To celebrate the mobile gaming industry boom, Huawei, the global tech giant, is awarding US$15,000 to each of the top three gaming apps of the recently launched Huawei Global App Innovation Contest (Apps UP) 2022 – Middle East and Africa (MEA) edition. Huawei encourages mobile game developers through this competition and various initiatives. GenITeam was founded by the tech- entrepreneur Khurram Samad and benefitted from Huawei’s ongoing support.
Almost one billion players have downloaded Khurram’s games worldwide, which have topped the charts on all mobile platforms. Scary Teacher 3D, developed by GenITeam, earned the Apps UP “Best Game” award last year along with “Real Car Race Game 3D: Fun New Car Games 2020” and “Little Astro”. The easy and intuitive controls, paired with an intriguing spooky plot and funny pranks, have contributed to the game’s massive success.
GenITeam described their Apps UP 2021 participation as a valuable experience. The competition against other top developers allowed them to see where they stand in the global market, while the team also praised Huawei’s support and guidance during the development process. Huawei users have also provided GenITeam with a fresh take gameplay, which has helped the company improve the game for all platforms.
GenITeam leveraged HMS Core Integration with Ads and in-app capabilities, as well as Huawei Analytics, to expand its user base. Following their smooth Apps UP 2021 journey, the award-winning game development company plans to keep working with Huawei and publish more titles on the platform soon.
“With the introduction of HMS core, Huawei has proven to be a great partner in terms of the services provided,” said Andleeb Nusrat, Senior Game Designer of Scary Teacher 3D. “The kits are extremely easy to integrate, user-friendly and has enabled us to deliver our players a great user experience. Partnering with Huawei has helped us expand into a new, diversified market, and their continuous support has allowed us to publish one of our most popular games, Scary Teacher 3D, on their platform with great success.”
According to the recent “Middle East North Africa Games Market” report, gaming revenue in the UAE, KSA, and Egypt was US$1.71 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow to US$3.14 billion in 2025 at a 5-year CAGR of 13.8%. Furthermore, the total number of gamers in these three countries reached 65.32 million in 2021, with a projected increase to 85.76 million by 2025. In this context, Huawei has dedicated a whole section of Apps UP 2022 to empower mobile game developers in the region.
Apps UP 2022 gives developers a unique chance to engage with industry leaders and evaluate their apps by the Apps UP judging panel, comprised of gaming, technology, and financial sector experts. Registration for Apps UP 2022 is already open, and developers may submit their entries until October 9th, 2022. A total of US$45,000 is available for the three best mobile games this year, with the overall prize pool for the MEA region being US$230,000.
At the same time, Huawei’s AppGallery, the third largest app store in the world with over 730 million monthly active users, has a large gaming community eager for new and exciting gaming experiences.
