Iran Earned $1.2 Million from Exporting Games

Iran’s Digital Games Research Center, known as DIREC, reported that Iranian game developers earned $1.2 million in international app stores.

According to the recent analytics, the number of games produced in Iran has grown 12-fold and Iranian companies are gaining a greater share of the international market every year.

In 2016, 18 Iranian game developers offered 37 indigenously made games through external app stores like Google Play and Apple Store; 48% of these companies worked with international game publishers to introduce their products.

Since President Hassan Rouhani took office in 2013, his administration has been investing in Iran’s growing information technology industry, making it a key area of interest for his ministers.

The IT sector has potential for expansion, especially through online exports for the reason that the game designers do not have to go through Iran’s exports labyrinth and deal with cumbersome regulations.

Earlier this year, Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster, interviewed Iranian videogame developer, Mehrdad Ashtiani, and distributor Sara Yektapour.

Ashtiani was quoted at the time as saying, “Iran has an emerging market with 23 million gamers. Almost 80% of the people play mobile games on their smartphones, just like everywhere else in the world.”

Iranian users prefer strategy and action games as well as RPGs (role-playing games).

“Strategy games such as ‘Clash of Clans’ or ‘Clash of Kings’ are really popular. They are among the highest grossing games on the mobile games market,” Ashtiani added.

Iran’s local gaming market is growing exponentially. This is while most international game companies do not have a representative in the country. Hence, they are neither able to provide services to the users nor make money out of this market.

While foreign companies benefit from employing cutting edge technologies and have a long history of being present in the market, Iran with its cultural novelty might have a shot with its games.

By offering new plots that draw from Iranian culture and mythology, the country’s developers can provide something that none of their rivals have the resources to grasp.

Several East Asian companies have been able to earn a fair share in this vast market, adding significantly to their homeland’s GDP.

The move would also be in line with the cultural policies of the government and more likely than not would attract state support that would ease the path for the game developing companies.