If you were to tell me 10 years ago that Poland would be the home of one of the most critically-acclaimed games of the decade and the most anticipated game of the last five years, I would have laughed. Today both are a reality. For the uninitiated, I'm talking about 'The Witcher 3' and the upcoming 'Cyberpunk 2077' from Polish game studio CD Projekt Red.

A new trend that has shaped the gaming industry over the last few years is the growth of successful video game development in unexpected places like Poland, as well as Belgium, Czech Republic and India.

The traditional gaming powerhouses - United States, Japan and to a lesser extent the UK - are still home to the biggest and most popular gaming studios. But there's been a major change even there. With the advent of crowd funding websites like Kickstarter, creators and artists both old and new are getting the opportunity to fund their own projects and make a name for themselves. Titles like "Divinity: Original Sin 2", "Pillars of Eternity" and "Darkest Dungeon" are just a few examples of games that were developed purely on the talents of the creators and the backing of a dedicated fan-base.

So the question that's been poised to me is this: "What would it take for a country like Kuwait to get into the video game development industry?" As far-fetched as that might sound, the idea may actually have some potential - both in an artistic sense and a business one. Also since there's approximately zero progress for it at the moment, the only direction it could possibly go is up.

Reaching the mainstream

The popularity of video games is fast growing in the region, especially in Saudi Arabia and UAE. In Jeddah last week, 'Gamer Con' brought developers and gamers together for a very successful convention that revolved around gaming culture and the ardent artists behind them. While in UAE, 'BleedingEdge Studios' has released over 30+ games on Android and iOS over a two year span. Kuwait hasn't been left out completely either.

This year's 'Comic Con' in Kuwait was the biggest iteration of the convention with a slew of gaming celebrities attending which included Nolan North (the voice behind some of gaming's most iconic characters) and Katsuhiro Harada (the lead creator of Tekken, a massive fighting game franchise). I attended Comic Con Kuwait and was pleasantly surprised at the size in terms of the event and the number of attendees. It really showcased how mainstream gaming as become. But could such events translate into an actual local gaming industry? Could Kuwait become more than just a consumer of gaming and actually take the reins of game development?

For that to realistically happen, you would obviously need investment. Kuwait has lagged behind other countries in the region when it comes to stable investment in other artistic fields like film, for example. But unlike film, I would argue game development is much safer in terms of return on investment. Yes the cost to publish and promote a game has steadily risen over the years but the channels to sell them have expanded and diversified exponentially. Steam, GOG, Humble Bundle are just a few online stores publishers are using to sell their games, of course the mobile market stores are readily available in people's pockets everywhere. No it is not a guaranteed money-maker by any means but in a financially affluent country like Kuwait, risky business endeavors are a dime a dozen.

Cogs in the machine

So say theoretically money isn't an issue - what would be the next step? Like with any artistic or creative endeavor, you would need to attract the talent. For simplicity sake, I'll divide the required talent into three distinct parts. First you'll need a programmer who will create and handle all the background coding needed to get a game working. Then you would need a conceptual artist, someone to design the game and make it stand out. Finally a director is required to give vision and guidance in order to fully realize the project.

There are several other elements to game development but these three are some of the main cogs in the machine. Ideally though they would be hired as a team but there have been massively successful games that have even less than three people behind it (if you're interested 'Stardew Valley' and 'Undertale' were both made by just one person). Technology has allowed video game development to be extremely flexible and it is no longer the closed-off garden it once was.

The possibilities are certainly there for those interested in game design in Kuwait like it is many other countries all over the world. This year's "Kingdom Come: Deliverance" was a game set in 14th century Bohemia (modern day Czech Republic) and the studio behind it put tremendous effort into recreating that era as a showcase of their history. It was a huge success and got a global audience interested in a time period and place they probably never knew existed. So what is stopping someone to create a game based around the Gulf War (something like 'This War Is Mine') or maybe even on other unique aspects of Kuwait or the Gulf region? As the stigma surrounding gaming as a whole improves hopefully we'll see Kuwait and the rest of the Gulf make a significant mark on it as well.

By Aakash Bakaya