Thoughts?
It's good to see Sony expanding this fast to other countries... I wonder which place is next!
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Sony just announced MENA Hero Project (Middle East/North Africa)
- Thread starter YeezyDude
- Start date
Thoughts?
It's good to see Sony expanding this fast to other countries... I wonder which place is next!
China Hero Project
India Hero Project
And now MENA Project
Sony knows how to make partnerships.
India Hero Project
And now MENA Project
Sony knows how to make partnerships.
Thoughts?
It's good to see Sony expanding this fast to other countries... I wonder which place is next!
@Bryank75 @Sircaw @Gediminas Can you guys please remove the extra "just" in the title and add the word "North" to the part where it says "/Africa"? Thanks!
This is great.
Helps Searching new talent, new games, expand to new markets.
Massive win for gaming.
I think it makes sense and it's a good idea because like in the case of India or China, even if MENA is a small region for PS it's one of the fastest selling regions for gaming revenue:
I see they avoided to include several MENA countries like Algeria, Iran, Israel, Syria, Yemen etc., maybe to avoid geopolitical issues between these countries or with USA, Israel and Morocco. It's a complex region with several huge rivalries or (some latent) wars with neighbor countries.
I assume that the next one will be LATAM Hero Project, since it's other region with small revenue but huge growth and in their case with a great indie scene with many cool indie games and teams.
I think there's a lot of potential to get nice indies from MENA and LATAM and to increase their SIE business there.
PS.: MENA means Middle East & North Africa, while the graph I added also includes the rest of Africa (in case of gaming most African revenue comes from MENA countries + South Africa).
I see they avoided to include several MENA countries like Algeria, Iran, Israel, Syria, Yemen etc., maybe to avoid geopolitical issues between these countries or with USA, Israel and Morocco. It's a complex region with several huge rivalries or (some latent) wars with neighbor countries.
I assume that the next one will be LATAM Hero Project, since it's other region with small revenue but huge growth and in their case with a great indie scene with many cool indie games and teams.
I think there's a lot of potential to get nice indies from MENA and LATAM and to increase their SIE business there.
PS.: MENA means Middle East & North Africa, while the graph I added also includes the rest of Africa (in case of gaming most African revenue comes from MENA countries + South Africa).
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Political stability is also of importance and I am surprised they havn't done ME earlier in the rich countries. A lot of (international) talent, wealth and potential whales.
Thoughts?
It's good to see Sony expanding this fast to other countries... I wonder which place is next!
@Bryank75 @Sircaw @Gediminas Can you guys please remove the extra "just" in the title and add the word "North" to the part where it says "/Africa"? Thanks!
Hopefully Japan.
This has always been why I really like Sony as a publisher, they never gatekeep their clout... they provide and give the new people a chance to make a splash.
I was gonna say meh again but with how their Chinese and Korean partnerships are going and how they were able to get into those markets at the right time, I'm gonna say good this time.
Israel is usually included with Europe. So it's out of this.I think it makes sense and it's a good idea because like in the case of India or China, even if MENA is a small region for PS it's one of the fastest selling regions for gaming revenue:
I see they avoided to include several MENA countries like Algeria, Iran, Israel, Syria, Yemen etc., maybe to avoid geopolitical issues between these countries or with USA, Israel and Morocco. It's a complex region with several huge rivalries or (some latent) wars with neighbor countries.
I assume that the next one will be LATAM Hero Project, since it's other region with small revenue but huge growth and in their case with a great indie scene with many cool indie games and teams.
I think there's a lot of potential to get nice indies from MENA and LATAM and to increase their SIE business there.
PS.: MENA means Middle East & North Africa, while the graph I added also includes the rest of Africa (in case of gaming most African revenue comes from MENA countries + South Africa).
The other 3 countries are sanctioned by USA so they are out by default.
Not sure about Algeria though.
Thanks for fixing that thread title.
I've given this some thought and I think the logistics of Japan make investing in AAA game studios more of a challenge then in the west. Japan has had a near zero interest rate for a decade and now it just moved up to only .25%. Near 0% interest rates in the west would certainly incite a very huge gaming boom. Why isn't this happening in Japan? Do they not have an entrepreneural spirit like the west? We are always hearing how former devs of a prestigious studio formed their own independent studio. You'd think it would be the same way in Japan with that near 0% interest rate makes getting a business loan pretty easy. All you need is a few racks in the bank and a good credit score. It's like people in Japan are only allowed to work for corporate working 16 hour days wtf.
Regarding which specific countries are counted as MENA, there is no standard. There are many countries like Israel that sometimes are included and sometimes aren't:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East_and_North_Africa
But when deciding if they are part of Europe, Asia or Africa the division is more clear since there's pretty much a consensus that the Mediterranean, Aegian, Black and Caspian seas, plus the Caucasus and Ural mountains are the borders of Europe. Meaning, Israel is in Asia, never is included as Europe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundaries_between_the_continents
Europe:
Africa:
Asia:
Morocco is a close ally of USA and (in recent years) Israel too. Algeria is next to Morocco, not in war with them but almost. They hate each other and constantly fucking each other.
We aren't talking geography, we're talking business and in many business/political groupings Israel is lumped in with Europe due to most arab/muslim countries refusing to work with them.Regarding which specific countries are counted as MENA, there is no standard. There are many countries like Israel that sometimes are included and sometimes aren't:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East_and_North_Africa
But when deciding if they are part of Europe, Asia or Africa the division is more clear since there's pretty much a consensus that the Mediterranean, Aegian, Black and Caspian seas, plus the Caucasus and Ural mountains are the borders of Europe. Meaning, Israel is in Asia, never is included as Europe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundaries_between_the_continents
Europe:
Africa:
Asia:
Morocco is a close ally of USA and (in recent years) Israel too. Algeria is next to Morocco, not in war with them but almost. They hate each other and constantly fucking each other.
Like it or not we're talking about geography because business, politics or whatever geographical regions are obviously based in geography. Israel is in Middle East / Western Asia for them too.
In terms of business sometimes they use EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) as region too. That includes Europe and Israel, but also all the other arab, muslim and Asian or African countries of that region too.
There are jews / in some cases zionists who play a key role in the economy / banking system / hedge funds / some top companies in different areas etc. of Europe and USA, so in many areas Israel is an ally for them. And when in 1948 Israel was created it was populated with colonizer jews mostly from Europe. But that doesn't make Israel being in North America or Europe, it's still in Asia / the Middle East.
It will be great to get more stories from these areas. In the Middle East, we mainly have Aladdin and the Arabian Nights storiesthat seeped into worldwide culture so we might see less popular stories. Apart from Egypt, we hardly have anything else from Africa to be honest. Wukong is an example of mining local culture successfully for entertainment. Sadly western culture seems to rely too much on sequels and established IP. There is no real risk taken anymore.
We will have to see how the devs in the previous partnerships will hold though. Microsoft is slowly worming their way into those that blew up in playstations partnership. So we will half to see if they continue honoring that or start to fall to Microsofts money bag.
Definitely nice to see Sony is trying to help the little guys out.
The more the better indeed!
I hope other places will be part of "Hero" project thing... Like Australia, New Zealand, some other countries in EU, Latin America etc.!
Thoughts?
It's good to see Sony expanding this fast to other countries... I wonder which place is next!
The path to expansion has always been developing markets, not PC. In fact, PC support pretty much undermines everything.
