MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

PRELIMINARY
RESEARCH
on TOYS & GAMES INDUSTRY
and ALANYA

by METU Royale Flush

 1. Table of Contents:

PAGE
1. Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………………………. 2
2. Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………………… 3
3. Overview of Research Paper………………………………………………………………… 4
4. Detailed Research…………………………………………………………………………………. 5
A ) Industry Of Toys & Video Games……………………………………………… 5
B ) Integration Of Tourism And History Into Toys
And Games Industry …………………………………………………………………………………. 6
C ) Importance Of Presentation And Retail………………………………… 7
5. Summary and Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….. 7
6. References……………………………………………………………………………………………. 8

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 2. Executive Summary

Development of games and toys industry can easily be noticed by a look at both sales
reports of companies and global demand for them. Video games industry and toys industry
are the most remarkable parts of this sector. Toys industry stands out with its great variety
for people from all ages and interests. On the other hand, video games industry is powerful
because of its high popularity, financial growth and its regularly refreshed trends. Therefore,
our choice from types of games is video games.
Tourism and history are suitable fields for toys&games industry and Alanya is very
appropriate for a video game due to its history which begins from Hellenistic Period and
various touristic places which can be well presented in high quality graphics.
Tourism is always an important source for a country and a touristic place such as
Alanya with such unique beauties should have a worldwide reputation. As a result,
advertisement for Alanya becomes more important and integrating Alanya Castle into the
most preferred games would be very helpful and profitable for both company that produces
the games and the country that can use the reputation of this touristic town.

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 3. Overview of Research Paper

The research on “Toys&Games Industry and Alanya” and proposals are set out in
three parts.
Part 1 -) Industry of Toys & Video Games: The first part provides a brief
overview of the todays toys&games industry and tomorrow’s trends in this sector.
Part 2-) Integration of Tourism And History Into Toys And Games Industry:
This part gives the advantages of integrating history into games and Alanya’s values
which could be used in games.
Part 3-) Importance of Presentation And Retail: In this part presentation of
the historical and touristic places and retail of games are examined in unity.

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 4. Detailed Research

A ) INDUSTRY OF TOYS & VIDEO GAMES

In recent years, the growth of games and toys industry can obviously be noticed not
only by looking the sales reports of companies but also by the high demand for them all over
the world. The most significant sector of this industry, as toys industry and video games
industry, can be examined from different perspectives.
Toy industry is a huge and improving one with wide chance of choices for all ages and
increasing demand. The important point about toy industry is the variety. For instance,
amazon.com suggests 537,921 types of toys&games today for its customers. The variety
changes not only in types of toys but also in prices of toys, such as stickers for $ 0,01 or
modular play set for $ 25.447,19 [1].
Industry of video games is the most important one of entertainment sector with its
financial power and huge interest of users. This sector is leading a big international market
and its independent increase of revenues can be seen from Chart 1. For example, Grand
Theft Auto 4 made a sale of $500 million during its opening week despite the economic
crisis. Another point is that demand on this industry forces the developers to make new
trends to remain their popularity and profit. For instance, they add map and scenario editors
in order to make games more individual.

Chart 1 [2]

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 B ) INTEGRATION OF TOURISM AND HISTORY INTO TOYS AND GAMES INDUSTRY

Tourism and history has always attracted different industries and toys&games
industry is one step further than the others in adapting history and touristic places. Alanya
can be a good example for integration of history and touristic places into games and toys.
Alanya and its cultural inheritage could be classified in three parts according to their
advantages for integrating into games. Firstly, history of town which goes back to Hellenistic
Period in time can be used in real-time
strategy games such as Age of Empires,
Empire Earth. A campaign to conquer Alanya
Castle is probably the most suitable way for
these kinds of games. Secondly, touristic
places of Alanya can be presented by the
[3] Alanya Castle and view of town
games
with high graphics. The castle and the ruins around could be used in strategy games with
historical background. Scenic beauties like caves and forests or views from castle[3] could
also be integrated to first-person action games. Finally, Alanya has a huge cultural richness,
for instance there are 262.240 people living, 10.000 of
which are permanent living foreigners and there are
ethnographic museums like Kızıl Kule[5] where Alanya
Jazz Days are held. Thus, this cultural richness of the
town could be used in real-life simulation games like
SIMS or online simulations like Second Life.
[5] Kızıl Kule

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 C ) IMPORTANCE OF PRESENTATION AND RETAIL

Nowadays with the increasing interest in tourism, the presentation of unique

touristic places becomes more important. As mentioned in the article “Packaging A
Nation”[4], the strategy of “brand theory” could help countries to attract people. As an
evidence, New Zealand, where were serving as the gorgeous real-world fairy-tale backdrop
to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, increased the country’s annual income from tourism
between 1999 and 2005 from $3.2 billion to $5.2 billion (2007, page 2). Attracting 1, 5
million tourists every year[6], however, Alanya could not make the reputation all over the
world which it actually deserves. In order to achieve this, integrating Alanya Castle into the
most preferred games would be an appropriate initiative. This enterprise means profit for
companies and reputation and chance of presentation for Alanya.

5. Summary and Conclusion

Integration of tourism and history into video games is worthwhile for toys&video
games industries and also for Alanya’s presentation. As mentioned, creating a video game
which is based on Alanya Castle, could be useful to make known Alanya and to gain more
attraction because of the high interest in video games and the chance of giving more
knowledge about Alanya. On the other hand, companies will gain more profit and prestige
by producing games based on the presentation of their countries’ unheard values.
In order to create an appropriate video game about Alanya, further investigation
should be made for the best visuality in game, such as scenes from different perspective of
Alanya’s scenic beauties and for history of the town to create appropriate scenarios,
legendry etc.

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 6. References

[1]
Sticker : http://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-Grimer-Pokemon-50HP
Modular Play Set : http://www.amazon.com/SportsPlay-Katherine-Modular-Play-911-
129/dp/B0010DY5Q6

[2]
http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Video_game_industry

[3]
http://alanya.bel.tr/ecard.asp?ID=54

[4]
Packaging a Nation, January 2007
Retrieved from: http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/packaging-a-nation

[5]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C4%B1z%C4%B1l_Kule
http://www.alanya.bel.tr/ecard.asp?ID=37

[6]
http://www.alanya.bel.tr/rakalanya.asp