Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are on the list of the top countries that spend the most money on Korean games. The average time spent in K-games is also relatively long in Middle Eastern countries, suggesting that the region will emerge as an attractive emerging market.
According to the relevant industry on the 22nd, the results of the '2022 Korean Game User Survey in Overseas Markets', which summarized the perception and use of Korean games among users who use Korean games overseas, were shown by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Content Promotion Agency.
The survey was conducted among 6,800 Korean gamers aged 15 and older living in five regions (16 countries): East Asia (China, Japan), North America (U.S., Canada), Europe (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain), Southwest Asia (India, Pakistan), and Middle East (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, UAE, Qatar).
After comparing the average time spent playing Korean games on weekdays and weekends by country, â–³India (172.28 minutes), â–³Egypt (170.07 minutes) on weekdays, and â–³Pakistan (237.44 minutes) and â–³UAE (235.35 minutes) had the longest time spent playing Korean games on weekends.
As a result of the comparison by region, the highest time spent playing games in Korea was found in Southwest Asia (168 minutes on weekdays / 225 minutes on weekends) and the Middle East (159 minutes on weekdays / 218 minutes on weekends) on both weekdays and weekends. The average time spent on Korean games by all surveyed subjects is â–³146.16 minutes on weekdays â–³192.43 minutes on weekends, which is higher than the average number of minutes spent playing Korean games in Southwest Asia and the Middle East.
On the other hand, it has been confirmed that users in the Middle East are also paying a lot for K-games.
When comparing the average monthly cost of playing games in South Korea by country, Qatar ($76.21) and the UAE ($68.98) have the highest rates. This exceeds the average cost of use ($38.51) for all those surveyed.
In response, CongeneOne explained, "The Middle East region is an attractive emerging market with higher gaming costs on all platforms than North America and Europe."