There’s one place where active gamers meet worldwide, and that’s Twitch, a gaming-dedicated social platform that offers a life a chat tool and comfortable streaming options. With general lockdowns forcing people to stay home longer, Twitch has been increasing in popularity in countries with high numbers of gamers and streamers like the US, South Korea, and the MENA region. Also, the human need to creating new connections and social relationships found in Twitch is the ideal resource. Worldwide online multiplayer games have become a reason to interact with other people online.
Sociality Behind Online Gaming
For those familiar with land-based gaming venues like casinos, the recent lockdowns were probably one of the worst experiences in life. Pro gamblers and everyone who plays games regularly couldn’t meet in their favorite casino as they used to do before the pandemic. Consequently, they started focusing on online casinos: this trend appears common to many countries, from the US to Australia, from Germany to Saudi Arabia, from China to Canada.
The growing demand for online games and, in particular, casino games has made digital casino sites emerge more quickly in certain regions. 7alal Casino is one of the most recommended resources for Roulette online games, poker, video poker, live blackjack tournaments, and slots for Arab players in the Middle East region. Even the world’s most expert and active casino gamblers recognize this Arab casino site as a brilliant resource for everyone.
Along with casino games, PC games and mobile games have a significant role, too. These electronic games are easy to access, funny, and brain-engaging: the best way to fill free time during pandemic periods. The chance to virtually get in touch with other passionate gamers in the world is attractive as a cherry on top of a cake. That is what makes Twitch be an essential gaming tool.
Twitch And Its Language Options
All you have to do to interact with other gamers is to access Twitch, create your account, and customize it by choosing the language option that is more comfortable for you. Here is where Twitch has a surprise in store for you. In fact, of the 29 options currently available on the platform, the Arabic language is still missing.
The lack of Arabic on Twitch looks weird if you consider that Arabic is the fifth most-spoken language on the planet after English, Chinese Mandarin, Hindi, and Spanish. Why does Twitch recognize minor languages like the Basque dialect and neglect Arabic? If you want to put in numbers, the Basque dialect is spoken by about 13 million people while the Arabic language has about 274 million speakers. As you can see, there’s a big gap between these two languages.
Many Arabic-speakers can’t understand another language at all, which precludes them from using Twitch. They can’t navigate through the platform, search for other gamers, and follow their streams. That is a loss for the Twitch company: on the one hand, Twitch is losing all the Arab users who can only speak their mother tongue, these users tend to choose different gaming platforms; on the other hand, Twitch is also losing a large number of Arab users who can’t grow their viewership, these users may decide to migrate toward other platforms in the same industry, as well.
The Arab Gaming Market Is Expanding Meanwhile
Although Twitch doesn’t offer any chance for Arab gamers to use the platform in their native language, the gaming market in the MENA region is experiencing impressive growth. During the latest years, relevant gaming companies like the Dubai-based Geekay Group marked history in the global gaming marketplace by signing new commercial agreements with prominent game development studios.
The region stands out also for the increasing presence of gaming-dedicated platforms for pro streamers and eSports communities. Many young talented gamers are reaching the top highest levels with their game streams. If Twitch continues to neglect the Arabic language, it would be nonsense as this affects the company revenue. What could help Arab gamers who want to reach more viewers on Twitch? According to pro streamers, a fully localized user interface could help a lot.
What Will Twitch Decide To Do For Arab Gamers?
Despite all requests from active Arab gamers to Twitch to include their native language as a default option, the platform’s representative recently affirmed that they can’t comment nor release any interview on this topic right now.
Arab streamers will certainly continue posing the question to the company of Twitch: for them is reassuring to know that they can always find a place to socialize and interact even during lockdown periods. The digitalization of our era keeps people apart more often, which is a worrying social change: this is why gaming platforms should offer a comfortable environment to develop social connection and communication.
