Qatar, UAE spend most on Korean games, pushing back China, US

Middle Eastern countries have emerged as a blue ocean for the South Korean game industry, ranking first in both per-capita usage amount and playtime in the global market.

Gamers in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Middle East spent the most money on Korean games last year, pushing back China and the US, which were ranked first and third in 2021, to third and fourth place.

According to the "2022 Survey of Korean Game Users in Overseas Markets" report published by the Korea Creative Content Agency on Dec. 30 last year, Qatari users spent the most with a monthly average of $76.2 per person on Korean games last year, followed by UAE gamers with $68.9.

China and the US ranked third and fourth with $60.7 and $55.5, respectively.

"Qatar and the UAE have high per-capita income, so their customer transactions were relatively higher than other countries," said the report.

Gamers from Muslim countries also ranked first to third in Korean game usage time.

Pakistani users said they spend about four hours (237 minutes) per person on weekends enjoying Korean games. The UAE (235 minutes) and Qatar (229 minutes) ranked second and third.

According to the report, gamers in Muslim countries said that their average game playtime increased by 40-60% during Ramadan (the Islamic fasting month).

"Although interest in games has increased a lot in the Middle East and elsewhere, there are only a few local game companies and most of them are small," said an official from the Korean game industry.

"Korean game companies are actively developing stories and genres to explore emerging markets such as the Middle East this year," he added.

Write to Hee-Kyung Kim at hkkim@hankyung.com