Singapore ripe with possibilities as Asia’s newest gaming hub

This got the nod from industry players at Ubisoft Singapore x Gamescom.

In Ubisoft Singapore x Gamescom’s webinar, several companies—such as Ubisoft Singapore, Epic Games, and Streamline Media Group—agreed that Singapore’s gaming industry status would help its transition in becoming a technological hub.

For Ubisoft Singapore Managing Director Darryl Long, this strength comes from the diversity present in the company.

Initiatives like the push for women in leadership roles and inclusion of traditional professions are the norm. According to Long, the application of these programs gives them a diverse offering when it comes to viewpoints.

“These fresh viewpoints meant that they were coming in without any bias about how the video game industry works and brought incredible change to the way that we worked.”

Long also said that the company also has initiatives to entice Singaporeans. Through a partnership with the Singapore Games Association, local talent becomes the focus of company expansion.

“Working with our industry partners, such as the Singapore games Association, helps us to expand our network to connect with both professionals and the fresh talent coming into the industry. Our local institutions produce the workforce of tomorrow, and we need to help them in building our local talent pipeline. We know that triple-A games set a very high bar at Ubisoft, Singapore, we work with the local schools to help design their programs. We invest in the training that students need in order to get kickstarted in our competitive industry.” 

The Ubisoft Entrepreneurs Lab is also another outlet of the company for supporting the expansion of the industry. Through this initiative, the company also works with startups in getting started with the industry.

Streamline Media Group CEO Stefan Baier considers the industry as more of a metaverse industry. For him, the current landscape of the industry hinges not only on the factors present, such as the rise of console gaming or mobile gaming, but also on the economic factors.

This, according to Baier, results in fewer releases from the industry. 

He also takes into account how the gaming industry affects the mainstream market. The digital transformation currently taking place is a result of the technological advancements made in the industry.

Market opportunities in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America also exist. According to Baier, opportunities with both consumers and developers are in these markets. 

Several changes were also outlined by Baier for Singapore and to an extent, Southeast Asia, to succeed. Collaboration between companies, breaking out of the service mindset, and focus on mid-sized products were seen as a roadmap for the region to succeed. 

In particular, Baier sees the mid-size products as an advantage for the region.

“Then I would say focusing on mid-size products is fine. You don't have to make massive, huge titles to make an impact on the world. You don't have to over push that it's fine, you know, make it 10, 20, 30, again, totally fine, you will have success if you innovate.” 

Epic Game’s Dean Reinhart, meanwhile, focused on how the technology used in video games can be applied elsewhere.

Unreal Engine, the software developed by Epic Games, is ripe for adoption by multiple industries. According to Reinhart, these industries include architecture, film and television, automotive, broadcast, live events, training and simulation, and advertising. Over 14 million licenses to this software have been distributed.

Reinhart also talked about the incoming release of Unreal Engine 5. Improvements, such as nanite virtualized geometry, lumen fully dynamic real-time global illumination, virtual textures and spatialized audio will be in use for the event.