ISTANBUL 

The Turkish video game industry wants to generate $750 million in revenue by the end of this year, a sector representative told Anadolu.

The sector grew more than 20% in 2024, reaching a volume of $695 million, and mobile games made up 54% of that revenue. The number of players reached record levels and the sector gained momentum with increasingly more domestic studios coming to the fore.

The number of Turkish-made console and computer video games rose 133% in 2024.

Ozan Aydemir, president of Gaming in Türkiye, told Anadolu that the Turkish video game sector’s revenue for the first half of 2025 has yet to be released but the rising number of games on multiple platforms and their success show that the sector’s growth is continuing.

Aydemir stated that the number of new game studios established in Türkiye rose since the second half of last year, as artificial intelligence (AI) powered designing and programming solutions reduced setup costs for independent developers, as AI-supported game development became widespread in Türkiye and across the world.

He noted that developers use AI to do the visual production and even the in-game dialogue writing of video games at lower costs, and the trend is expected to turn into fully AI-made productions this year, and some attempts at creating “AI-first game” concepts have been made in Türkiye.

Aydemir emphasized that the Turkish video game sector is in the top three countries with the most investments in Europe and the Middle East since 2021, with an investment of $71.6 million in 2024.

He noted that the US, Europe and the Middle East and North Africa regions are the main target markets. He said the Middle East is a great region for Turkish video games due to cultural proximity and the large mobile game audience in the region, while the US and Europe are more competitive and high-income markets.

Aydemir emphasized that Türkiye not only makes games but has exported them for some time, as video games have become the fastest-growing export items in the software and technology sector.

He said young entrepreneurs’ biggest opportunity is to make a global impact with a small team, and Turkish video game developers’ high technical expertise and strong storytelling capabilities provide advantages in creating original works.

He highlighted that mobile games attract a great deal of investor interest, especially projects to appeal to the US, European and the Middle East, and North African markets.

“A collaboration between the private and the public sector is needed for the Turkish video game industry to secure an even stronger global position, and it’s crucial for studios to focus on creating long-term projects rather than short-term ones, while investments in marketing and user acquisition are of great importance,” he said.

“Many successful ideas risk failing due to insufficient support,” he noted. “Making global partnerships with publishers, seriously considering localization processes, and designing games to appeal to the global market from day one are key.”

Aydemir added that the public sector needs to support the video game sector with incentives to deem it as a means of producing cultural exports.

Tansu Kendirli, president of the Turkish non-profit Oyunder Game Designers, Developers, Producers, and Publishers Association, told Anadolu that the Turkish video game sector developed rapidly with incentives.

Kendirli stated that large and experienced firms attract more investors than new companies and the criteria of platforms like the Google Play Store and Apple App Store can serve as a litmus test for investors.

He added that purchases slowed after 2022 as small companies’ costs started to increase with changing rules and conditions, while the advancements in AI in the last few years grabbed the spotlight, as gaming investments shifted to AI-focused needs.