TEHRAN-The 9th edition of Fajr Video Games Festival concluded on Saturday night in a ceremony held at Vahdat Hall in Tehran in the presence of the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance. 

Winners of various sections of the festival received their awards from Mohammad-Mehdi Esmaeili at the closing ceremony, Mehr reported on Sunday.

The Golden Ghazaal for the best game of the year was presented to “Ambassador of Love” by Mehdi Jafari-Jozani and the People’s Choice award also went to another game by Jafari-Jozani titled “The Commander of the Resistance: Amerli Battle”.

A third-person action-adventure video game, “Ambassador of Love” is narrated by Mehran, an Iranian man, who embarks on a journey from the Iranian city of Rey to Kufa, Iraq, to visit Muslim ibn Aqil, the messenger of Imam Hussein (AS), who went to Kufa a few days before the Ashura uprising that led to the martyrdom of the Imam and his companions in 680.

The first-person shooter PC game “The Commander of the Resistance: Amerli Battle” pitches players against Islamic State militants laying siege to Amerli town in Iraq based on a real-life event that took place in 2014. The siege was broken due to the relentless efforts of the resistance cells in the city of Amerli, and the command and support of the Iranian Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.

Organized by Iran Computer and Video Games Foundation, Fajr Video Games Festival seeks to encourage local video game developers as their activities have been hampered by the economic sanctions against Iran. The sanctions prevent their licensing of major game engines and also their participation in international trade has been limited.

Video games are among the most popular hobbies of Iranians and the average age of an Iranian gamer is 25. According to the official statistics in 2022, Iran has 34 million gamers, about 40% of them are female. In 2022, the total population of the country was 84 million people. Among all the gamers, approximately 58% play online, and 56% of them play every day. Iranian gamers play with mobile phones, home consoles, and personal computers.

SS/SAB