Turkiye’s Gaming Market: An Overview

  • The market for digital video games in Turkiye reached USD 774.9 million (approx. KRW 1.11 trillion) in 2024
  • Of this, mobile games accounted for USD 420.8 million (approx. KRW 6.0713 billion), or about 54% of the total, followed by downloadable games and online games, in that order
  • The gaming market in Turkiye has experienced rapid quantitative growth, in part due to the pandemic, and the rapid inflation of the lira, in 2020 and 2021. Their market for digital video games is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.3% through 2028.
  • As stated, supra, Turkiye’s digital video game market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.3% by 2028. Although mobile games have traditionally driven Turkiye’s growth in their gaming market sector, additionally, markets in downloads, online gaming and gaming network are expected to maintain their current rapid growth rates.
  • The Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) of the market for digital video games in Turkiye has been steadily increasing, reaching USD 141 per user (approx. KRW 200,000 per user) in 2024.This growth ARPU growth is expected to continue, reaching USD 169 per user (approx. KRW 240,000 per user) by 2028.
  • When compared to 2019 numbers, downloaded games and online gamesare expected to gradually increase by 1.9% and 2.5%, respectively, through 2028. In contrast, packaged games have experienced a steep decline, with a 4.2% fall in market shares. This decline is anticipated to continue until 2028, with the expectation that packaged games, and online games, will hold similar market competitiveness
  • This shift in the Turkiye gaming market reflects a global trend, where the way in which games are consumed is increasingly moving from packaged goods to digital downloads and online platforms, which runs alongside the evolving digital landscape.

Turkiye’s Gaming Market: Trends and User Preferences

1. A Rise in Mobile Gamers, With a Decrease in Console Gamers

  • The number of mobile gamers in Turkiye grew steadily, from 35 million in 2020 to 44 million in 2023. PC gamers, on the other hand, declined from 22 million in 2020 to 20 million in 2023. Console gamers peaked at 20 million in 2021 and have since seen a steady decline, falling to 11 million in 2023.
  • Changes in the number of gamers per platform closely align with fluctuations in market share rates as outlined, supra. When measuring market shares of mobile gaming with the number of users, we note a steady increase in both these areas. In a similar vein, there is a significant decrease in consoles and their users, which are the primary mode of package game utilization.

2. For Mobile Game Genres, Strong Revenues in Strategic and Casino. For Hybrid-Casual, Downloads Dominate

  • According to Statista, when it comes to the mobile gaming market in Turkiye, strategy games was the highest grossing genre with USD 196.6 million (approx. KRW 157.69 billion) in revenue. This was followed by casino games at USD 91.1 million (approx. KRW 131.07 million), and RPGs at USD 72.1 million (approx. KRW 103.73 million)
  • Notably, the top three revenue-generating genres, strategy, casino, and RPG, all fell outside the top ranks with respect to downloads. In contrast, hybrid-casual games may have had the most downloads, but was below the top rankings in terms of revenue.
  • This trend suggests that the spending behavior of gamers is somewhat clearly defined by genre. Action, shooting, and tile-matching genres rank between 3rd and 8th on both contexts, showing a relatively balanced picture

3. High Interest in Esports

  • The esports market in Turkiye is expected to rapidly grow at a CAGR of 17.26%, outperforming the Middle East and North Africa region, which averaged about 13%.33%
  • To date, 1,685 Turkiye esports athletes have won a total of USD 13.67 million (approx. KRW 19.668 billion) in prize money, excelling in a variety of sports and specializing in areas that require teamwork
  • Domestically, “League of Legends,” considered the most important game in the global esports market, has its own league in Turkiye. Such actions make Turkiye’s esports scene internationally competitive in a variety of categories

Turkiye’s Video Game Industry: An Outlook

1. Turkiye: A Global Center for Mobile Gaming

  • Currently, 2 out of the 7 total unicorns in Turkiye are from the gaming sector, with 5 more gaming unicorns expected to arrive on the scene in the next 10 years, indicating a strong commitment from companies and institutions
  • Turkiye’s first unicorn, Peak Games was acquired by Zygna, a US-based social network game developer, with hits like Toon Blast and Toy Blast. Peak Games sold for USD 1.8 billion (KRW 2.5898 trillion) in 2020
  • In addition, several gaming startups are actively seeking investment capital from Western countries, including the US, UK, and Sweden
  • Founded in 2021, Paxie Games, makers of the “merge” genre games, recently sold a 60% stake to South Korea’s DoubleU Games for approximately USD 27 million (approx. KRW 38.8476 billion)
  • With a unique geographic location, Turkiye, by bordering both Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, is geographically and culturally connected to a diverse number of cultures
  • Turkiye has been identified as having one of the largest gaming markets, even when factoring in countries in the neighboring Middle East and North Africa region
  • Compared to Iran and Egypt, which have similar sizes in population, Turkiye’s standard of living is 3-4 times higher in terms of GDP per capita.It is 2.5 times higher than Saudi Arabia, the largest economy in the Middle East.
  • In addition to the size and economic conditions of the market, Turkiye’s young demographics and its high degree of cultural openness, especially in comparison to some of its more culturally insular neighbors, have also contributed to the region’s success in becoming one of the world’s largest gaming markets. All these mentioned factors have created a pathway for gaming companies from a variety of cultures, including the West, to enter the market.