As the Vice President of Research & Development for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, he is on a mission to help cultivate local talent and ideas throughout the region with the hopes of sparking interest among Arab consumers to develop their very own game titles with the possibility of international distribution. The passion, Paul believes, is already here but awareness concerning the accessibility and possibility of local development needs to grow. We sit down with the man behind our favourite Sony consoles to get an insider’s perspective on the future of Middle East gaming.

What brings you to Dubai?

My group looks after helping game developers create their games and making them the best on our platform, as well as creating the tools and technologies that we’ll use on games worldwide. We’ve got Playstation developers in the Middle East already and it’s because we want to get a flavour of what’s happening here, hopefully encourage people to work on developing game consoles. I’m here to make people aware that it is possible to become a console developer. So far the gaming students that are out here tend to be thinking in terms of mobiles and PC, and they might also think that talking to a company like Sony is a challenge or even that maybe the cost of development is high. Hopefully I can kill a few of those myths.

How important is the Middle East to the future of  the gaming industry?

When it comes to the Middle East, you have to look at the consumer side of things. I think we sold 1.2 million PSPs since October, and with PS2 and PS3 we also reached huge numbers. There is so much consumer interest here and that means there is opportunity for local developers to target that. What’s great is that we have these big game titles which are now global like Hollywood movies, but why not create titles of particular interest for this region and then maybe of interest elsewhere in the world.

What do you have in mind in terms of developing games targeting Middle Eastern interests?

Well we’ve been talking to developers about creating a lute game (Arabic guitar) as well as card games. We’ve even discussed using characters from popular TV programmes and films. There’s no reason why big titles can’t be developed here, it’s just a matter of building up the industry.

How has the Internet affected the growth of the gaming industry?

Well it’s only really helped. Just look back on the Playstation 2 days because the only way to get your games was on disc. Now games can be full disc or mini titles available online. That helps consumers but it also helps developers as well because there are more ways to reach consumers around the world. In fact, you can now self-publish.

Where would you like to see the gaming industry go in the UAE?

It would be nice to see some local content being developed, because there are a lot of unique things out here and could not only reach the Middle East but even the European market. For me, I see too many of the same game concepts coming out from the same companies and my interest would be to see new types of games and ideas. One of the ways those could come through globally is actually from people in different parts of the world translating their own culture to game concepts.

kadry@khaleejtimes.com