ⓘ Featured image: A file-photo of Hussam Hammo, CEO of Tamatem
Jordan-based Tamatem, the leading mobile games publisher in the MENA region on April 12 made the announcement of its strategic partnership Nanobit, a mobile game developer from Zagreb, Croatia. The agreement was signed between Hussam Hammo, the CEO of Tamatem and Zoran Vučinić and Alan Sumina, the founders of Nanobit.
Tamatem is aiming to localise ‘Hollywood Story’, an internationally hit mobile game into the Arabic language. Mobile game enthusiasts will now be able to enjoy the game in their own regional language under the title ‘Fashion Queen ملكة الموضة‘.
Commenting on the partnership deal, Hammo said,
“Our partnership with Nanobit, a leading game developer, is in keeping with our strategic plan to expand our reach and offer the best international game “Hollywood Story” in Arabic. We are very delighted to collaborate with this highly professional world-class team who have been leading the story based mobile game genre for the last 4 years with more than 300 million downloads. At Tamatem, we are also particularly excited as this is the first time that a game targeting female users will be published in Arabic.”
Sharing some deep insights about the mobile game industry in the MENA region and his vision for Tamatem, Hammo added,
“In the MENA market, mobile games are expected to more than triple in size in the coming few years, from $680 million 2015 to $2.3 billion in 2022. With the highest Average Revenue Per Paying User (ARPPU) in the world, and an incredibly under-served Arabic market, we are confident that we can significantly scale our business to the next level and succeed with a partner like Nanobit in the coming years.”
The company in a press statement highlighted that there are around 400,000 games in English however only 850 of them are available in Arabic. Out of the 100 million smartphone users in the Middle East, 60 percent users prefer to consume content in Arabic. These numbers make it really evident for Tamatem to localise video games in Middle East’s regional language.
Sharing their vision for expanding into the MENA region, Vučinić and Sumina of Nanobit said,
“Step aside, Hollywood, the biggest celebrities are coming to MENA! We are sure Fashion Queen will take the MENA market by storm. Tamatem has a proven track record and clearly understands the needs of the market. We believe that this partnership will definitely become the top mobile game in the whole story-based genre in the MENA and help us to establish our brand in a new market. We are looking forward to a long-standing partnership with Tamatem.”
Tamatem back in February raised $3.5 million in a Series A round led by Wamda to expand into new markets and boost marketing for its current titles. The company is aiming to publish its titles in Turkey, South East Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.
