BAHRAIN’S electronic games developers were yesterday offered the opportunity to enter new international markets.
Japanese video game company Nintendo was looking for new games for its Switch platform, revealed top Saudi game developer Tariq Mukhttar, who owns Happiest Dark Corner Digital Productions.
He added that game developers in the region should stop undermining their capabilities and start making significant contributions towards interesting and marketable games that are innovative and creative.
Mr Mukhttar was speaking at the GCC Game Conference at the Bahrain Polytechnic, Isa Town yesterday.
It is the first event of Startup Bahrain Week that got underway yesterday and continues until Thursday at different venues across Bahrain,
Organised by the Economic Development Board (EDB), the week is being held under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander, First Deputy Premier and EDB chairman.
“When I developed my first game, it was about a football match featuring two teams,” said Mr Mukhttar.
“Supporters of the first team gave it five stars and the game became famous in Saudi. Then the rivals voted against it and it dropped to two stars making headlines in the Saudi Press.
“The cycle continued until the game gained international interest and exposure.
“My second game included the word cat and whenever there was a search on a search engine the game would show up, meaning I got publicity from a very popular word.
“The game doesn’t need to be catchy in name; it just has to have a marketable name.
“We have an opportunity now in the GCC for international exposure as Nintendo wants new games for its new Switch platform.”
InfiniteWare managing director Ameen Altajer, whose game developing firm is co-organising this event with Bahrain Polytechnic in partnership with the EDB, said the conference was a new opportunity for game developers to get international exposure.
“At this conference we will hook up game developers with suppliers of basic items and renowned developers to help them come up with new games before applying for Nintendo or Sony PlayStation, who if really supportive would ship necessary equipment to transfer the game into their platform,” he said.
EDB ICT business development executive director John Kilmartin said the event provides the right environment to open the door for top branded game producers to take up Bahrainis.
“A multi-million dollar investment by Amazon Web Services (AWS), a subsidiary of Amazon.com, in Bahrain making it the regional operations hub for its cloud computing services, has opened the door for several Bahraini developers in all electronic fields to get bigger markets,” he said.
“We are working to build things to attract foreign investment in Bahrain and Bahrainis have to offer the foundation for such interest with innovative and creative productions.”
Yesterday’s event aimed to highlight new talents, increasing public awareness and generating game development culture, and creating links between the industry and academia in the related field.
Startup Bahrain Week is a community-led initiative that brings together the region’s most exciting start-up events and connects some of the brightest entrepreneurial minds, with more than 2,500 people from around the world expected to take part.
Activities include five events, four competitions and more than 30 speakers from Bahrain and the region.
More information can be found at www.startupbahrainweek.com.
mohammed@gdn.com.bh
(Top Saudi game developer Tariq Mukhttar)
(Infiniteware managing director Ameen Altajer)
&uuid=(email))