Syria refugees in Turkey develop game downloaded by 45m users

A group of Syrian programmers who escaped the civil war in Syria in 2011 and moved to Turkey have developed a mobile game which has been downloaded by 45 million users.

Wolves Interactive was initially established in 2016 by electric engineer Ahmed Allazkani, software specialists Khaled Almouthtar and Karam Bwidani and 3D design specialist Wael Dayoub at the Teknopark of Yildiz Technical University in Istanbul.

Allazkani said their game, Traffic Tour, has been a hit and has been downloaded by 45 million mobile users around the world, while the other game, Motobike, has been downloaded by five million users.

Allazkani said the game, which is available in 16 languages, so far earned $800,000.

“Our goal is to reach 250 million people within two years,” he said, adding that the company currently employs 15 people – 20 per cent of them Turkish – with a plan to increase the number of employees to 50 within three years.

Allazkani said the company has restrictions on ads featured in their games, stressing that they do not accept ads that might harm children or affect social values.

He explained that the company faces some obstacles as they are unable to participate in local and international exhibitions because not all of their employees have been able to obtain Turkish citizenship and are therefore restricted on travel.

READ: Cat sprints across the finish line at Turkey Balkan U20 race