10 Arab Gaming Startups to Watch

This week we highlight some of MENA’s most creative gaming startups. These innovative ventures transport players into new worlds to overcome daring challenges.
Against staunch international competition, MENA’s gaming startups are showing off the region’s technical and artistic design skills through creative storylines, bold innovations, and stimulating gameplay that often involve themes reflecting local culture. The below startups are listed in alphabetical order.
Created in 2008, by co-founders Radwan Kasmiya
and Vince Ghossoub, Falafel Games decided to address the deficit in
grassroots local Arab game development to create games that act as
cultural “ambassadors” for the Arab world. Falafel Games has
developed hit MMORPG titles including Quraish and Under Siege to provide an Arab point
of view on gameplay. The creators of Falafel Games were tired of playing
games as a “U.S. Marine fighting his way through war-torn
Beirut,” and decided that the MENA region needs its own action
games “by and for Arabs.” Falafel Games are browser-based, making
them accessible to anyone with a computer and internet
connection.
2) Game Cooks
Founders Lebnan and Arz Nader, half of the
original
Birdy Nam Nam development team, launched Game Cooks earlier this
year. Based in Beirut, Game Cooks is a mobile game
development studio that is crafting a unique and diverse set of
mobile apps for casual gamers. Following their
MENA-based title
“Run for Peace” launched earlier this year, the studio is
working to redefine the region’s mobile gaming to show a global
audience the potential of MENA design. Their most recent memory
game,
Deja Vu, has hit #1 around the globe and continues to rise in
popularity.
3) Maysalward
Jordan-based game developer Maysalward was founded in
2003 by Nour Khrais to bring a fresh outlook to gaming in Jordan
and the region. Internally, Maysalward has developed a
culture of
autonomy and collaboration, using Google's ideas of giving
on-staff developers a chance to work on creative or independent
projects, empowering employees to create when they are most
productive. They focus on simple and casual online multiplayer
games and interactive social apps, such as card or board games.
After their initial success with Trix, they
developed several popular titles including Cocktail
Mania and Dominoes.
Maysalward was one of the first game developers to really take off
in MENA and present a good model for developing a strong internal
culture.
Founded in 2010 by Egyptian Muhammad Ali,
Nezal
Entertainment is working to fuse gaming with real life. Their
most popular creation is social game Crowds: Voices of Tahrir, set
in the backdrop of Egypt’s revolution. The game allows players to
move through and experience the 18-day series of events on their
Facebook platform. The Nezal team seeks to develop
games that are culturally
relevant to MENA gamers, and used their experience in Egypt
during the revolution as inspiration for the game. Building on this
topical approach to games, Nezal seeks to expand its portfolio to
include other points of regional significance and spread a gaming
culture throughout the region while not sacrificing gameplay for
message.
5) Piranha Byte
Piranha Byte recently
launched their first mobile game Peek! Although they
are relatively young in the space, they have the potential to
really take off with simple multiplayer mobile games. Based in
Dubai, Piranha Byte
launched around a year ago and was co-founded by a group of
enthusiastic game lovers from across MENA and the world (Lebanon,
Egypt, Libya, Morocco, India, and London). Their freemium gaming
model offers in-app purchases targeted at casual gamers. With a
current focus on wordplay, Piranha Byte’s look is simple and sleek,
offering a few clever surprises.
6) QuirKat
QuirKat’s Jordanian
co-founders, Mahmoud Khasawneh and Candide Kirk, left their stable
government jobs to start their own game development studio in 2004.
The duo develops MENA-specific games on multiple consoles and
channels, including several titles
for Sony’s PlayStation Minis series, mobile apps, social gaming
on Facebook, in-browser titles, and downloadable computer games.
Now headquarters in the UAE with development studios in Amman,
Quirkat has developed a few well-known hits including Arabian
Lords, MENA Speed,
and Zonkt!.
7) Tahadi Games
Tahadi Games, launched in
the UAE in 2008, is publishing stylish new MMORPGs and web-based
games targeted toward MENA gamers. They are promoting and
publishing games created by global developers, including popular
releases Point
Blank and Runes of
Might, as well as recently
launched mythical adventure Age of Titans, and PVP
battleground Knight
Online. With MENA-specific titles, Tahadi Games seeks to spread
gaming across the region, challenging the hegemony of other
international gaming giants. Their recent releases show an
understanding of the gaps in the MENA gaming market, offering
free-to-play platforms designed to bring the region’s social gaming
to a new level.
8) TakTek Games
Launched in 2011 in Jordan, TakTek
develops every stage of their games in-house. Brothers and
co-founders Gaith and Yazan Kawar initially created web-based games
and have since branched into the mobile gaming realm, solidifying
their leadership role in the region. Their most popular title,
My
Marbles, is a sleek and user-friendly game based off of months
of market research. The Kawar brothers spent two years just
researching the market before they launched. Their next creation,
Replanet,
is set to engage and fascinate mobile gamers upon release, offering
a unique and intuitive interface.
Started by Ziad Feghali, Reine Abbas, and Karim
Abi Saleh in 2007, Wixel
Studios was one of the first companies to appear on the
Lebanese gaming scene. With their cheeky release,
My Balls, earlier this year, Wixel diverged from
their regular gaming themes, which are generally more topical.
Previous titles
have poked fun at Lebanese politicians or even taken on the
Egyptian elections. Their games are focused heavily on Arab
consumers and those in the diaspora, addressing and paying tribute
to trends and themes in Arab societies. With several new
Arabic-based games in the works, Wixel is poised to attract even
more Arab gamers in the region.
Jordan-based game development
studio Wizards
Productions was established in late 2008 by co-founders
Sohaib Thaib and Hussam Hammo. The startup seeks to address the gap
in Arab online social gaming providers and is one of the gaming
industry’s fastest growing startups. Working across platforms,
Wizards has a track record of successfully developing free-to-play,
Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) and social games for the Arab
world. Earlier this year, Wizards pivoted towards
mobile gaming with new game Aqua Jam and
are seeking to reach a global mobile gaming market with more titles
emerging soon.
Other Gaming Startups to Watch
- GameTako, based in Saudi Arabia, is an
enabling platform for indie developers to release, distribute,
and monetize their games; the creators also develop games of
their own, including recent game Kubba, revenues from which
benefitted Syrian refugees.
- Game
Minion, based in the UAE, is also leveling
the playing field for indie developers by offering them similar
resources and distribution ability as large gaming publishing
houses through shared online services.
- MixedDimensions, based in
Jordan, is creating gaming technologies and assets, such as
modeling extension GameDraw, to
enable game developers to design games more efficiently.
- Peak
Games, a powerful Turkish startup, is building
popular new games targeted toward MENA consumers and has seen
incredible growth since their launch.
- Zynga, a U.S.-based gaming publisher, recently announced the launch of Farmville2, which supports Arabic to target MENA as well as other emerging markets.
- At7addak, based in Lebanon, is an interactive online gaming community where gamers from around the world can challenge each other through multiple platforms online and in organized tournaments. The startup has received international attention and won Wamda's Best Reader's Choice Startup last year.
- Gamabox,
based in Lebanon, seeks to fill the gap of MENA game coverage by
offering biweekly mobile game reviews in English and Arabic, while
also beginning to develop their own games.
- FunWave
Games is just beginning to create
their own titles out of Egypt and have the potential
to soon challenge the leaders in MENA game design.
- Beladcom is
currently working on a lush, beautifully rendered high-end MMORPG,
Planet Toulan, which may
challenge the likes of international titles World of Warcraft,
Diablo, or Guild Wars 2.
- Ahmed Majdoubi, a Moroccan developer, won GameTako’s Game Zanga competition by creating online game Freedom (Hurriya), a skill-based game based on famous Palestinian cartoonist Naji Al-Ali’s “Handala” character.
The strong activity in this sector shows a strengthening ecosystem and healthier environment for game design on both a regional and global scale and I, for one, can't wait to see what they come up with next.