The “Digital Games Seminar and Workshop” organized by the Information Technologies Educators Association was hosted by the Information Technologies and Communication Authority.
The importance of digital games and what needs to be done were discussed at the “Digital Games Workshop.” In his opening speech at the program, Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, stated that digital games are one of the most important components of digitalization. Sayan said, “With the pandemic effect, the digital games sector reached 175.8 billion dollars in the global games market in 2021. Of this, 79 billion $ comes from Mobile Games, 49.2 billion $ from Console Games, 33.3 billion $ from downloadable PC games, and the rest from tablet and browser PC games. In Turkey as well, the games sector continued to grow in 2021 as it does every year. Revenue obtained from digital games in our country rose from 880 million $ to 1.2 billion $. Of this, 600 million $ was obtained from mobile games. Compared to the previous year, investments in the games sector increased 20-fold, rising from 13.1 million dollars to 266 million dollars. The Turkish games sector became the sector that received the most investment in 2021. The figures also show that we are facing a continuously developing and advancing sector,” explaining the current state of the sector with numbers.
Emphasizing the need to expand the games economy and Turkey's market share by addressing games under different headings, Sayan said, “We are an important and critical market in terms of digital games. Therefore, we must make good use of its opportunities. I think that our young people's individual talents and curiosity for games provide us with a great advantage. Therefore, we are ready to support any studies to be conducted in this field. As you know, our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also speaks at every opportunity about the importance of digitalization and the need for us to be the safest, most equipped, and fastest on this path. We must prepare our youth for the digitalizing world in the most knowledgeable and effective way. Of course, we also have great expectations from them. That is to act with the awareness of domestic and national production,” reiterating the emphasis on domestic and national production.
Deputy Minister Sayan: The E-Sports Dimension Holds a Very Important Place
Deputy Minister Sayan also spoke about e-sports, which has gained significant momentum in recent years. Noting that areas like e-sports are very common especially among young people under 30, Sayan said, “At this point, the e-sports dimension, where games are integrated with technology, holds a very important place for us. Digital games, whether designed by game producers or traditional sports transferred to the electronic environment, are organized as e-sports organizations by being taken to the competition dimension. E-sports organizations attract so much interest that they have almost approached the audience rates of traditional sports today. Seen as a new career opportunity especially by the young generation, e-sports has entered among the rising trends of our era. Showing significant progress in recent years and becoming a fundamental element within digital youth culture, e-sports has demonstrated extraordinary growth when evaluated both in terms of economic value and participant numbers. We are also doing our best to better utilize this potential,” he stated.
Sayan concluded his speech by warning families to be careful about their children playing games safely.
President Karagözoğlu: Even Digital Immigrants Play Digital Games
Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu, President of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, also stated that digital games constitute an important part of our lives. Pointing out that even digital immigrants who grew up with traditional gaming concepts and later became acquainted with digital technologies now play digital games, Karagözoğlu said, “In addition to the pleasure and excitement of playing, the ease of access to games and game objects has begun to keep digital games increasingly in the spotlight. Digital games undoubtedly have many positive aspects and contributions. However, contents such as violence, obscenity, and encouragement of gambling in games lead the potential harms that digital games can cause, especially on children and youth. Digital games are a field that needs to be studied and analyzed in every aspect.”
Emphasizing that they consider all kinds of production, design, and awareness-raising efforts in this field very important, Karagözoğlu shared, “We also need to look at the risks of digital games from different angles. For example, from the perspective of parent-child relationships, spending time playing games together can increase both family interactions, learning through play, and collaboration and problem-solving skills. Therefore, the opportunities provided by digital games should not be overlooked. As BTK, we organize many training, seminars, and workshop studies on digital games to utilize these opportunities. One of them is the Safe Play (guvenlioyna.org.tr) Portal, which is an information and review project for Digital Games. We have developed this portal with various educational games targeting young children. We have conducted analysis, awareness-raising, and information studies on digital games, covering all aspects, starting with their positive and negative sides.”
Following the speeches, a seminar on digital games was given.