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Turkey is a relatively small market for video games – but it is a fast-growing one.
In 2014, the country’s industry generated $375m (264m) in revenues, ranking No.17 in Newzoo’s annual charts. In 2015, it was worth $464m (327m), which represented an impressive 24.7 per cent increase year-on-year and allowed the country to rank at No.16.
The data firm also points out that the ‘payer-to-player’ ratio in the country – 61 per cent – is well above the MEA region average of 41 per cent. However, the standard annual spend is quite low: only $33.71 per payer.
This matches the analysis made by Faruk Akinci, founder and CEO of BigKazan, a marketing agency helping publishers to enter the Turkish market.
Speaking to English-speaking newspaper Daily Sabah, he said that Turkish gamers mostly prefer online free-to-play games.”
Sports titles, RPG and MOBA games are the most preferred genres,” Akinci added. If a publisher decides to make a strategy for the Turkish territory, the content should be easy to access, must feature player-versus-player (PvP) modes and should be easy to learn.”
The gaming community in Turkey consists of around 27m people – and they love to play in Turkish, Akinci also revealed. A strategy that developer and publisher Riot Games had clearly understood when it opened an office in Istanbul a few years ago to provide Turkish localisation for its hit League of Legends.
Turkish gamers are also enjoying more and more mobile games, Akinci concluded.
We would expect even more growth with 4.5G and more use of smart devices. There are more than 34 million active mobile data users in Turkey and nearly 18 million of them are playing mobile games.”
Population: 75,837,000
Capital City: Ankara
Currency: Turkish Lira
GDP (Per Capita): $10,971.8
KEY RETAILERS
Teknosa, Bimeks, Sabanci/Carrefour, D & R, Sony Center, Media Markt
TOP DISTRIBUTORS
Aral, Pluto Games, Nortec Eurasia
TOP DEVELOPERS
2GEN Studio, ArcadeMonk, Creavect, Crytek Istanbul, Cultic Games, Gamegos, Gram Games, Ingame Group, MagiClick Games, Motion Blur, Peak Games, Pixofun, Riot Games Istanbul, Sobee Studios, TaleWorlds, Warlock Arts, Zoetrope
PUBLISHERS IN THE REGION
Microsoft, Riot Games, Sony
