Entrepreneurs encouraged to embrace mobile gaming development

AMMAN — The Jordan Gaming Taskforce on Saturday encouraged Jordanian entrepreneurs and digital gaming companies to focus on developing mobile games, one of the most rapidly growing sectors within digital gaming. 

The mobile gaming sector’s revenue is expected to reach $12 billion worldwide this year, an increase of 13 per cent compared to 2014’s figure, and $12.6 billion in 2016. The sector’s growth exceeds that of other types of digital games such as console games, video games or online desktop games, Nour Khrais, chairman of the Jordan Gaming Task Force, told The Jordan Times on Saturday.

“Mobile games are the future. This sector’s revenues will continue to grow in the years to come, and companies and developers focusing on mobile games will profit from this trend,” Khrais said Saturday.

In Jordan, where the penetration of smartphones is estimated at around 70 per cent with some 11 million active mobile subscriptions, mobile gaming is very popular and becoming more so. However, the market for developers is not only Jordan but the region and the whole world.

Recent figures from Ipsos Jordan indicate that Jordanians spend around 40 minutes a day on average playing all types of digital games.

Mobile games will generate more revenue than online games and console software in 2015. Where mobile games make up $3 of every $10 spent by gamers in 2015, that figure will go up to $4 out of every $10 by 2018, according to a recent forecast by Digi-Capital.

“Many Jordanian companies have developed games that are very successful in international markets including India and the US. Developers can penetrate any market in this industry,” said Khrais on Saturday.

According to the taskforce, around 15 companies work in the field of digital gaming in Jordan, which is the largest producer of digital games in the region, contributing about 60 per cent of the games developed in the Middle East.

Founded in 2011, the Jordan Gaming Taskforce seeks to develop the electronic gaming industry in the region.