The Arab Online Games supply boom: 135 social and Massively Multiplayer Online games available in the Arabic language as of the end of 2011.

A new groundbreaking report by the Arab Advisors Group provides an insightful and comprehensive look into the booming Arab online games market. The report investigates major online gaming trends and developments in the region revealing that the total user base for Arabic games on Facebook reached 2.89 million Monthly Active Users in late 2011.
With the emergence of the free-to-play model, demand for online games has increased in the Arab World during the past five years. Since the launch of the first Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game in the Arabic language in September 2007, the supply of Arabic online games experienced a boom and reached 135 MMO and social games available in Arabic by November 2011. Of these, 95 games are MMO games, and 40 are social games available on Facebook in Arabic.
A new report, “Online Games in the Arab World 2012” was released to Arab Advisors Group’s Media Strategic Research Service subscribers on February 26, 2012. The report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 2,250. The 56-page report, which has 55 detailed exhibits, provides insights on the major services and trends across all types of online games services popular in the Arab World: Casual game portals, competitive multiplayer game portals, MMO games and social games. The report also profiles all major regional and international online games companies targeting the Arab World, and sheds light on major developments in this booming segment. The report further investigates the various factors affecting the online games ecosystem in the Arab World such as payment channels, Internet and broadband infrastructure, and regional media and telecom operators’ involvement in online games.
The success of games like Travian and Halfquest’s Happy Farm among Arab users has cemented online games as a major and attractive segment in the Arab online landscape. Travian’s Arab user base peaked at over one million users in January 2009, accounting for 20{e1f18614b95d3cd6e4b3128e1cd15d99b042a60a5a19c19b7a8e07e7495efa10} of the game’s total global user base, while Happy Farm, published in Arabic by Peak Games, reached a user base of 1.9 million Monthly Active Users on Facebook by end of October 2011.
“The increasing traffic on casual game portals, and the popularity of community-based games, is prompting international companies to target Arab users and driving investments into Arabic online games.” Mr. Samer Abbas, Arab Advisors Senior analyst and the report’s author said. “Moreover, the region’s media and telecom operators are taking note of the surge in demand and are starting their own initiatives to branch into the online games segment.” Mr. Abbas added.