The period of precautionary measures and partial closures caused by the Covid-19 epidemic in the Middle East witnessed a remarkable growth in the video game sector in the Arabic language, as the growth rate of broadcasting sessions in Arabic on the “Twitch” platform more than doubled during the months of March and April.
The site, which allows its users to broadcast private gaming sessions directly to followers around the world, has recorded more than 62,000 active broadcast sessions, in light of the commitment of countries in the region to precautionary social distancing measures that have led video game users to spend more time in their homes.
During the month of March, Arabic broadcast sessions on Twitch increased by an annual rate of 95.3%, and by 36.9% compared to the previous month, while April of this year witnessed an increase of 109.9%.
These figures indicate the growing interest in the video game sector in the Middle East, especially since many of the most prominent players are from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain.
The most prominent broadcast channels in the month of April included the ixxYjYxxi channel in Saudi Arabia, which recorded a total of more than 210,000 views within 44 hours of broadcasting in this month, in addition to the RakanooLive channel, which recorded more than 561,000 watch hours.
According to a report by Cheesecake Digital, YouTube, which is one of the leading streaming platforms in the region, has seen a significant rise in viewership, from one million watch hours in February to three million watch hours in March. This increase is largely attributed to a Bahraini gamer who recorded 911,000 watch hours via Minecraft broadcast.
And in March, Bahrain broadcast its first-ever Formula One Grand Prix virtual event on this platform, drawing some of Formula One's most famous drivers, including Stoffel Vandoorne, Esteban Gutierrez, and Lando Norris, as well as celebrities such as the former star of the "Squad". One Direction » Musical by Liam Payne.
The Middle East and North Africa region is the most active gaming community in the world with an annual growth rate of 25%, which is the fastest growing online gaming community in the world.
According to a report prepared by the leading internet company “Tencent” and the game “PUBG Mobile”, which is one of the most popular mobile games in the region, the value of the gaming market in the Middle East and North Africa will reach about $6 billion by 2021, compared to $4.8 billion. in 2019.
Experts believe that the Middle East offers promising opportunities for developers, thanks to the rapid growth in the gaming market and the presence of an advanced technical infrastructure at the international level.
The growth of the Arabic-language game broadcasting sector comes in light of the prosperity of the video game sector in general around the world due to the current health crisis. And in March, Steam, the world's largest gaming platform, announced a new record of more than 20 million players playing or chatting on this platform at the same time.
And Verizon data showed that in the same month, the rate of video game use in the United States increased by 75% since the start of the quarantine. In Italy, which is one of the countries most affected by the epidemic in the world, Telecom Italia data revealed an increase of 70% in the use of fixed home services, mainly due to the game “Fortnite”.
Okaz (Jeddah) @Okaz_online
