Tamatem Games

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Tamatem
Company typeMobile Game Publisher
IndustryMobile games
FoundedApril 1, 2013; 11 years ago (April 1, 2013)
FounderHussam Hammo
Headquarters,
Number of locations
3
Area served
Global
Key people
Hussam Hammo (CEO) Eyad AlBasheer (COO)
Number of employees
82 (2022)
Websitetamatem.co

Tamatem Games is a Jordan-based mobile game developer and publisher that partners with various international game developers to localize and bring international mobile games to the Arabic-speaking world.[1] Since 2013, Tamatem has published more than 50 games, most notably: VIP Baloot, VIP Jalsat, Fashion Queen, and Clash of Empire. They have over 150 million downloads across their portfolio and 3.5 million daily active users on their top games, based on published performance reports.[2]

History[edit]

Background[edit]

Tamatem Games was founded by Hussam Hammo in 2013 after realizing that there was a lack of Arabic games available online in the Arabic-speaking world.[3] Tamatem received its first acceleration opportunity from 500 Startups, a U.S accelerator and incubator in Silicon Valley, California in April 2013.

Tamatem also took part in a three-month growth hacking program at WeWork where it signed its first publishing deal with Tapinator to localize and bring its games to the Middle Eastern and Northern African markets. In 2013, Tamatem lead its first round of seed investments that gave it $350,000 from MENA Venture Investments and 500 Startups. Following its seed round, Tamatem also secured a second round of funds in 2015 that came in from Kuwaiti-based fund Arzan VC.

Milestones

Awad the Delivery King was a racing game produced in collaboration with Jordanian animation studio Kharabeesh and was published in 2014. It has been downloaded over 1 million times in less than a year. This helped the company hit its 6 million downloads mark.

By 2015, Tamatem had a 35-game portfolio running on both Android and iOS devices. It became a large company in the MENA region’s gaming sector with 40,000 downloads per day, receiving investments from both regional and international investors. A Dumb Question, one of Tamatem’s games released in 2015, became the number 1 downloaded app in Saudi Arabia four days after its release. [citation needed]

In 2016, Tamatem had 16 million total downloads and 41 published games, half of which reached No.1 on the iOS App Store and Google Play store. The portfolio of games had more than 2.1 million active users monthly and 350,000 active users daily. The company was experiencing a 40% month-over-month growth in downloads and revenue. By the end of 2017, Tamatem games reached 40 million downloads for a total of 50 published games.[4]

In 2018, Tamatem raised a Series A investment round of $2.5 million. The round was led by Wamda Capital with participation from Discovery Nusantara Capital, Raed Ventures, Vision Ventures, and Seed Equity Venture Partners. 2018 was also the year that Tamatem signed with Lithuanian-based mobile game developers Game Insight to publish and localize Airport City in the Arabic-speaking market.[5]

In 2020, Tamatem continued its Series A investment round, raising another $3.5 million also led by Wamda Capital along with Modern Electronics Company and North Base Media.  In the same year, Tamatem also partnered with Croatian video game developer Nanobit to publish and launch the mobile game Hollywood Story in the Arabic-speaking market. In 2020, Tamatem doubled in size and expanded from 35 to 70 employees in the span of 6 months.[6]

In 2021, PUBG creators Krafton led Tamatem’s Series B investment round, which closed at $11 million. The round — which saw participation from Venture Souq, Endeavor Catalyst, and other existing investors — brought Tamatem’s total amount of funding to over $17 million since its inception.[7]

In 2022, Tamatem announced a partnership with MSA Novo and its entrance and expansion into the Chinese mobile games market.[8]

In 2023, Tamatem partnered with Tap Payments[9] and ZEGOCLOUD[10] to integrate mobile payments and voice chats into its mobile gaming platform.

Business Model

Tamatem’s business model is based on a split-revenue partnership. Tamatem partners with game developers from around the world to publish their games in the Arab region. Revenue is split based on an agreement between Tamatem and the developer. Tamatem has published games in the Arab region from developers in the United States, Brazil, India, China, Indonesia, Bulgaria, and Croatia.

List of games[edit]

Game Year Published Genre
4 Pics 1 Word (لعبة سؤال وأربع صور) 2013 Trivia
Tower Building (لعبة بناء البرج) 2013 Casual
Awad The Delivery King (لعبة ملك التوصيل) 2014 Racing
Sing To Me Songs & Tunes Game ( لعبة أغاني وألحان) 2014 Music
A Dumb Question (لعبة السؤال القوي) 2014 Trivia
The Mysterious Quiz Game (لعبة اللغز الخفي) 2014 Trivia
Moron Test (إختبار الغباء) 2015 Trivia
Moron Test 2 (إختبار الغباء 2) 2015 Trivia
Moron Test 3 (إختبار الغباء 3) 2015 Trivia
Moron Test 4 (إختبار الغباء 4) 2015 Puzzle
Death Road (شارع الموت) 2015 Action
Who’s Right? (مين الصح؟) 2015 Trivia
Thunder Bolt Car (السيارة الصاعقة) 2015 Action
The Little Dinasour (الديناصور الصغير) 2015 Casual
Chicken Town (تشيكن تاون) 2015 Casual
Shake the Metal (هز الحديد) 2015 Racing
Police Car Simulator (شرطة التدخل السريع) 2016 Racing
Pizza Zombie 2016 Action
Mystery of the Past (لغز الماضي) 2016 Adventure
Tank Trail (درب المدرعات) 2016 Racing
Mafia Boss (زعيم المافيا) 2016 Casual
A Dumb Question 2 (لعبة السؤال القوي) 2 2016 Trivia
Zombie Attack (هجوم الزومبي) 2016 Casual
Hidden Mystery 2 (اللغز الخفي) 2016 Puzzle
Step on it! (ادعس يا شنب) 2016 Racing
One by One (واحد واحد) 2016 Board
ParKing (ملك الاصطفاف) 2016 Racing
VIP Baloot 2016 Card
Downshift: Online Drifting (غيار عكسي) 2016 Racing
Dynasty Blades (صقور الأرض) 2017 MMORPG
Airport City 2018 Strategy
VIP Jalsat 2018 Card
Arab Shield (درع العرب) 2018 Strategy RPG
Rage of the Righteous (غضب الشجعان) 2018 Role Playing
Bandar’s Farm (مزرعة بندر) 2019 Casual
Fashion Queen (ملكة الموضة) 2019 Role Playing
Words Island (جزيرة الحروف) 2020 Casual
Girls’ Secrets (أسرار البنات) 2020 Role Playing
Food Truck Chef (أفضل شف) 2020 Simulation
Home Design Expert 2020 Simulation
Clash of Empire (تحدي الملوك) 2021 Strategy RPG

Awards[edit]

Award Year Organisation
Best Game of the Year ‘Awad the Delivery King’ in KSA, Egypt and UAE 2014 Apple[11]
Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2017 Ernst & Young[12]
Best SME Jordan 2017 Bank Al Etihad
2nd Place at Startup Istanbul Scaleup Finals 2019 Startup Istanbul
Arabian Business Startup of the Year 2019 Arabian Business Startup Awards
Pocket Gamer Awards: Best Publisher Finalists 2020 Pocket Gamer[13]
Best YouTube Channel 2021 Peacock Social Media Awards[14]
100K Subscribers Award 2021 YouTube
Pocket Gamer Awards: Best Publisher Finalists 2022 Pocket Gamer[15]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "500 Startups-backed Tamatem raises $2.5M to localise games for Arabic-speaking market". TechCrunch. February 2018. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  2. ^ "Tamatem raises $11M Series B led by PUBG maker Krafton". TechCrunch. 6 December 2021. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  3. ^ Sawalha, Jawanna (2016-11-10). "Why the Arabic market is your next target". Game Developer. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  4. ^ "Jordanian Entrepreneur Built Tamatem Into A Regional Key Player In The Gaming Industry". Forbes Middle East. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  5. ^ "Jordan-Based Mobile Game Publisher Tamatem Raises $2.5 Million". Forbes Middle East. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  6. ^ "Tamatem, the games publisher for the MENA market, raises $3.5M to reach other 'underserved' gamers". TechCrunch. 14 February 2020. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  7. ^ "Jordan's Tamatem Startup Raises $11M In Funding Round Led By Korean Game Company Krafton". Forbes Middle East. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  8. ^ "Tamatem Games partners with MSA Novo". VentureBeat. 2022-06-15. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  9. ^ Bignell, Francis (2023-09-17). "Tap Payments Taps Into Mobile Gaming Market With Tamatem Games Partnership". The Fintech Times. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
  10. ^ "Tamatem Games tops Arabic mobile game market in MENA region — CEO - Jordan News | Latest News from Jordan, MENA". Jordan News | Latest News from Jordan, MENA. 2023-03-26. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
  11. ^ "barakabits.com". www.barakabits.com. 23 January 2015. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  12. ^ Staff, Venture (2018-02-06). "Tamatem Gaming Company Wins EY Award". Venture Magazine. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  13. ^ Bald, Cameron (5 December 2019). "Here are the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2020 finalists". www.pocketgamer.com. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  14. ^ "World Social Media Awards". World Social Media Forum. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  15. ^ "PG Mobile Games Awards 2022 - The Finalists". Mobile Games Awards. Retrieved 2022-08-04.

External links[edit]