Trade body Iran National Foundation of Computer Games has a booth at the Gamescom event in Cologne, Germany, showcasing the latest games developed domestically in Iran.
"We are using this event to promote what is happening in the Iranian games industry," Amir Tarbyatjoui, who is managing the booth at Gamescom, told the BBC. "We believe we have more potential and we want to promote that potential."
Titles include an Iran-Iraq War tank shooter, a platformer set in Persia, a adventure game starring a girl named Sara, a title about the early days of the Islamic Revolution and a RPG based on Iranian mythology. Unlike Western developers, Iranian devs are using their own mythos — something rarely tapped in gaming — for their own original titles.
The BBC asked Iranian game developer Bahram Borgheai about Special Operation 85: Hostage Rescue — a title in which Iranian players battle American and Israeli forces to save nuclear scientists.
"It certainly wasn't released there and the first I heard about it was through the international media," he said. "If it was made then I would guess they just took an existing game and stuck a few textures and the like onto it; it certainly wasn't a new game."
But, for the sake of argument, let me ask this. Real regimes or fictional ones, how would it be any worse than, say, Call of Duty?
The Iranian developers plan to attend E3 next year, but there will not be a dedicated booth for Iranian games.