Launching a Gaming studio in Singapore Challenges and Opportunities Alban Villani FOREVER YOUNG STUDIO

2 HOW DID WE END UP DOING GAMES? Digital & Video Advertising since 2008 Games & Gamification since 2010 SIMILARITIES IN PRODUCTION Process Stress Tech constraints Innovation-driven Social Media Platform Serious Gaming Gamification PARTNERS GAMING IS THE SUM OF ALL OUR EXPERTISES

WHY DO WE MAKE GAMES IN ASIA? MOTIVATION

4 CASE STUDY – WHAKAN STATUS Released in Q FEATURES 50 characters to interact with 200 collectible spells with their own illustration and animation 5 regions to explore Draw Runes on screen to cast spells Original music Digital art llustrations for the story Back-end editor for Battle, Game Balance and Map positioning

5 CASE STUDY – RESULTS 5 COMMERCIAL 1.100,000+ downloads 2.90% Freemium / 10% Paid app 3.Conversion rate: 1.7% 4.Average spending: 4.9 SGD 5.Main markets: US/CH/KR/RUS/FR/JP/INDO RECOGNITION – 4.5 STARS worldwide ( Stars) – 1,000 fans on Facebook – Spotted by major publishers: GREE, DeNA, GAMEVIL, GUMI – Spontaneous reviews – Investor deal for Whakan’s sequel to be officially announced in July 2013

6 CASE STUDY – POSTMORTEM SUPPORT/CONSTRAINTS – IDEAS+ Budget: 48,000 SGD Reimbursement-based – M-ASSIST – OFFICE (G.S.C) ‒TIME ~1 year of negotiation ~3 months of completion WHAT WE GOT RIGHT 1.Completed on time with a small team 2.Full-game instead of a Prototype 3.Additional funds from Homemade kickstarter 4.Unique identity, design 5.Monetization model: we used the game as a test 6.Creation of an editor 1.Go for iOS only (budget) 2.Go for single player 3.Launch = wrong version 4.Size (>150Mb) 5.Self-Publishing 6.MDA = no advisors 7.Local startup ecosystem 8.Design not sexy enough for Publishers WHERE WE WERE WRONG

7 MYTHS vs REALITY OPPORTUNITIES – MDA + GSC – IDA – SPRING – P.I.C and other tax incentives – Incubators – Singapore position in APAC: PR / Partners / Culture / Markets – Strong Publishing environment – Network of small, talented and resilient studios – Still cheaper to create a game in Asia THREATS – MDA Guidelines & Delays – New visa restrictions – Shortage of skills: visa / bigger studios – Tech: unstable market (iOS? Android? Facebook? Blackberry?) + Singapore tries to push HTML5 (Singtel, MDA/IDA), which poses a lot of problems for programming – Publishers: market flooded with clones and cheap productions making money – Investors: very cautious/Easier US, EU

What’s Next? iOS/Android Multiplayer 8 WORD GAME End June 2013 WHAKAN WARS Q3 2013