Initially based in Yemen, HYS Video games relocated its headquarters to Saudi Arabia.
The studio employs over 15 group members throughout Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.
The transfer aligns with Saudi Arabia’s rising imaginative and prescient for a world video games hub.
HYS Video games has achieved greater than 15 million downloads worldwide.
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Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan returns on November eighth and ninth, 2025, providing an opportunity to realize insights into the world’s fastest-growing video games market, MENA.
As a part of our MENA protection and run-up to the occasion, we spoke to HYS Video games CEO and co-founder Husam Suwaid about creating the studio’s first flagship car fight title, relocating from Yemen to Saudi Arabia, and constructing one of many area’s subsequent huge IPs.
PocketGamer.biz: Might you inform us a bit about HYS Video games and what you’re as much as proper now?
Husam Suwaid: HYS Video games is a resilient and bold studio pushed by a ardour to create high-quality experiences performed by thousands and thousands.
We’re at present creating our subsequent flagship challenge, a high-octane car fight recreation for PC and consoles, which we consider has the potential to turn out to be the subsequent huge IP in its style.
What number of employees do you at present make use of, and the place are they based mostly?
Gaming has been my ardour since childhood, and I all the time knew that reaching my imaginative and prescient would require constructing a dream group.
The HYS Video games group
Right this moment, HYS Video games is powered by a various group of over 15 devoted skills unfold throughout Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, every bringing their very own experience and vitality to our shared mission.
You’ve got developed video games for PC (Steam), iOS, and Android. How do you resolve which platform to focus on for a brand new recreation?
We began our journey in cell gaming, collaborating with a few of the world’s prime publishers like Homa and Voodoo. These partnerships helped us grasp fast-paced growth and data-driven design.
TafaHeet cell recreation
Now, with our strategic presence in Saudi Arabia, we’re pursuing our lifelong ardour by creating our first large-scale flagship title for PC and console.
As Yemen’s “first recreation studio”, what components led to the choice to relocate your headquarters to Saudi Arabia? Might you share the alternatives it presents on your firm’s progress?
Saudi Arabia’s imaginative and prescient aligns completely with ours; each goal to construct a thriving video games hub within the area.
The Kingdom’s sturdy perception in our capabilities and its quickly rising ecosystem present us with the help and alternatives we have to scale our ambitions and obtain the success we’ve all the time focused.
You’ve achieved over 15m downloads. How have your video games been obtained internationally outdoors the MENA area?
By means of our partnerships with prime publishers and a data-driven strategy to design, we’ve been in a position to faucet into international traits and participant behaviours.
Hill Excessive cell recreation
This helped us craft experiences that resonate not simply in MENA however worldwide, leading to thousands and thousands of downloads and robust engagement throughout worldwide markets.
Speak to us about your partnerships with worldwide publishers. How did these relationships come about, and are you actively looking for out publishers?
We’ll all the time be grateful to the publishers who believed in us early on. They recognised our ardour and potential, supported our progress, and collectively we achieved business success that exceeded expectations.
HYS Video games CEO and co-founder Husam Suwaid
For our present challenge, which is in early manufacturing, we’re seeking to accomplice with a writer that shares our imaginative and prescient and is able to champion this recreation as a flagship title in its style.
What do you see as the present alternatives and challenges dealing with recreation studios within the MENA area?
Sadly, we needed to shut our Yemen studio as a result of troublesome scenario there. Nevertheless, with our new headquarters in Saudi Arabia, we’re exploring great alternatives inside a fast-evolving ecosystem.
“Whether or not a group specialises in growth, publishing, or each, buyers have to see a transparent roadmap, the place the studio is heading, what it stands for, and the way it plans to develop.”Husam Suwaid
The route Saudi Arabia is taking in video games and leisure aligns strongly with our targets, providing a secure and visionary atmosphere for progress.
When it comes to funding and help for recreation studios, what has been your expertise navigating the funding panorama? And the way do you assume small studios can appeal to funding?
For any studio, readability and focus are key. Whether or not a group specialises in growth, publishing, or each, buyers have to see a transparent roadmap, the place the studio is heading, what it stands for, and the way it plans to develop.
Having that imaginative and prescient, supported by tangible milestones and consistency, is what attracts significant funding.
What are your plans for the remainder of 2025 and the approaching yr? Will you be exploring new platforms? And are there any particular initiatives or tasks on the horizon that we should always stay up for?
Our focus proper now could be totally on our subsequent flagship challenge. We’re pushing laborious via manufacturing and making ready for an thrilling reveal subsequent yr, which is able to embody our first public beta launch. It’s an enormous step for us and one we will’t wait to share with gamers around the globe.
