Locally developed online games pushed by game developers
Posted on December 31st, 2009
Online games always a ready audience in the Filipino market. There is a big market for Filipino online gamers, although most the games were created outside the country. A group of Filipinos with entrepreneurial mindset is eyeing to cash in on this online gaming craze capturing Filipinos from all walks of like.
The Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP), together with its partner the I-Café Pilipinas, is exploring the possibility of developing and marketing locally made online games.
GDAP executive director Cesar Tolentino said the organizations partnership with I-Café was expected to pave the way for a sustainable growth for both the game development and Internet café industries.
An early product of the collaboration was Bangu-Bang, the country’s first locally developed online game, was introduced to the members of I-Café Pilipinas recently. This new local online games could provide additional revenue streams to Internet cafes.
Bangu-Bang Mania was developed and published by Virtual Titania Amusement Software (ViTas). Raineir Umali, president of ViTas said the market is now looking for more diverse content than what was being offered by traditional online game bigwigs China and Korea.
The Bangu-Bang is now being studied and evaluated by member of I-Café Pilipinas and will be deployed to the local market.
Aside from the development of local online games, GDAP also supports I-Café Pilipinas’ project called the “Ligtas na Digital Batang Pinoy.” This advocacy sought to create materials that would teach local communities how to properly use Internet-based technologies and Internet access. It’s main goal is to promote the responsible use of Internet and Internet access.
I-Café aims to publish the materials for the program in the vernacular to ensure better understanding by the audience it wants to reach.
