Square Enix Seeks Mobile Game Opportunity in Indonesia

Last week, I and some media reporter got a chance to meet people from Square Enix: Takashi Tokita – Producer, Senior Manager Mobile Business, Sachiko Takahashi – Senior Manager, Business Development Corporate Planning Division dan Hayato Sawada -Project Investment Manager Division. They attended the public lecture and introduction to Game Ideas Competition event held by Mikti in ITB.

Surely I would not discuss about game or Square Enix game development. I am more interested in startup issues in game segment in Indonesia especially Bandung, more specific in mobile gaming.

There are some mobile game studio appear recently and some of them have been existing since long time and gives enough focus not only on game product they develop but also the startup game itself. Some of them are Anantarupa, Elasitas, Onebit, and in Bandung there are Nightspade which is funded by East Ventures, and Agate with its mass production of mobile game.

There are many more game studio in Bandung and other new startup join this segment. It is possible that those game studios have the same thought with Square Enix that smartphones and other mobile device provides next opportunity for games. Users may playing games anywhere and take their favorite game wherever they go. As explained by Takashi Tokita in his presentation, smartphone penetration provides huge opportunity for games, just like what Square Enix observed. This is could be one of reason for Square Enix why they make an idea game competition in cooperation with Mikti

Square Enix is well known with their non-mobile game but they find out that there is a new trend appears together with moving gadget penetration. They would like to add new segment in their game portfolio even though they already owned game in mobile area and have cooperated with many partners in mobile gaming. This time they feel like putting more focus on their activities.

There are some points about why they are here in Indonesia. Takashi explained about Indonesia’s population, market opportunities, taste (Indonesian taste of game is similar with Japanese) and also a chance to bring Japan game to Indonesia. This becomes some kind of game localization which previously only launched in Japan for Indonesia and vice versa.

Besides giving public lecture in ITB, Square Enix also visit two studios in Bandung: one game studio and one animation studio. Takashi finds that the development there is similar to Japan 20 years ago where a studio is managed by young men and hard workers, such a nostalgic experience for him.

Will Square Enix acquired local - Indonesia game developers? Takashi said that they have not plan it yet. They choose to cooperate and there are still many opportunities even without acquisition. They would like to optimize the cooperation since they are well-experienced in working together with many people.

There is an opinion that Indonesian gamer choose to download free mobile game instead of the paid one. In this case Takashi explained that they have been dealing with this issue in many kind of market not only here in Indonesia. This will be the focus of Square Enix strategy in developing interesting games including observation in Facebook Games segment.

In the end of this article there are some tips from Takashi for game developers. Game title should be easy to understand since it is important to explain the game generally. The title may also have some local aspect. The game concept must be solid, no changes during the development process. Finally, before the end of the game development progress Takashi suggested pay less focus on the details.

This public lecturer also held for promoting Game Ideas Competition held by Mikti and Square Enix, this competition holds two categories. The first one is game idea for Android which will have 10 winners with prize IDR 3,000,000 for each winner. These 10 winners will be asked to develop game in some allocated time and the best 3 will come as the final winner with total prize IDR 30,000,000. The game will be published by Square Enix.

The second category is game competition for those who have developed games but have not published in Android. There will be three winners with total prize IDR 30,000,000. The winner’s game will get a chance to be published by Square Enix and the winner will keep the royalty. Square Enix also came to Jakarta and Yogjakarta. For further information about game idea competition, click here.