00:00 [MUSIC]
00:10 [MUSIC]
00:17 [FOREIGN]
00:32 >> Hello, Paul.
00:33 Today we have so many interesting stories.
00:36 We're talking about governments interested in the gaming industry,
00:39 and only companies.
00:40 >> Not just that, not our usual names.
00:42 No Microsoft, none of the usual suspects that we seem to touch on almost every week.
00:46 >> So let's get started.
00:48 [MUSIC]
00:51 [FOREIGN]
01:05 >> So it's very interesting to see this report talking about only 66 games
01:10 accounted for 80% of the total time players spent on video games.
01:15 I think what's interesting here, people or gamers are loyal to old games
01:20 like Fortnite and GTA 5.
01:22 What do you think about it?
01:23 >> Yeah, I don't know if it's loyalty or if it's that we haven't seen anything
01:28 fresh enough or new enough to get people's attention away from the old stuff.
01:32 So there are multiple problems at work here.
01:34 Now, we've talked about this before.
01:36 Gaming is no question a hit-driven business.
01:39 It's massive success and a lot of failure, right?
01:42 The games that work, the Fortnites of the world, make tremendous amounts of money
01:47 and the rest sort of fade into oblivion.
01:49 So it really is very much like the movie industry or the theater industry in that
01:53 sense where the big hits make the majority of the money.
01:57 I think with gamers and their tastes, not much has really changed.
02:02 I think gamers want something fresh.
02:04 They want something new.
02:05 They don't want just another sequel.
02:07 And the reality is because it's so safe just to make sequels these days,
02:11 you get a lot of gamers that go back to the originals.
02:14 They still want to play Counter-Strike.
02:15 They still want to play World of Warcraft because they have so much time
02:18 invested in those games.
02:19 Why play something new where the future of that game is uncertain?
02:24 >> On the other hand, also in the report it said that it's important to note
02:28 that the PC and console market grew by 2.6%.
02:32 It's around like $93.5 billion in revenue last year.
02:37 So it's good to see also the bright side in the gaming industry.
02:40 But now let's see another story and this time from Russia.
02:44 [Foreign Language]
02:46 [Foreign Language]
03:02 So it's very interesting to see Russia and the gaming industry.
03:06 This time Vladimir Putin is planning to develop like a new Russian consoles
03:10 including handheld units, operating systems, and cloud services.
03:15 And the deadline is in June 15.
03:18 So it's very soon.
03:19 What do you think about it?
03:21 >> This is a good news/bad news story and I'll explain why.
03:24 I think the good news is I love that Russia at a government level
03:28 is really bullish on gaming.
03:30 They think gaming is important to their economy and they want to not just
03:34 invest money but they want to push people to develop their own console,
03:37 their own operating systems, their own cloud services.
03:40 So I love that bullishness around gaming and I take that away from this article
03:44 and say this is good for gaming as a whole.
03:47 Russia is very bullish on gaming.
03:49 Now the execution and the approach is where I think it's a bit of a bad news story
03:53 in that developing your own consoles, first of all, it's very difficult.
03:57 Second of all, it presents a challenge to the game developers
04:01 because the game developers today have to develop already for multiple platforms.
04:05 They need to make sure their game runs on PC, on Xbox, on PlayStation,
04:09 maybe on mobile, right?
04:10 So they're already developing essentially multiple versions of their game
04:14 and it's a lot of work and it's a lot of money.
04:16 Having one other platform that they need to develop for only introduces
04:20 complication and friction and I think game developers will stay away from that.
04:24 Now, I think if Russia is really smart, what they'll do is they'll say
04:27 let's focus on PC gaming.
04:29 Let's dominate there, right?
04:30 Asia has a huge dominance around mobile gaming.
04:33 Let's focus on PC gaming.
04:35 Let's control the publishing of PC games in Russia.
04:37 Let's promote PC gaming.
04:39 Let's create services, cloud services maybe that run on PCs
04:43 and I think in this way, Russia can have its own thing, can really dominate
04:48 in gaming in that region but not create friction and complication
04:53 for game developers who ideally they want to attract.
04:56 And now we have another story but this time about GTA 6.
05:01 A report from KOTAK showed that the long-awaited game GTA 6
05:06 could be delayed until 2026 and Rockstar company
05:10 has asked employees to return to their offices to avoid delay.
05:14 So, reports from KOTAK said that highly anticipated game GTA 6
05:19 may be delayed until 2026 and that Rockstar has argued
05:23 employees to return to their offices to avoid delay.
05:26 What are your thoughts?
05:27 This is I think the least surprising news of 2024.
05:31 We talked about it.
05:32 Delays in AAA games and AAA games of the scale of GTA 6.
05:38 No question there's going to be delays.
05:40 And unfortunately for Take-Two here and for Rockstar,
05:44 what has happened is the game was announced too soon
05:48 and it's not their own fault.
05:49 There were leaks, they had to announce it, they had to say something
05:52 but now you can bet everyone's gonna be tracking every little delay,
05:55 every little update and those delays like you saw with this announcement
06:00 or with this news had an impact on the company's stock price.
06:03 Stock went down as a consequence of a delay for a game that's not out yet.
06:08 We don't even know how long it's delayed, if it's delayed.
06:10 Do you think players would still be interested for the release of GTA 6
06:15 after these delays?
06:16 No question. No question.
06:17 The reason the stock price went down is because this is the most
06:20 significant IP in Take-Two's portfolio and any delay means money lost.
06:26 And so it's no question that gamers want the game.
06:29 They want it sooner, they want it now, they want it today.
06:32 They don't want it in 2026.
06:34 But the likelihood of delays is very high and I think gamers will need to
06:37 be okay with that and more importantly shareholders will need to have patience
06:41 because better to put out a finished game and a polished game
06:44 than to rush out something half-finished and get the kind of blowback
06:48 that a Cyberpunk, for example, got.
06:50 And now, Paul, let's continue our chat with our guest for today.
06:54 [Music]
07:06 And to talk more about the world of video games,
07:10 Wadi Al-Sayah, the co-founder of Al-Masaad, joins us.
07:14 Hello Wadi, welcome to Game Changers. How are you?
07:17 I'm good, I'm good. Thanks for having me.
07:19 Thank you so much.
07:20 First of all, let me ask you, what did you learn from the time being
07:23 as a game streamer and caster that you brought to the business side of the industry?
07:29 Yeah, like everything in life. I learned a lot to be honest from that
07:32 because I've done it for like five years, I think.
07:35 And there I was put in front of an audience of like 10,000 people
07:41 and I'm casting and everybody's hearing my voice and I was responsible of all that.
07:45 So I learned a lot about how to communicate properly,
07:48 how to choose my words. That helped me a lot with presenting in the business world.
07:53 So when I go to present to like two, three people, with all respect to these people,
07:57 but it's not compared to like talking in front of 10,000, you know what I mean?
08:01 So that helped me develop myself as a person in the business world as well.
08:06 And I learned a lot how to improvise stuff.
08:08 So coming up with stuff on the spot, because as a streamer, as you guys know,
08:11 like when someone is playing, you need to do like an improvised reaction
08:14 or something to whatever happens in the game.
08:16 So that helps a lot also with whenever also I'm presenting,
08:19 I get these tough questions that come out of nowhere that you never thought about.
08:23 And of course, when you get mixed up with people, you learn more about these people.
08:28 You learn more about communities, how to bring communities together.
08:31 And working in gaming, it's all about, to be honest, communities and the people you work with.
08:35 So you mentioned communication and pitching to people.
08:38 Let's talk about the brands that you spend a lot of time with and pitching to.
08:42 What are some of the mistakes you see brands making when they decide they want to go after that gaming audience?
08:48 So a lot of the brands look at gaming as a short-term opportunity.
08:52 So they want to do something quick, get the highest ROI out of it, and salam, we're out.
08:57 That doesn't work, sadly. Like sometimes it does. You get lucky with whatever you do.
09:02 But I think brands need to look at gaming as part of their strategy,
09:06 similarly to how some of these brands get involved in traditional sports like F1, for example,
09:11 or football or basketball. There are strategies around that.
09:14 So there is sponsoring a team, sponsoring a league, doing activities, launching a shop.
09:19 There is a mix of things that combine together to create that big ROI that they're looking for.
09:25 But doing just one tournament, especially these days, I don't know why everybody is running after tournaments,
09:30 but I think there's a lot of creative things that can be done in gaming, and that's the whole concept of gaming.
09:35 You can do media stuff, but in gaming, it's media and interactive things you can do.
09:40 So brands need to leverage that way more.
09:42 Now, let's talk about a place that wants a big ROI from gaming, and that's Dubai.
09:48 How do you think Dubai can compete in the region, given you have places like Saudi Arabia
09:53 that are spending so much money and investing so heavily?
09:56 Being based in Dubai, I was initially scared because I felt like maybe it's time that I have to move to Saudi Arabia
10:05 and have a huge step in my life, but then I realized what Saudi Arabia is doing is bringing all this attention to the region.
10:13 It's like the gold rush. Everybody is running after the gold, but the people that made the shovels and the jeans made the most money.
10:19 So with that mentality, there's a lot that can be built on the side that could complement what's happening in Saudi Arabia.
10:26 We don't have to compete against each other. We can complement each other.
10:29 And to give more of a tangible example, let's say there's a lot of events happening there.
10:35 For example, we can do tools that help the events be calibrated or finding the media value out of these events,
10:43 which helps the brand connect better with the event.
10:45 So as a country in general for UAE, I think there's a lot of opportunities on the business side,
10:50 because still, I think in the region, UAE is the hub for business.
10:53 A lot of the people that we've met in our trips to Riyadh always end up going back to Dubai
10:59 and then go back to whatever region they came from.
11:01 Thank you so much for being with us in Game Changers.
11:04 Thank you guys.
11:05 With that, we had Wadih Al-Sayah, the co-founder of Al-Musa'id.
11:10 [Music]
11:23 We're back with the Q&A segment.
11:25 We have a question for X.
11:27 Has gaming communities become more inclusive and diverse?
11:31 So there's a poll on X. It says, "Are gaming communities becoming more inclusive and diverse?"
11:36 The majority said yes, and I totally agree with them.
11:39 No question that gaming communities are becoming more inclusive and diverse.
11:43 I think gaming communities have always been inclusive and diverse.
11:47 That's the reality of gaming.
11:48 Fun is universal. Gaming is universal.
11:51 Gaming is maybe the most universally accessible activity on the planet,
11:55 because you don't need to be tall, you don't need to be fast,
11:58 you don't need to have any physical characteristics to be great at games or to be able to enjoy games.
12:05 And so gaming in some ways is the greatest, has the greatest ability to bring people together.
12:11 Now, where I think this goes off the rails a little bit, and you've seen some of this recently,
12:15 is too much focus on diversity and inclusivity at the expense of fun
12:21 will always be bad for the gaming industry and bad for the gamer.
12:24 Because fun has to be the core, and you can't alienate entire audiences
12:29 in the name of diversity and inclusivity.
12:31 You really have to focus on what drives gaming forward and always has,
12:35 which is fun and fun's for everyone, and that's maybe what I love most about gaming.
12:39 Paul, I really enjoyed this episode. Do you have any last comment you'd like to say?
12:43 I'm following very closely what Russia is doing in gaming,
12:47 because I think it's interesting to have such a large country, such a large economy,
12:51 really push gaming as a core impact initiative for them,
12:57 and it'll be interesting to compare what they do versus what we do here in the Middle East.
13:02 So I think for Game Changers' audience, they have to wait till June to talk about it
13:06 and see their new consoles.
13:08 I'm sure we're going to cover it.
13:10 [In Arabic]
13:13 [In Arabic]
13:18 [In Arabic]
13:21 [In Arabic]
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