Can PC games encourage peace in the Middle East? A team of game developers from the northern Israeli town of Karmiel believes that love for gaming can bridge any conflict or disagreement.

M.E.C, (Middle East Crisis) takes place in the Middle East and reenacts long years of regional conflict.

“Our story plot will sweep gamers into an exciting experience that reflects the various aspects of the bloody Middle East conflict,” explains Amir Rahom, game producer at 3EEL. “It will enable gamers to get to know and experience all sides of the conflict. During one part of the game, a gamer might be leading the Israeli army, and during another part of the gaming, commanding the Iranian army.”

The gaming industry apparently enjoyed a big boost from the COVID-19 lockdowns, and this multi-billion dollar industry is on its way to becoming a mainstream entertainment medium, with Netflix, Amazon, HBO and other content giants joining the trend. At the same time, the real-time strategy genre is making a glorious comeback.

“Millions of RTS gamers are yearning for new releases but not necessarily themes such as fantasy and mythology; they want realistic, modern war games,” reports Adir Lombrozo, Product VP at 3EEL. “Our engaging narrative and gameplay will give this huge audience what it wants – authentic, modern war games. To achieve this authentic look and feel and hyper-realistic design, we are working with colleagues from Iran, Syria, Gaza and more. Some of them can’t even expose their real identities, fearing that their local authorities won’t accept that they are working with Israelis.”

With its pre-alpha version recently finalized, M.E.C should be released less than two years from now, and 3EEL is about to launch a marketing campaign focused on building the game’s community. Together with working on the game development and marketing, the team is also undertaking a first funding round that will enable them to continue the project.