Turkish game firms draw interest from global investors

By Gokhan Ergocun and Tolga Yanik

ISTANBUL (AA) - With their banner successes over the last decade, Turkish game developers are drawing interest from global investors, said the head of a leading Turkish game company.

"Turkish game firms aren’t at a disadvantage to foreign competitors," Alpay Alptekin, the CEO of InGame, told Anadolu Agency. “Turkey has internationally known game developers.”

While global companies had a head start in game development, Turkish firms have been developing games for 15 years now and are quickly closing the gap, he stressed.

Turkish firms create games that are not played just in Turkey but also in 10 regions of three continents.

- Global market hits $135 billion

InGame is the developer of the world-famous video game Zula, which is played by 25 million people in Turkey, Brazil, Europe, Iran, Russia, and Latin America.

The company aims to be the biggest game developer in its region by reaching 100 million players.

The global game sector's size last year reached $135 billion, with Turkey ranking number 18 worldwide in the sector with $850 million in revenue.

2018 also saw Turkey's software game exports soar double the previous year to reach $1.05 billion, according to the Trade Ministry data.

- Gaming chairs made locally

Fatih Yalcin, the head of chair maker xDrive, said his company is the first company to manufacture gaming chairs locally in Turkey.

"Including R&D, we do almost all the processes in our plant in Istanbul," Turkey’s commercial capital, he told Anadolu Agency.

Foreign brands used to dominate the Turkish gaming chair sector, but xDrive currently has a 90% share in the Turkish market while it also exports to several countries globally, including the U.K. and the U.S.

He also said his company is the second-biggest producer globally in the gaming workstation area.