Gaming convention in Turkey draws major industry players

Over 20,000 people from across Turkey and Europe have gathered at GameX 2017 in Istanbul in an event that has become one of the biggest gaming conventions in Europe and the Middle East.

From some of the biggest multiplayer online role-playing games in the world, such as Black Desert and Knights of the Dungeon, to Turkey's first homemade game Soldiers of the Universe, the event has it all.

The local gaming industry is expected to get a boost through the event.

"There are 30 million gamers in Turkey but most of their spending goes towards foreign games. So it was about time that the Turkish gaming industry grew and made in Turkey games also brought back income into the country," said Halil Karabulut, Marketing Manager, Soldier of the Universe.

Turkish gamers spend more than 70 percent of their time on computers playing games - the third highest in the world after Poland and Russia.

Game developers seek to cater to this section of the local population.

"In Turkey, the Cosplay market has started to get bigger but we hope in five years we will have much better experience and explain to people how cosplay is cool. My personal dream is to bring Comicon to Turkey,”said Ilker Gulener, CEO Zen Cosplay.

At the convention, it's not just the games that are drawing crowds, it's the characters as well.

Hundreds of fans can be seen dressed up as their favourite heroes and villains.

TRT World's Sourav Roy has more.