Can games tell you what’s happening in a country…?

We had a very successful debut of a game called “Fab Tattoo Artist” on the iTunes stores today.

It’s an iPad game that looks like this:

While looking at the global ranks of the game on https://appfigures.com, I noticed something very strange:

While the Game had reached the top 10 position in the UK and had achieved top ranks in 63 Countries (see above), the highest rank was in Bahrain!!

Bahrain??

What was the connection between Tattoos and Bahrain?

I dug a little deeper and googled the keywords.

The results were quite shocking:

Apparently, Tattoos are frowned upon in Bahrain!

And hence a ‘Virtual Tattoo’ game that allowed consumers to pretend to play with tattoos was trending to becoming the #1 game in that country?

In the past, at Games2win, we have seen that games have a great sync with a country’s passion.

For example, in India, where Cricket and Marriages are common and popular, it is not surprising for us to see 2-3 of our games reach top app ranks:

But the Tattoo and Bahrain example took games as “insight collecting trojan horses” to another level!

What I deduced was :

– Consumers are always searching and craving for what they ‘want’. That ‘search’ is now virtual: on Google as well as the app stores.

– Games like Fab Tattoo Artist allow consumers to PRIVATELY enjoy their aspirations, in the comfort of their palms and the safety of their homes.

– Social media like Twitter and Facebook rapidly spread the availability of such content. So fans become the greatest marketers of products.

– Governments  find it IMPOSSIBLE to control every app on every store that becomes instantly available in the hands of millions of consumers. If they ban App Stores themselves, then governments (will) become extremely unpopular!

Hence, governments will HAVE TO REFORM themselves – rather than reforming their people.

– The greatest democratic movement in the world will be led by free flowing, unstoppable digital content that will allow consumers to express themselves the way they like!

– Consumer VOICES will be gauged by what is downloaded and consumed. Digital content consumption will tell governments what their citizens want or what they hate!

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LONG LIVE DIGITAL MEDIA AND THE FREEDOM IT PROMISES.

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