Vietnam game developers supported by practical applications

GameHub, a contest designed to identify and invest in promising game projects, made its debut at Vietnam GameVerse 2024, held at Phu Tho Arena in Ho Chi Minh City on May 11-12.

During the nomination and presentation round, which featured dozens of projects, the expert council selected six finalists. They are The Scourge (horror genre), Rune Seeker (turn-based strategy), Lacbird Intedify (educational game), Silkroad Origin Mobile (role-playing), Magic Typer (educational), and Animal Push Royale (role-playing, battle royale).

Each candidate presented their game for 5 minutes, discussing ideas, content, and development plans, followed by a 10-minute session to secure funding and respond to questions from investors and partners.

The event not only drew interest from investors but also captivated hundreds of game enthusiasts who enthusiastically cheered after each presentation.

Project representatives expressed their honor in reaching the finale and extended good wishes to their peers, hoping to collaborate in furthering their projects and advancing the Vietnamese gaming community internationally.

Representatives of six finalist projects at GameHub contest. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

The first game project presented was The Scourge from developer Rare Reverse, which has released a demo and received a lot of positive feedback.

The horror-genre game was expected to be officially released around August or October.

Currently, Rare Reverse has invested VND4 billion (US$157,140) to develop this game and hopes it could sell 50,000 copies, with each copy costing about $12.

The representative called on investors to not only gain profits from selling games but also export Vietnamese culture to the world through playing games.

After the presentation, the project received the attention of four judges and investors.

They appreciated when the game has Vietnamese elements, but they were also interested in the revenue structure, production process, and potential of the game when it is brought to market. Tough questions were answered convincingly by the developer.

Rare Reverse's representative. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

The second presentation came from Rune Seeker game developer Monster Box.

He started with a video of the colorful in-game world, where bosses and characters take turns performing skills.

The video also revealed a massive character system, moves, and turn-based tactical gameplay.

After the presentation, Rune Seeker received the attention of many investors. With a question about operations from Nguyen Vu Tien, representative of investor VNG Zingplay Game Studios, Monster Box affirmed that the team has 15 years of experience in the gaming industry and uses people together with AI.

Rune Seeker's representative. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

The third team is the developer of Silkroad Origin for mobile, recreating the famous PC game Silkroad, which has existed for 20 years, retaining the essence of the PC version while adding many new features.

In the game, players transform into Asian or European characters and explore the vast world from China to Rome, role-playing as merchants, guardians, or thieves on trade and good transportation trips.

The game is nearly complete and is set to be trialed on May 15.

Expressing interest in classic games developed for mobile, however, Zuy Nguyen, international market development consultant at Games and Applications, in charge of the Southeast Asia market at Google Asia-Pacific, expressed concern about whether the game would attract new people or the group of people who previously loved Silkroad.

The developer representative is confident that the game will attract familiar gamers, providing an offline playing experience and helping them accumulate resources without always being online.

Silkroad Origin Mobile's representatives. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

The fourth candidate is Animal Push Royale, a role-playing game for kids and parents.

At the beginning of the presentation, Vu Duy Thanh, representative of developer akaVerse, said that the idea of the game appeared when he and his 8-year-old daughter were looking for a suitable game.

He wanted to create a game that was easy to play and encouraged creativity and persistence, with the idea of parents and children playing together.

The game learns from the ideas of some previous games in this field but develops new characters and gameplay.

Players control an animated animal to collect food during short competition periods—just a few minutes per match. It has about 50 levels, with rewards after each level.

akaVerse plans to grow over the next 12 months and is looking for support in bringing the product to market.

After the presentation, the leader of One Soft, the game publishing platform, asked questions about infrastructure and construction methods.

In response, the project representative said he was confident because he had built solid gameplay, graphics, and supporting technology that could play well around the world.

The answer convinced One Soft leaders to agree to cooperate to release the game widely.

AkaVerse's representative presented the Animal Push Royale project. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

LacBird Intedify is the only project with a female CEO presenting. This is also a special game among the six projects, as it does not follow the fighting trend but aims to incorporate Vietnamese folk culture into educational games.

LacBird's representative emphasized the potential of Vietnam's edtech market, with parents willing to invest in their children's education, in which games are one of the ways to make learning more attractive.

The project has also been highly appreciated by a number of international organizations.

LacBird Intedify provides smart learning solutions by integrating folk culture, applying AI and machine learning to track learning progress, and analyzing children's psychology.

The game is suitable for children 3–12 years old, with activities such as learning folklore, garden fruits, festivals, and exercises related to calculation.

App Intedify also provides parents and teachers with the ability to track learning progress and assess child development.

Asking about how the game can generate revenue, Gamota CEO Vu Thi Trang was impressed with the suggested cooperation on social networks to attract students and parents, along with financial companionship.

CEO Nguyen Van Khoa from FPT was also committed to including this game in the curriculum of FPT schools.

LacBird Intedify's representative. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

The last project in the top 6 was Magic Typer, introduced by Team Bacon.

This is also an educational game that teaches Korean typing. Players defeat waves of monsters by quickly and accurately typing words on the screen.

The game developer is a 22-year-old young man who created the product in 8 days based on his experience learning Korean as well as his own needs.

The project focuses on helping new Korean learners overcome their fear of typing by combining language teaching elements with entertainment.

Accordingly, they will remember how to type and their vocabulary meanings during the game.

Team Bacon is not looking for a cash investment but rather wants to collaborate to bring the game into educational institutions, create a positive impact on the community through language learning, and expand the game to teach more other languages, such as Chinese or English, suitable for larger markets.

The presentation of Team Bacon attracted special attention from VNG and FPT representatives.

FPT's CEO Khoa said he wanted to cooperate to bring games to teach Korean and Japanese to thousands of bridge engineers in the near future.

A VNG representative highly appreciated the quality and ideas of Magic Typer and gave the team a gift of VND50 million for their efforts and enthusiasm when bringing it to GameHub.

Magic Typer's representative. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

Some investors and game publishers also affirmed their desire to sign immediately with a number of developers at GameHub.

GameHub is part of Vietnam GameVerse 2024, which was co-organized by the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information (ABEI), the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), VnExpress, FPT Online, and the Vietnam Game Alliance. The event attracted more than 40,000 participants over two days, May 11 and 12.