Iran’s gaming market
Iran gaming Market in detail
Useful information for extending your games/services into Iran
Iran’s gaming market, an overview
With nearly 80 million people living in iran, there exists a massive untapped market for video games.
Unfortunately, There is little clear and transparent information regarding Iran’s gaming market. this is largely due to incorrect information coming out about an already foggy market.
In this article, I’m going to provide and share factual information on demographics, politics and cultural context of Iran, as well as brief descriptions of the media, entertainment, telecoms and internet sectors.
One of the main reasons is the lack of reliable data collection centers in Iran. Alongside this, western data gathering centers, with their lack of direct access to reliable data sources, often estimate the statistics incorrectly. For example, Newzoo, a global market research and predictive analytics firm with a primary focus on games, normally provides factually correct revenue projections for various countries. However, in the case of Iran, the reliability of the predictions revolves around 70 to 80 percent. As a result, we decided to collect all data mentioned in this article from accurate resources to have a better picture of Iran market. For instance, for the gaming segment, we used the Informatics provided by the DIREC.
Digital games research center (DIREC), as a spin-off company of Iran Computer Games Foundation, was founded in 2015 in order to house research cores consisting of graduates of the best national universities as well as specialists and experts in various areas related to digital games industry. It’s ever since been taking steps towards advancing its research goals mainly focusing on marketing, communication, psychology and sociology by conducting multiple research projects on behavioral studies and market research.
- The population of Islamic Republic of Iran: 78.475.941 million up to now
- Average annual growth rate: 2.9%
- Female population: 38.8 million
- Male population: 39.6 million
- The population Aged 0-19 years: 32.16% of total population of Iran equal to 25.2 Million
- The population Aged 20-44 years: 46.02% of total population of Iran equal to 36.1 Million
- The population Aged 45 years and over: 21.82% of total population of Iran equal to 17.1 Million
Reference: National Organization for Civil Registration
Population aged 15-65 is over 70 percent of the total population. This, by large, is the target audiance of most digital entertainment related markets
Internet penetration statistics
According to Iran’s Ministry of Communication & Information Technology, by the end of this year (The Iranian year starts March 21), the internet penetration rate will be at 65 percent.
The Primary tool for Iranian users to access the web is through their smartphones. Second to this is ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), internet through a land line.
This statistic shows that the mobile 3G network penetration rate has reached 38.67 percent, meaning just over 29 million Iranians use mobile phones to access the internet.
According to other connectivity indexes in Iran, seven million clients use dial-up connections to access the internet, amounting to of 9.2% for all internet users in Iran.
Mobile operators
Reference: Ministry of Communication & Information Technology
There are three major mobile operators in Iran: Mobile Telecommunication Company of Iran (MCI), Irancell and Rightel.
According to latest reports from the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, there are nearly 70 million active subscribers to these three networks.
All three of them offer 3G-4G internet services to their customers.
Iran is forecast to account for 40 million users for the smartphone market by the end of this Iranian year [March 2017].
When it comes to the Operating systems being used, approximately 78 percent of the populationuse Android, with 13 percent using iOS and the remainder operating with Windows-based mobiles.
The brands
Samsung is the clear smartphone market leader in Iran, with 40% of customers. Huawei boasts the second place with 27%.
The most popular internet browser in Iran is IE (Internet explorer). although it’s old fashioned in many ways, most of the Iranian official websites, crucial to daily life, tend to belong to governmental organizations and are exclusively compatible with IE.
Windows on the PC is the number one operating system At 98.5 percent. The most popular versions of Windows are Windows XP and Windows 7.
Game Market in Iran
According to DIREC’s report, Iran has 23 million gamers. 5.7 million Of these are PC and Console gamers who are interested in playing PC and console games and none-mobile games.
53% of gamers are active daily and the average age of gamers is 21.
Gender of gamers:
The daily average playing time is 79 Minutes.
93% of gamers play alone, 30% with their family, 19% with their friends, 13% with their relatives and 9% with other players.
Favorite genres in mobile devices:
– Strategic
– Racing
– Runner
– Sport
– Arcade
– Adventure
– Puzzle
30% of the playerbase pay for games on digital stores.
Mobile and online client games markets have a good chance at appropriate game revenue and copyright, because most of them are F2P (free-to-play).
For Example, more than 5 million people play ‘Clash of Clans’ in Iran, And recently SupperCell, Elex, Gameloft and other international publishers started publishing their games on CafeBazzar.
In the same manned, web-based games and online client games, through companies like Travian games, GmbH, Gamigo group, Smilegate, etc, are working with the Sourena team for publishing their games in Iran.
Where they buy the games
Officially, most large foreign online game stores, such as GooglePlay, Appstore, andSteam are not available in Iran. Or local payment system is not available for Iranian users.
Some gamers more au fait with the net like to use VPNs (virtual private networks) in order to access international game stores, despite the fact that the number of Iranian equivalents has grown massively in the last few years.
As a result, Iran is one of the few countries where there are domestic equivalents to the international market leaders. There are about 10 online stores in Iran but the four most popular are Cafebazzar, Plazza, Myket, and Iranapps. Researching their annual reports, in 2015 their total sales were around $40 million, most of which is made on products with in-app purchases. This number is set to increase by 15 percent in 2016.
According to DIREC’s report, whole digital market turnover for 2015 is around 153M$ for all platforms and games
In PC Digital Distributing and Online Game Services for online games (free2play) in the country, the one and only store is “Sargarme.com” which is working on Beta version right now and will officially be launched on this winter; despite the online game stores above, this one not only will cover PC market and online client games, but also support the mobile game market. the major advantage of it is that it will represent game service for different games, as well as providing the foundational functionality.
Most of the revenue of the mentioned stores has been made via products with in-app purchases.
The most popular games in Iran:
- FIFA
- PES
- Call of Duty
- GTA
- Clash of Clans
- Subway Surfers
- Travian Legends
The highest rated games on steam by Iranians are as below:
- Dota2
- Counter strike
- Call of Duty
The finances
Foreign game production companies hit a brick wall regarding Iran when it comes to the money: They need to find a simple and efficient way to process payments in Iran, which is difficult.
Due to Sanctions, Iran has faced problems when connecting to the global financial network. Most people inside the country have no access to MasterCard, Visa cards, or the PayPal system at all. Rather, a unique method for payment is a local payment system called Shetab.
The Shetab (Interbank Information Transfer Network) is an electronic banking clearance and automated payments system used by all card issuing banks in Iran. This totals to around 300 million debit cards connected to the Shetab; building up a uniform card payment network where all issued cards are accepted in all acquiring terminals. Approximately, each person in Iran has three or four debit cards – credit cards are not so popular.
The online payment portal used on all Iranian sites is Shaparak. It means every person who has a debit card from any bank could conduct payments online.
When it comes to the online transaction, foreign companies face problems in adopting online an payment system because it needs to get an approval from the Ministry of Industry. There is a procedure for being officially recognized by the government in order to become a part of Iran online transaction system; usually it takes at least 60 days to be done.
You should put this logo on your site after being registered in Enamad.ir system. This logo is also known as the trust logo.
A sophisticated market
If you want to get into this market and be successful, you have to be patient.
There are Islamic regulations. This means that all artistic, cultural and entertainment products must obey certain principals. For example, the games which include inappropriate content would not get an approval. censored content often includes information that relates to pornography, anti-Iranian, anti-Islam and certain anti-religious content. Also, women’s bodies should be covered at all times (upper body and feet).
“However, in support of IT service developers the government policy is that they do not charge for the online accounts – so currently, no fee for online transactions.” (Be informed, this rule applies right now and may change in future)
Coming from outside Iran, what to consider
If you have a PC, Online or mobile game and you want to distribute it via online game stores in Iran, you have to link the product to store’s online payment portal. Normally each store has a specific API itself so you do not have to waste your time to get the symbol of online payment portal (Enamad.ir).
When it comes to language, most available games are in English. This isn’t something that is a problem for expert gamers but our work with Travian Games, and various game developers and publishers, you can see a big difference between localized games and English games. This is largely because most Iranian players are not English speakers. Below you can see a report from CafeBazaar for a normal game after localization.
Considering the fact that there are 23 million Mobile and online gamers in Iran, you’d be better off having a plan to add the Farsi language to your game. Farsi, also known as the Persian language, is the most widely spoken language in south-west Asia, which is spoken primarily in Iran as the official language. Farsi in Iran is written in a variety of the Arabic script called Perso-Arabic, which has some innovations to account for Persian phonological differences.
If you have a PC or mobile game and you want to distribute it via online game stores in Iran, you have to link the product to the store’s online payment portal. Normally each store has a specific API itself so you do not have to waste your time getting the official stamp of approval from the government (Enamad.ir).
You have to get your game rated with a local rating system called ESRA (a localized version of ESRB [Entertainment Software Rating Board]). This can take two weeks but a local publisher will do it faster. Then, for every foreign game, whether PC or online, you need a distribution license from Ebazi.org.
On the payment end, usually these stores would ask for a 30 percent commission and you will normally get paid once in a month.
Also, currently you have to pay 9 percent VAT (Value Added Tax) on service you get from the store. To reduce the country’s dependency on oil incomes, the law on ‘Fifth Five-Year Development Plan’ has anticipated an annual one percent increase in the VAT rate.
Game Industry in Iran
There are 116 game development teams in Iran, most of them are less than 5 people. They mostly develop mobile games. In terms of development cost, Iran is really one of the cheapest places in the world for game development.
Iranian game developers from 2012 have an association for supporting and expanding game industry in Iran, They mostly focus on helping developers to connect to International markets and empower their business inside and outside of Iran.
There are 18 physical game distributors and 11 digital publishers in Iran, as digital platforms growing very fast in Iran, digital publishing becomes more and more popular among Iranians.
More about Iran and Iranian:
Regarding Advertisements on Iranian Nation Television, there are key reasons we do not recommend the strategy. first of all, National Television has restrict regulations in order to make adverts. On the other hand, the cost of an ad spot range is especially high. According to data collected by Sourena’s research team, an advertisement on Iran’s National TV is three times more expensive than an ad on popular channels in Europe. Also, nowadays, the number of overseas Persian-language television channels is increasing on a daily basis; it means Iran’s national TV audience is decreasing. Therefore, commercially it’s not reasonable to broadcast an advertisement on it.
The Proper time to launch your game in Iran: Iran is an Islamic country, that’s why so many historical and religious events are respectful. Usually, sad occasions affect more days in the year so you have to be noted and avoid launching your product during these days. This could lead to a huge failure. The Proper time to publish games is the first day of Nowrooz (21 of March), Iranian people are on vacation for 14 days, partying, having fun. In addition to Nowrooz, In Iran, summer vacation lasts 3 months. Schools close in late June and reopen in October. It is also a prime opportunity for your product to be launched.
On the contrast, carefully observe Iranian calendar to avoid sad occasions. In fact, Iranian official calendar is solar but religious events follow the lunar calendar (Muslim calendar), which includes Ramadan, Moharram, Safar as the saddest months. we recommend refraining from publishing games or delightful festivals and events during these months because the larger Iranian community would be against it.
Social networks in Iran: Most of the Social Networks and western websites are blocked by the Iranian government, including twitter and Facebook even YouTube. This is why half of the “online Iranians”, access those networks via VPN connections. You should not invest in traditional social network marketing in Iran, because the user base’s location is hidden under a VPN. The alternatives are the local Social Networks that are relatively popular amongst the population, such as cloop and facenama which are perfectly suited for Online Marketing campaigns; just like in China.
Smart phones are popular among Iranians; an instant messaging app believed to be used by almost all Iranian smartphone users is set to play a major role. Nowadays the SMS is used only by government organizations to spread the news not by people. The biggest messaging app was Viber which was banned this year, currently giving it’s place to Telegram. Telegram allows users to communicate with unlimited numbers of people on public channels, with a strong emphasis on privacy protection for its users. In Iran, which has a tech-savvy young population, there are 40 million users in the country. As it makes things like sending images and videos much quicker, people routinely use Telegram now to send videos and images instead of emails. They would not say “send me through telegram”, instead you hear “Telegram me” more often.
The truth is that the Iranian people love to write down about their opinions. This explains a lot about Iranian’s blogs which are popular among the most visited websites in the country. Foremost, Iran is a country with a great history, heritage, fantastic art, poetry, literature and many users have their own ideas about political, economic, sports and other events. Those opinions are shared via the Internet a lot. Based on Wikipedia’s information, the Farsi language is ranking thirteenth in producing internet content with the 1 percent population of people who speak Farsi in World. It towers above Arabic Internet content, despite the population of 365 million speakers. That’s why telegram is mostly downloaded for reading news, communicating with friends or sharing jokes.
reveal a bit about Iranian personality. Iranians love travelling, creativity, art, and poetry. You can think of them as the French of the middle east. One of the most prominent personality traits in Iranians is their sense of humor. The first things that pop up on your screen after any event or news are the jokes. They swarm the digital streets with such vigor that you wonder if the jokesters had them ready before the time came. Regarding business, if your product is funny, you’ve most probably made the right choice! Most popular movies/series/games/software, specially in Iran, is the one which makes people laugh.
Given that most Iranian men are huge fans of soccer and luxury cars, Iranian women, just like the women in rest of the world, love to go shopping and owning jewelry.
You would see some of the best advertising networks in Iran as below:
Tapsell and adad for smart phone advertising, Anetwork and Sabavision for website Advertising.
In addition, if you’re looking for an efficient way to move into Iran’s market, Sourena Game Studios is here to help you to get through it with ease. We provide you with so many services including online payment services like “AllPays”, Marketing and Distribution, Customer support and community Management, Localization and translation to Persian language, quality control, and most Importantly: guidance on navigating these foreign bazaars.
Hassan Mehdiasl / CEO and Founder of Sourena Game Studio. / Producer and Publisher of Computer Games/ Founder of AllPays Iranian online payment system.
As a producer of many various types of computer games in Iran and overseas Markets, Hassan and his Team in Sourena Game Studios Have experienced phenomenal success on its road to be the innovative company it is today since 2008.
Sourena Game Studios is a leading publishing company for web games, online client games, MMO, PC and mobile games in Iran.
The Sourena team publishes western games in the country through the “AllPays” system which is a strong online payment platform for foreign companies to receive returns on their investments in Iran’s market.
Our clients: Travian games GmbH, Gamigo GmbH, Looki games, Areia Games, Smilegate, ZTGames, Animoca Brands, MOL, GameSultan, Xsolla, Ingame Group , IDC games, G2A, Maysalward, Jawaker, Primeiro Pay, Paysafecard, DatCroft, MinTroute, MimoPay, AltPlus, WoloPay, Aptiode.
The other Services which are provided by this team are as below:
- Getting necessary permissions and licenses from related ministries in Iran
- Providing online API solution for “AllPays” payment platform to reach the 80 million Iranian market through Mobile and online websites.
- Providing Translation and Localization services.
- Quality control.
- Marketing and advertisements.
- Customer service.
- Registering Iran Domain names for games (.ir).
Getting the essential licenses: you would not do the business without getting several approvals in Iran, most of the procedures are time-consuming for foreign companies, but Sourena is familiar with the landscape and could do the procedures faster than usual. You can get the necessary permissions for your product through Sourena to speed up the distribution process.
Payment System – Online Payment – connecting to Iran’s banking system:
Don’t worry about Iran’s payment limitation anymore! With “Allpays” online payment system, which is a strong online payment platform for foreign companies to get paid, you are provided an easy way for them to gain money from Iran’s 80 million Market by adding its API to your Game/Software/Website.
Localization: We can handle your Game’s localization by translating the text and recording new audio due to differing cultural sensitivities. We also provide Marketing and news reviews on all entertainment and news media and news coverage on related websites.
Project and produce management: With our management team, you can get your product to Iran’s market quickly and with the best quality. Sourena’s management team, having many years’ experience in publishing games, would offer the best solution to you for distributing your product in golden times of the year.
Digital advertising: working with various advertisement teams makes Sourena one of the best distributing companies to promote your product all over Iran’s advertising Network. Our ad-network includes a huge network of popular websites among Iranians which would promote your product through smart text advertisement, game banner and search engines.
Support: our support team including young talented people who are prepared to answer your questions anytime. Being gamers themselves, make them great problem-solvers to support customers in soonest possible time, keeping the record of technical problems and reporting to top managers as feedback. We have a talented backend team to support you 24/7 in gamer’s forums. With many years of experience managing games like Travian online game, they will keep an eye on gamers to control everything.
Providing Local Game servers: As you may know Iranian internet has an average speed of 2 Mbit/s, about one-tenth of the global average (2014) which is significantly slower. If you want to locate your online server in another country, you would face Ping problems. Sourena would give you the access to local servers with the best quality and response time.
Search and register local domain names for your games/softwares: One of the services that Sourena provides is local domain registration with “.ir” country-code. This will prevent possible misemploy of your brand or product and will optimize your product growth in the market.
h.mehdiasl@sourenagames.com