Iran’s gaming industry is in a critical state despite the existence of huge capacities. Many activists in this area believe that the situation in this area has reached an alarming stage due to the existing challenges.
According to the IDEA and public relations report of the Computer Trade Union Organization of Tehran Province, the expansion of computer games in recent years has led to the creation of a gaming ecosystem in Iran. An ecosystem that had a very good growth in the last solar decade. Activists in this field were able to introduce diverse and attractive products to the market by relying on young and creative human resources and the expansion of computer and mobile games in the country. Products that have been welcomed by the Iranian audience and sometimes won awards in the world arena.
Iranian users are interested in this field and gamers spend 93 minutes of their time playing the game. Mohammad Mehdi Esmaeili, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, announced in July this year that the number of computer game audiences in Iran is 34 million people. He also said that 5 million of these audiences are professional players and that computer games have the highest level of cultural consumption after music. The National Computer Games Foundation, in a report it published on the state of this field in 1400, announced the number of players at 34 million, of which 59% are men. According to this report, the total cost of Iranian players for hardware and software of digital games this year was 19,000 billion and 279 million tomans.
Google Play filter problems
Despite the good growth in the last decade, the game industry is facing many problems. The problems that have slowed down the wheel of this industry and put it in a state of desperation. Since the second half of last year and with the imposition of more restrictions on the country’s Internet and the Google Play application filter in Iran, the situation in this area has come closer to the danger stage. Many game developers and game studios often get their income and users from this store. Now, with the filter of this application, activists in this field have been deprived of an important part of their income. Abolfazl Sadegh, gaming activist and head of computer games commission of Nasr Organization in Tehran, says about the Google Play filter and its consequences for the Iranian game industry: “Unfortunately, Google Play filtering has caused irreparable damage to the country’s game industry in the past year, and practically the businesses of companies active in It has completely disrupted this area.”
He further added: “Advertising costs on domestic platforms are not affordable and the ROI is not positive. In fact, we are in a vicious cycle, the damage of which increases every day. With the Google Play filter, not only the marketing department has been disrupted, but the development tools that Google Play provided to developers have also become unavailable, and we cannot use these features. The reason for this issue is the interruption of the input channel of our users from this section, and for this reason, you have problems in the development and optimization process of games.”
Internal samples are not comparable to Google Play
Until today, the requests and consultations of the game industry activists to fix the Google Play filter have not led anywhere, and these collections continue to suffer losses. Some government managers believe that internal stores can be a suitable alternative to the Google Play application. However, game makers and players disagree with this opinion and do not consider the features of internal stores to be comparable to Google Play. Mohammad Mehdi Behfarrad, CEO of Medrik Gaming Studio, believes that the game industry has become a victim of wrong decisions and says: “One of the most important features of foreign markets is the possibility of attracting more users. This possibility is not available in domestic markets, and in this field, they do not provide much help to game manufacturers. In addition to this issue, we have to pay more for installation in domestic markets.”
He continued: “In fact, the marketplaces share the revenue with us, while the cost of installation is only on the shoulders of the developer. Also, due to not having good features, including multiple product display lists, they don’t get very acceptable installs organically, and this reduces the profit margin, and in many cases, even the campaigns are negative. These problems exist in the domestic stores, while the Play Store displays our products very well for Iranian users and increases the number of installs, despite banning Iran. Also, most of these services are free, and even in paid cases, despite the expensive dollar, their installation prices are still much more affordable than domestic stores.
Slow development of the game industry
Google Play application filter is not the only infrastructure problem of this industry. The game industry, like other industries in the digital field, needs access to quality and unrestricted internet for its development and growth. Internet, which is currently not available in the country. Hanieh Gudarzi, an activist in this field, says about the impact of this challenge on Iran’s game industry: “Due to filtering and lack of access to free internet, the path of growth and development of game development in Iran has been extremely slow and has caused people’s despair. In a situation where technology is developing rapidly in the world, we in Iran are involved in basic needs.
Gooderzi added: “Many sites, software, etc. are either unavailable or difficult to reach developers due to sanctions and filtering. The possibility of working remotely with people in the city or other countries has become very difficult and even impossible. Also, a lot of time is spent bypassing filtering and communicating with the free world, which demotivates people and wastes time, financial and human resources. A valuable time that could cause personal and professional growth and development and create creative ways to make games.”
Migration has reached high schools
Infrastructural problems and the existence of extensive restrictions, along with other challenges in this field, have led to the creation of a super challenge in the Iranian game industry. The crisis of migration of specialized manpower and entrepreneurs of this industry threatens the life of this field in the country. Shahriar Azharianfar, co-founder of Nerdian Andishe Farda game studio, says about the crisis of human resource migration specializing in the game industry and the process of replacing new forces: “People cannot be replaced so easily. The forces that we see migrating today are all veterans of this industry that we could use their experiences. On the other hand, the growth process of new forces has been destroyed by the problems created for the Internet and the country.
He says about the new generation of game makers: “We don’t have universities or institutions that professionally prepare new forces to enter the industry. Therefore, every young person who is at the beginning of the journey asks himself this key question, despite all these serious problems, is it worth spending my life fighting against unprofessional and unprofessional factors? Currently, the discussion of immigration is being followed in high schools and schools. In fact, we see that high school students who have just entered the high school environment and are interested in the professional environment of game development migrate before reaching the university. In the past, people used to visit us after graduating from university. “Nowadays, families send their children out of the country before they reach university.”
Iranian game makers in a rival country
Many Iranian game makers who intend to emigrate are attracted to regional and European countries. Some of Iran’s neighbors were becoming the regional hub of this field during the period of weakness of this industry in the country. Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are two countries that have made good investments in this industry and have been able to attract some of the Iranian game makers. Saudi Arabia has also entered this field with ambitious plans and recently announced that it plans to hold the World Cup of computer games.
Iman Golkar, the CEO of Karisma game studio, says about the presence of Iranian game developers in these countries: “Currently, many game industry activists in Iran are interested in emigrating from the country, just like experts and entrepreneurs in other industries. Many game makers have migrated to Turkey or European countries and continue their journey there. Presence in these countries provides the opportunity for game makers to have a better connection with the global environment of this industry and use this advantage in their business. “Besides increasing financial income, effective communication with the global environment of this industry can also add to the knowledge of game makers to achieve more success.”
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