Iran’s game industry is growing at a more rapid pace, which has been attested by a comprehensive survey conducted by Iran Computer and Videogames Foundation.
The foundation’s survey showed close to 550 game companies are active in Iran but with the inclusion of smaller players, such as university student teams, the number will exceed 1,000, Peivast news website reported.
The capital city of Tehran boasts 21 game companies followed by Isfahan with 11, Khorasan Razavi with seven and Qom with six companies.
Based on the data, 42 game companies have received support from the foundation, which has hired 283 full-time and 133 part-time employees by June 20, 2020.
The survey showed 15 companies supported by the foundation are registered as knowledge-based and 13 are recorded as “creative teams”.
The report also categorizes companies as advanced companies, small enterprises, gaming teams and university-based gaming units, which classification is based on the companies’ revenue in domestic and international markets.
The 15 advanced companies naturally employee more specialties in game development, so the number of their employees, including full- and part-timers, are the highest (300 to 350).
According to the study, graphic artists hired by advanced companies outnumber other professionals, accounting for 24% of total staff.
They are followed by programmers and marketers, respectively forming 23% and 13% of total employees.
Quality control has the smallest share among the other specialties, with 0.4% of the total staff.
Smaller Game Developers
The second category features small enterprises that are still receiving financial and technical support from mentors, the foundation said.
Based on the report, 36 small companies have been registered with an average of 5.8 full-time and 2.8 part-time employees.
During the fiscal 2019-20, 11 of these enterprises earned under 1 billion rials ($4,000) annually and the revenue of 13 companies was close to zero.
The number of gaming teams in the third category reached 77 in June 2020. They hired 297 full-time employees.
As these enterprises are not registered, their teams lack legal and commercial identity so the job opportunities they create do not count in the gaming sector, the report declares.
In terms of income, 50.6% of gaming teams earned under 1 billion rials ($4,000) annually and only 1.3% raised their income above 5 billion rials ($20,000).
The last category, which are gaming units formed by university students, are not considered an integrated enterprise or team. The average number of gaming aficionados in this category reaches 14 in eight groups.
Some of these units have absorbed investments to develop their projects.
The survey concludes that 38% of game enterprises earned under 1 billion rials ($4,000) during the current Iranian year’s first quarter (March 20-June 20, 2020).
Over 17% earned 1-2 billion rials ($4,000-8,000) and 24% garnered 2-5 billion rials ($8,000-$20,000) in revenues. The income of the remaining 21% is over 5 billion rials ($20,000).
The gaming foundation is helping the gaming sector flourish and boost their revenues.
Online Game Design School
In mid-December 2020, the foundation launched an online game design school, in collaboration with the Education Ministry, to motivate talented game developers and propel the sector.
According to Alireza Kazemi, a deputy education minister, the game design school will promote the students’ media literacy through videogames, help detect talented students in the field and combine education with videogames, making it a more productive learning procedure.
Sadeq Pejman, managing director of Iran Computer and Videogames Foundation, told media outlets that the school is to be technically supported, supervised and regulated by the foundation, stressing that training professionals in game development fields is necessary.
With an outstanding position in the global media, gaming has become an inseparable part of life for people of any age, especially youngsters.
Pejman noted that gaming aficionados and experts should be trained to enlarge the share of Iran in the rapidly growing global industry.
He added that the school can expand, if the gaming foundation were to outsource related tasks to prospective provincial branches.
“The foundation is ready to establish over 130 offices throughout the country to further develop the infrastructure of gaming sector. The move will also provide employment opportunities both in education and official positions,” he added.
Noting that games play a significant role in children’s lives, Pejman said if they are not properly integrated with education, they might go out of control and pose a risk to children.
