Dear Nintendo,

We’re writing to you as a voice from the gaming community in the Arab World. We have grown up, much like players in other parts of the world, playing your games on your platforms and we still cherish these memories today. And although the Arab World is still considered an emerging market for most video game publishers, the gaming community is strong and intelligent.

Companies are taking notice of the vibrancy of this community and have taken measures to ensure that they can reach it. They have either set up shop locally, like PlayStation or Xbox, or are working with local distributors, like Warner Bros. and Activision. This allows them to reach the community directly and clarify their messaging across the region, creating a real connection with gamers in the Arab World.

Nintendo is falling behind and is losing favor with the community because they feel neglected. By not reaching out to them, Nintendo is effectively alienating gamers in the Arab World from it’s amazing offerings but the lack of official representation is also causing more serious problems which I will explain below.

Lack of Format/Pricing Education: Gamers are currently fully dependent on retailers to act as both distributor and educator. If the employees at the gaming retail outlets are well-informed, then that would be fine for the time-being. However, in most cases the employees are not well-versed in everything Nintendo so they only confuse the gamers more. One of these big confusions that’s always brought up is the PAL vs NTSC formatting. Region-locking is a concept that new gamers (or parents buying Nintendo games for their children) might not be familiar with and with no one there to guide them, this confusion leads to a lot of frustration and games being returned because the wrong format was purchased. Also no one knows what the price difference between PAL and NTSC is for and this leads to even more confusion. There is no unified voice for what region is correct and what pricing people should follow. Lack of Marketing: Since retailers are the distributors for Nintendo games, basically zero budget is ever spent on marketing. While stores are being overtaken with branding from other publishers to promote their upcoming games, Nintendo remains silently on the shelf for only the proactive gamers to find. This makes it hard for the Nintendo community to grow since very few “new-comers” realize what amazing games are being released or even get excited about playing them. In this way, Nintendo is losing gamers in the Arab World without gaining the support of new ones. Lack of Buy-In from Consumers: Because of the problems listed above, new gamers never think about choosing Nintendo. There’s nothing to guide them to that choice. On the other hand, they are being bombarded with messages and branding about other platforms so it’s not very surprising when they opt for PlayStation or Xbox instead. Lack of Unified Messaging: This is more than just PAL vs NTSC or pricing. This is about what Nintendo stands for, who they are, and what they do. For many here in the region, Nintendo is a childish platform with childish games and it quickly loses appeal for even pre-teens. The reason they think this is because they have been told by the wrong people but they don’t have anyone to correct them. Having an official Nintendo PR in the region can quickly rectify this misconception by communicating the right message. No Chance at Competing Internationally: Gamers from the Arab world have virtually no chance in competing at the World Championships of popular Nintendo games such as Super Smash Bros. This is for two reasons: a) the Arab World never gets to host qualification rounds, and b) they are not allowed to compete in other countries’ qualifiers since they are residents here. There are many talented gamers in the region that can hold their own in competitions and represent their countries internationally but they are never given the opportunity because of a lack of official support from Nintendo. This alienates players even more and they opt to compete in other games such as the FIFA Championships (in which a Saudi gamer won this year by the way).

These are just a few of the topics that we want to touch on but there are more problems us gamers face. At the source of it all is this: Nintendo does not have any official representation in the Arab World.

We are not asking you to set up shop locally. We’re not asking you to localise your games to the Arabic language. We’re simply asking you to get a foot in the door by working with a proper distributor that can elevate your name in the gaming community and offer gamers the same kind of attention that others get around the world.

We appreciate you taking the time to go through these points and your continued efforts to create the games we all love.

Sincerely,

IGN Middle East

We have reached to Nintendo for a comment.

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