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Recreational activities and games have been part of the lives of the Filipinos who are naturally born happy people. The games that they have engaged with have evolved from the traditional street games like piko, patintero, and tumbang preso to the use of technology like computers games.

With the rising of the Gaming technology, it has also opened a new industry where Filipinos can showcase their talents in creativity. Games development is the new IT industry that can be added to the already successful IT technologies like business processing outsourcing and the industry of call centers.

Flipside Games Studios Inc. is a company which further develops games developed by foreign developers. The company designs colorful characters and add more action on already existing game. Flipside Games President Gabby Dizon said that in the Philippines, the game industry is still very young and they haven’t capture yet global recognition in game development. Dizon added that the company understands difficulties in establishing a company especially in a new industry, but he exclaimed that the creative skills of the Filipinos are an advantage in the field of gaming.

Dizon elaborated that pursuing the business would be more difficult without a good team and a good contact list. He said that Flipside Games’ strategy is to let the word of mouth spread in order for the company to get more projects. And they are doing this by focusing on small areas and doing a great job for the clients.

He describes their relation to the few gaming companies who are operating today as “coopetition” because the reputation of the Philippines as a place where games can be made will be strengthen with several great game development companies.

Warriors of Gaming

“Anito: Defend a Land Enraged” is the first Filipino- made end to end game and the head of the Flipside Games Studio Inc. is part of it. Flipside was incorporated in September 2005 with Lennard Garcia, a high school friend of Dizon and Jon Marin as co-founders. Marin is an American who has worked at Blizzard North on the best-selling series of Dablo.

Dizon pursued his passion in creating games despite the unavailable companies that cater to his interest. He said that despite the difficult and multidisciplinary responsibility, it is still rewarding when he works with talented persons who have the same passion for games.

With ten people who are working on the team, the company provides outsourcing services and full-scale development for the game industry here and abroad. Flipside has numbers of successful clients on casual games, which are also their specific focus. Variety of personlity from normal people to geeks and rockers make up the company with the same passion of making powerful games. Dizon added that that the company just provides its people with tools and trainings to become great developers because they are already talented and well-fit to develop games. The game developers are free from the conventional company set up. They are allowed to work anytime or anywhere they want as long as the task would be completed. Results-oriented, that is what game developers of Flipside are.

Gradually, with the hand in hand working with talented Filipinos, the company is earning recognitions. Flipside has experienced working with teams coming from other countries like US, UK and Singapore.

Pioneers of Industry

Philippines as the ultimate destination of game developing in Southeast Asia is what Dizon envisioned. One of the leaders in this vision is Flipside.

This vision makes the studio to continuously push what they do specifically in putting the games in the hands of daily users who may not consider themselves as “gamers.” Dizon said that they wanted to make gaming like watching movie every week.

Center for International Trade Exposition and Missions (CITEM) has been helping the industry in recognizing gaming as one of the industries with high growth. CITEM is also helping Flipside in achieving its vision that is why Dizon said that they are looking forward for even greater success in partnership with CITEM.

The wonderful feeling of completing a game is the primary motivation of Flipside to deliver optimum output, profit is just next. According to Dizon the four important aspects of running a business that aspiring Filipino entrepreneurs should have are

• Vision- he said, this is also the overall goal for the company and this will hold the ground in times of hardship
• Tenacity- because things won’t always be easy as you expected it to be
• Flexibility- which will be needed in taking advantage of opportunities and undergo changes and
• “A firm belief in ones self.”