’s exchange rate policy has had a negative impact on the market. We know this is a temporary period, we can predict that the domestic market will be mobile in 2020 as prices and the economy stabilize again. On the other hand, Turkey’s game development power is increasing day by day. We have managed to become one of the most important countries in the world developing and exporting games. With over 500 indie game development studios, we have become decisively the most successful country in Eastern Europe and the Middle East region. The number of Turkish gaming companies that have achieved international success has increased enormously in 2019. It will continue to accelerate in 2020. Esports, on the other hand, is also growing rapidly. Given that we have 82 million people and the youngest population in Europe, the fast development of the gaming industry is quite normal. Europe’s largest esports arena was opened in Istanbul, in addition to the opening of 4 more esports centers on a medium scale in Istanbul was one of the highlights of 2019.

OZAN AYDEMİR – FOUNDER CEO GAMING IN TURKEY
We have written a lot about 2019 in our report, so I would like to give some of my views in 2020. In 2020, we will hear more news about esports in both TR and global. Support from the government has also begun to increase on this issue. Turkey and the Middle East, in particular, have experienced a wriggle this year and this will continue in 2020. The growth momentum of the Hyper Casual category in mobile games will continue. There’s a new concept here. Large game companies have created a revenue-sharing model system by incorporating Hyper Casual games from small developer games into their pools. This system is also being tried in Turkey. It is a good advantage for small-scale companies that can make their game but cannot open to the global market and the reason for lack of marketing budget. Companies like Tencent, Netease, EA, Riot Games, Blizzard are the names that could make their mark in 2020. The new future games they announced towards the end of 2019 are the games the whole world is waiting for now. I think the big bite will be Riot Games’.

SEÇKİN TOPALOĞLU – BAU eSports CoordInator Bahçeşehİr UnIversIty
Research shows that there are over 30 million players (including mobile) in our country. The rapid increase in the announced export numbers and the fact that it has reached 1 billion US Dollar band is also exciting. The point where the game industry, which shows growth potential in all aspects, is in common with esports is the demographic structure. Considering the young generation of over 10 million people who are aware of and follow esports, and considering the economic cycle that developments in technology will provide, esports can be considered as an area that offers opportunities. While global esports are expected to reach 1,8 billion dollars for 2022, growth of 40% has also affected the Turkish market in recent years It is possible to increase the potential of the Turkish esports market of 30 million with the right guidance.

SERHAT BEKDEMİR – Founder Collegiate Esports League
We can say that we have a really dynamic gaming market that has been on the rise in recent years, we are talking about an ecosystem where the foreign investment of around $ 500 million has been made in the last 2-3 years and the total valuations of the leading companies of the market have exceeded billion dollars. Of course, the young population of our country will be the power that keeps this dynamic market up and going. The era of cassette/CD games has been over and the investments that have not been made in our country in these areas, the issues of pirated content ended far ago. With the internet and platforms liberating game developers, we are not running before publishers to resources anymore. Our young generation is aware of the situation, using their productivity to build a successful gaming studio despite all kinds of difficult circumstances, and knowing that they can achieve great valuations in a much shorter time than traditional business areas. Market revenues, currently around $ 850 million, will continue to rise with the addition of new players and increased investments. Esports needs to be evaluated separately from the game market. The esports industry lost rapid momentum and underwent a realignment process, although it became more vocal and found more coverage in the media than in the gaming industry. As an effect of the economic processes that our country is going through, there is a significant reduction in sponsorship sales. The investor, who expects a quick turnaround, is also being very cautious at the moment, as a business is being done with a distinct culture in an evolving industry that is technically different from the business norms in the traditional sports and entertainment world. All companies operating in the field of esports in Turkey continue to be active in this field in order to read the future of the market well and to be able to make the move at the right time.