IGN Middle East: No, Jim Ryan - Gaming In The Middle East Existed Long Before PlayStation

[Helix]

Reading the first few posts, I gotta ask. why are you defending this man? you ain't getting anything from mansplaining your correct interpretation of the statement.

Back to topic, as someone who grew up playing video games in the Middle East, this is some blatant ass ignorance.

It shows how little the Middle East market is considered in the whole gaming landscape. it's even more hilarious considering that although Nintendo consoles have been in the Middle East since forever, even till date Nintendo doesn't have an official presence.

 

[Shopolic]

Like others said, Jimbo is completely wrong or at least he said those things in a wrong way.
Video games were so popular in Iran, years before PlayStation. There was a time that millions of people, even people who weren't gamer knew the name Atari. Other things like Commodore 64 were popular too and some years later, NES and Sega Genesis became hugely popular too and you could see those consoles everywhere, from houses to game clubs. And we had arcade centers in some cities too.
Gaming in Iran isn't something official, because of copyright and sanctions and... but it was active from decades ago. It's still one of the most popular entertainments here, but sadly because of inflation, gamers can't play like past years and everything is so expensive these days. Also even gamers who use a service like Game Pass, can't enjoy games easily because of sanctions and should use things like VPN to do it.

 

[shinobi602]

As a Lebanese American who grew up in Lebanon in the 90's (with a whole extended family there), this is certainly wrong, at least in the literal sense that he said it. People played games lol. We definitely played on Atari, Sega, had arcades, etc. People had Game Boys, though those were rarer.

Still, I...think he was trying to say that PlayStation expanded the market in a huge way? I hope? I don't know, I'm not personally insulted by it, but he should probably use better phrasing next time lol.

 

[hussien-11]

From what I can see the N64 was not officially released in the Middle East.

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Nintendo has very old distributors in the region. N64 and other Nintendo products were officially distributed at least in SA and UAE and I still remember a Donkey Kong Miranda ad being aired on TV when I was a kid. they were also imported at the same time so one could find both NTSC systems and PAL systems and games.

Nintendo products officially distributed in the region began to use a sticker on the package at some time:

But the distributors are very old.

 

[Deleted member 27723]

Typical British entitled mentality.. He is 1000% wrong that there was no gaming in middle east before ps1. I really think this guy is out of touch with the gaming community.

 

[CheapJi]

Very interesting read, thank you.



This is an absolute goldmine of information for someone that loves video games and studies Iran. Thank you for this!

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Glad it helped and I'm always here if you all want to know more!

 

[MarcelloF]

I had no idea there were so many time-bending mind readers on this forum. It's neato.

 

[Alpheus]

Happy to help people understand what its actually like to game in iran :)

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I definitely never considered the Middle East as some backwoods place that didn't have good or talented programmers (and by extension I never thought that the Middle East considered video games as this alien foreign concept) thanks to FF1 literally getting bailed out by a talented Iranian programmer. But I'm also pretty ignorant as to how it was like for the people who did reside in those areas and what video gaming was like for them, and it turns out it was pretty much the same minus some local tweaks that had to occur/deal with; such as having the manuals and documentation being translated but not the in game language having any options for the local languages, and as described in other posts how some titles had to be sold in unmarked discrete bags (which isn't too dissimilar to how certain items are sold in California). So your post was very insightful, ty again.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

Yeah, Ryan either comes off as truly ignorant when it comes to video game history or maybe feels that he has to spin the hell out of things to make PlayStation look like the shining light of those markets.

Although what he said about the Middle East was far more ignorant and offensive, he is also painfully ignorant when it comes to Spain. Similarly to other European countries like the UK, Spain had a thriving market and bedroom coder based development culture in the 1980s and early 90s. Unlike the US and Japan, gaming was overwhelmingly about micro computers, mostly ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, MSX and Amstrad and later PC, Commodore Amiga and Atari ST. While the Master System was decently popular, the NES was not a thing in Spain at all. But in the early 90s, both main 16bit console systems (Mega Drive and SNES) were super popular in Spain and heavily marketed. So no, Spain didn't have "a very small gaming industry before Playstation". In fact, many consider the period from the mid-80s to the early 90s as the golden age of Spanish video game development.

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Yeah, I'm not even in Europe but the Spain comment seemed pretty ignorant to me based on all the Spanish sellers of classic games on ebay, and the history of development on 8-bit computers with publishers like Dinamic.

 

[Onlywantsapples]

Palestinian American here, but nearly every family member of mine who grew up in the 70s in Lebanon as refugees, grew up with the Atari. My aunt (who doesn't game anymore), used to play with a Gameboy during the late 90s and early 2000s.

When I lived in Syria circa 2004, I was one of the few people who actually owned a PS2. Most of my friends used to spend their free time in gaming cafes.

The vehement defending of this sack of shit, on this forum is extremely tiring. Let Arabs and people who actually live in the region say how the statement made them feel and if it's accurate instead of yall's asses, trying to pretend like you have any insight into the region.

 

[DOT_mjo]

How has someone not pulled Jim Ryan to the side and told him to stop putting his foot in his mouth? Sony releases banger after banger and this dolt continues to say stupid shit ruining all good hype.

 

[Onlywantsapples]

Also, something I just thought of now that the thread is reopened... You never see Shuntaro Furukawa or Phil Spencer in the headlines every other month for saying something rude, disrespectful or out-of-touch. It's pretty much only Jim Ryan that keeps cropping up with some nonsense-at-best, insulting-at-worst comments. If it were a one-time thing, sure, it happens, we say one thing and mean another. But it's a constantly recurring theme with Jim.

Just a thought for the people who say that we should know what he "meant" when he said such comments. If he means one thing, he should say that and not something else. The other Big 3 CEOs seem to have figured out basic PR.

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but you don't understand the onus is on us to decipher what this empty suit is saying, and not the empty suit to make sure he doesn't say anything grossly offensive!

how dare we

 

[Shakerovic]

"Need for Speed before PS1"

anyway Jimbo probably meant officially? not sure if Sony was the first company to enter the market officially or if it was all imported i was a kid and don't really remember, but Jim is wrong and we certainly had gaming back then, i remember when i was a kid playing on Nintendo Family system and Sega mega drive before PS1, also there were arcades too

 

[Rosenkrantz]

Heh, I can't speak for the Middle East, but since Jimbo mentioned Russia in the same interview, I think I'm qualified enough to say that while PlayStation is indeed the strongest console brand today, PSX and PS2 were popular machines due to how easily moddable they are and an abundance of cheap, bootleg software for them, it was and still is light years behind of PC gaming. All of our gaming magazines at the time were only covering PC games, a tv show like От Винта was dedicated to PC releases, hell, I'm not even sure companies like Softclub and 1C had licensing deals on consoles before PS3 hit the shelves while working on PC market since the mid-late 90s.

 

[Pokémon]

Good to see people calling him out on the ignorant statements. Knowing some people on this site though once Sony releases sales numbers for the last quarter I can already picture all the sarcastic "B-b-but Jimbo" posts to defend the dude again and deflect from his problematic statements.

 

[clay_ghost]

Its really disheartening to read people defending Jim's statement.
What's the point of doing so? Its not helping Sony and will only piss out more people.

 

[Loxley]

People really need to just stop asking Jim Ryan questions at this point.

 

[Spacecowboy]

I... don't know what to say?

As a middle easterner, I had game consoles since I was.. 4 maybe? So more than 35 years?

From what I remember, we had: Atari 2600, NES, Gameboy, SNES, Sega Mega Drive, PS1, PS2, PS3, XBOX 360...

All of which were bought in store because my parents always went to the same brand store.

We also had a PC that was capable of gaming all thought that period. And I can't say my parent were rich or anything, it was pretty common.

So yeah, ignorant statement.

 

[WetWaffle]

I'm starting to think Jim Ryan might not be good at PR. It's likely he misspoke but still you think he would have sounded this out in his head before saying it. Don't think Andrew House or Shawn Layden ever had any gaffes like this.

 

[Puroresu_kid]

The defence force is laughable.

It's a very offensive comment to make and one that many use when describing what happens in the middle East.

It's like some people think up until the 90's everyone in the middle East lived in the desert with a camel.

 

[AfterTheFall]

Jim Ryan *Probability of foot in mouth

 

[Splader]

As a Lebanese American who grew up in Lebanon in the 90's (with a whole extended family there), this is certainly wrong, at least in the literal sense that he said it. People played games lol. We definitely played on Atari, Sega, had arcades, etc. People had Game Boys, though those were rarer.

Still, I...think he was trying to say that PlayStation expanded the market in a huge way? I hope? I don't know, I'm not personally insulted by it, but he should probably use better phrasing next time lol.

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That's definitely what he was trying to say, but it's still very much a "foot in mouth" moment.

 

[Firima]

So now it's not just the next generation that doesn't start until Sony says it does, but gaming in general?

ok

 

[Dr. Ludwig]

Old racist white dudes from Britain being ignorant about the Middle East is like a time honored tradition.

 

[Deleted member 11008]

Its really disheartening to read people defending Jim's statement.
What's the point of doing so? Its not helping Sony and will only piss out more people.

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Something something Jim have better data than people anecdotes.

 

[gremlinz1982]

it's not controversial maybe? Someone can be ignorant on something and it not come from a place of malice. And it seems like Jim Ryan speaking is controversial on era when he's just a PR parrot for his company. The cancel culture spirit is too crazy on here, he gets quoted all the time for normal ass lines.

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This ain't it.

The man has made so many wrong comments, outright lied at times. Maybe the controversy keeps PlayStation in the conversation, who knows.

I am from a third world country, and we were playing Game Boy, Nintendo 64, Mega Drive and some of the cheap consoles whose names I cannot remember. What I will say, especially in East Africa was that Sony got into the industry at the right time and some people were willing to invest in gaming cafes to try and bridge that demand. One no longer needed to own a console to be part of gaming, or go to an upmarket mall to have an opportunity at gaming.

Sometimes, a company is there at the right time.

 

[RROCKMAN]

Too bad Jim Ryan can't just shut the hell up

 

[Mesharey]

We have MSX, Atari, NES, Genesis, and this is just my family and my uncles.

I also have Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Gear (still have it).

 

[Transistor]

It's almost as if Jim Ryan isn't great as the public face of the brand.

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You'll get no argument from me. I have no doubt he's a good businessman, but on the PR® front, his misses are more memorable than his hits.

 

[Charsace]

This statement from Jim has bad energy. And this is him trying to be PC too in how he answers. Says a lot about him.

 

[spineduke]

Still, I...think he was trying to say that PlayStation expanded the market in a huge way? I hope? I don't know, I'm not personally insulted by it, but he should probably use better phrasing next time lol.

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The Playstation brand expanded the market everywhere, not just specifically the M.E.

And just like everywhere else in the world videogaming was present prior to Sony and in demand.

What Jim said was 1) completely redundant since PS pushed the needle everywhere 2) wrong since there was plenty of videogaming, of arcades, of netcafes, of video game consoles. The market existed and thrived just like anywhere else in the world.

Something something Jim have better data than people anecdotes.

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I'll tell you something about the British at large. They were former colonizers, including many countries in the Middle East. And in many ways they attempted to modernize country rule before handing over the colonies. Laws, infrastructure, form of governance etc. The UAE for example was founded as a state in 1971. Well within Ryan's age. Doesn't surprise if he carries on that white savior complex that his countrymen have established throughout that era. I can't tell you how often people cracked camel or tent jokes about arabs in general during the 90s.

This man isn't pulling some unpublished data from his data science teams, he's pulling out his biases and making himself look like a complete idiot.

 

[canderous]

"No gaming culture ever."

The reality is probably that they saw a market in the Middle East so they expanded to it, but somehow it's been internally twisted to Playstation bringing the gift of gaming to the Middle East. They (corporate) must be constantly patting themselves on the back.

Jim is so bad at PR.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

big white anglo man "we brought civilization to the savages" energy

 

[BubblegumNemesis]

Sony can't seem to get a PR win lately, what a weird remark

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Hubris.

 

[Deleted member 46804]

Still, I...think he was trying to say that PlayStation expanded the market in a huge way? I hope? I don't know, I'm not personally insulted by it, but he should probably use better phrasing next time lol.

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We shouldn't say things like "I think he was trying to say" when it comes to an offensive statement. He said what he said and if he would like to come out and clarify or more importantly apologize then he should. Also saying you aren't personally offended by his statement doesn't make his statement less offensive.

 

[Lord Fanny]

PlayStation brand so powerful it rebooted the entire history of gaming in the Middle East.

 

[Golbez]

It appears Jim never runs out of dumb things to say in interviews.

 

[Altair]

Imagine your first response to this being "oh that's not what he actually meant". When your first reaction is to jump to the defense of a major corporation because the head of your favorite company said something stupid you really need to look in the mirror. What he said was stupid.

 

[shinobi602]

We shouldn't say things like "I think he was trying to say" when it comes to an offensive statement. He said what he said and if he would like to come out and clarify or more importantly apologize then he should. Also saying you aren't personally offended by his statement doesn't make his statement less offensive.

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Please don't imply that "we" are all the same. It takes a lot to get "me" riled up, probably more than the norm, so sometimes a person can interpret things differently mentally than others. It's without a doubt a completely ignorant thing to say on Jim's part. Still, I'm not telling others how to feel about it, but I'm allowed to share my thoughts on it too as a Middle Eastern person.

 

[Axumar]

Lol the defense force was full on. I'm honestly surprised, there's clearly nothing to defend here regardless of intention. It's a pretty bad statement.

Late 80s-early 90s was the golden age of translating games/systems to Arabic. Sony has only made that step recently with the PS4, and it was mostly thanks to those working hard in the middle eastern side of Sony to make it a reality. Jim is clearly clueless.

 

[thankyoumerzbow]

with all the money sony is making they need to hire a spokeperson so they can keep jim ryan as far away from a microphone as they possible can

 

[PlanetSmasher]

You'll get no argument from me. I have no doubt he's a good businessman, but on the PR® front, his misses are more memorable than his hits.

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I still don't know why he hasn't just hired a PR guru to take over the public statements for him. His interviews are as boring as day-old dishwater on a good day, and the ones that aren't boring are actively embarrassing for him specifically, and for the company at large. Is he so arrogant that he needs people to remember he exists at all times?

 

[Sir Sonic]

as a middle east man... what Jimmy says is not THAT sensitive to Ban anyone who interpret it as something more positive. It isn't worth it that much
It's just funny how he really says there was no Gaming Culture here before PS came.

Just don't believe him. Please. His wording is wrong or whatever. That last sentence is just wrong

 

[GSG]

Having lived in the middle east prior to the launch of the PS1, he's wrong, but I'm assuming that he meant gaming in an official capacity because I only remember there ever being bootleg consoles and games.

 

[Atom]

big white anglo man "we brought civilization to the savages" energy

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Very much this. I had a mental image of one of those renaissance style paintings depicting the meeting of the conquistadors and indigenous peoples, except it's just Jimbo stepping off a plane carrying a playstation 5.

 

[Lumination]

I feel like I've read nothing but stupid statement after stupid statement from this guy.

 

[strudelkuchen]

His Russia comment also seems rather strange. Is he just ignoring the PC market?

 

[KAMI-SAMA]

I'm coming into this thread late so not sure if people covered it or not but is it possible Jim is missing a few words here that he should have realized? Did he mean parts of the Middle East? The Middle East has like 20+ countries and aren't just one big conglomerate. My Arab friends tell me there are differences amongst one another. Like Gulf Arabs are different than Levant Arabs as an example. Either way, Jim keeps going 1 step forward, 2 steps back.

 

[Onlywantsapples]

I'm coming into this thread late so not sure if people covered it or not but is it possible Jim is missing a few words here that he should have realized? Did he mean parts of the Middle East? The Middle East has like 20+ countries and aren't just one big conglomerate. My Arab friends tell me there are differences amongst one another. Like Gulf Arabs are different than Levant Arabs as an example. Either way, Jim keeps going 1 step forward, 2 steps back.

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I kinda wondered this, because to be blunt, the console gaming scene is a lot more vibrant in the gulf states compared to at least where I've lived and been in the levant states (mostly Lebanon and Syria).

I was in Lebanon in 2017, and I hardly saw anyone with PS3s or PS4s. I entered a store that cells CDs and they were still selling PS2 games, and you could enter a store and still buy a chipped PS2, but otherwise, it felt like PC gaming cafe territory.

To be blunt, over the past 2-3 years, gaming is probably the last thing on the minds of Lebanese, given rising inflation and an overall horrific economic situation. People are struggling to pay for food.

 

[Soheil]

I live in Iran and I had Sega Genesis. There weren't any official distributors (just like now) which is a big shame because Iran is probably the biggest market of gaming in the Middleeast

I remember most of my friends having Sega Genesis or NES back in those days.

Also, Atari 2600 was quite famous back then. I remember Arcades as well. Lots of people also used to play games on PC.

So this statement is completely wrong.