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The Abu Dhabi Media Company has announced a new tie-up with US games developer Gazillion Entertainment to create the regions’ first Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) studio. The studio, part of the first Joint Venture in the gaming sector for the region, will be a purpose-built, world-class facility based in Abu Dhabi.

Despite the current economic downturn, the video game industry has been acknowledged as one of the key growth areas for the media sector, exploding home gaming entertainment into the mainstream. “Online gaming ranks as the fastest growing media sector worldwide,” says a release. “Experts herald the MMOG games for mass audiences to be the next big opportunity, with MMOs overall estimated to yield some USD13bn by 2013.”

The tie-up will offer a place to incubate the UAE’s young game designing talent, as well as creating new employment opportunities for the region. The joint venture aims to have Emirati management of the company in the next five years.

“Riding on the global trends in the media marketplace, Abu Dhabi has leveraged its excellent infrastructure, talent and resources, to form a solid foundation for developing a thriving media industry. Today, with the joint venture with Gazillion our company is charting new growth in the creation of digital media content and technologies, which champions Abu Dhabi's sustainable development vision and transformation into a global digital media hub”, says Mohamed Khalaf Al Mazrouei, Chairman of ADMC.

The first project for the new studio in Abu Dhabi will be the development of an Arabic-language MMOG based on the popular character ‘Majid’.
Robert Hutter, CEO of Gazillion, says, “MMO games are becoming an increasingly significant part of the media landscape worldwide, and premium MMO experiences have the potential to command wide audiences in the Arabic gaming market in the years to come.”

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