America News Agency

The digital gaming industry is now competing for leadership, surpassing growth rates of sectors such as automotive and energy, which are pioneers in global trade. The gaming industry, which reached a market size of $185 billion in 2023, is projected to reach $206 billion by 2026. These figures, which are not far from realization, are supported by the number of players. Forty percent of the world's population, or 3.2 billion people, play games. This number is expected to rise to 3.4 billion by the end of 2024. Turkey, one of the strongest players in this rapidly growing industry, is attracting attention. With more than half of its population playing games, Turkey has 47 million gamers. Not only individual players but also Turkish game studios like Dream Games, Spyke Games, Peak, Ace Games, and Rollic Games have achieved worldwide success, making Turkey one of the most ambitious players in this market.

Turkey leads in gaming investment deals in Europe

Turkey increased its active gaming venture count to 743 by establishing 24 new startups last year in this rapidly growing industry. Turkey, which ranked fifth in terms of transaction volume in gaming investment deals in Europe in 2023, ranked first in terms of transaction numbers. Istanbul, which has the second-highest number of game studios after London, has become the focus of foreigners investing in this area, especially. "Royal Match," developed by Dream Games, one of Turkey's first unicorns, became the highest-grossing game in the world. Moreover, the fact that the PUBG Mobile World Championship took place in Istanbul and leading global studios started opening new offices in Istanbul demonstrates Turkey's significant position in the gaming world.

Will become the strongest fund in the region

StartGate, which has established its own ecosystem in the digital gaming industry, has managed to become one of the leading entrepreneurship centers in Europe and the MENA region in the gaming vertical. Mustafa Cihat Durmuş, CEO of StartGate and Chairman of the Board of PlayGate Ventures, recently established the PlayGate Venture Capital Investment Fund with Aktif Portföy, a subsidiary of Aktif Bank, Turkey's leading investment bank. The fund, which will invest in various gaming areas such as mobile, PC, and console games, e-sports and technologies, cloud gaming, education and simulation games, interactive films, VR/AR, and AI, is poised to become one of the strongest funds in the region.

Creating leverage effect

Muhammed Faruk Durmuş, Vice Chairman of the Board, emphasizes that PlayGate Ventures will be a significant lever for the development of the Turkish gaming industry. He said, "Our fund will be open to all local and global investors. We aim to bring the interest of global investors in this industry to our country through our fund." Yasin Atikler, General Manager of Aktif Portföy, one of the supporters of PlayGate Ventures, stated, "As a leading portfolio company in the finance sector with a fund size of 30 billion TL, we believe that the gaming industry, which we believe is very important for our country, will gain momentum with PlayGate Ventures and will lead many success stories from Turkey to the world."