- Just last week, Magnus Games Studio announced a deal with Italian game developers and publishers 505 Games (a subsidiary of Digital Bros) to have their upcoming RPG game Re:Legend published globally through the Steam platform, which has 67 million active players monthly.
- Prior to this, Re:Legend managed to garner a 99% approval rating on the Square Enix Collective as well as a financial backing in excess of US$630,000, greatly surpassing their initial goal of US$70,000.
- This development comes as an indirect result of MDEC’s efforts to improve the games industry in Malaysia, with other recent successes including Kurechii’s Postknight and Gameka’s Kluno: Hero Battle.
In 2016, MDEC announced the setting up of a game development hub in the busy locale of Bangsar South. This initiative was part of a concerted effort to enable local game developers to further grow and enhance their capabilities.
“Malaysia has an exceptional talent pool for the game industry, and the world is beginning to sit up and take notice,” said CEO of MDEC Dato’ Yasmin Mahmood.
“It is important that we continue to press forward in building a world-class ecosystem that enables our local talents to strive for excellence, putting us on the path to becoming the Game Hub for the region.”
So far, this effort has borne fruit through a number of success stories by local game devs.
Late last year, local mobile game developer Kurechii’s hack-and-slash sidescroller Postknight was featured on Google Play’s list of Best Games for 2017.
More recently, Malaysian gamification experts Gameka had their game Kluno: Hero Battle nominated for the Best Multiplayer award at the Casual Connect USA Indieprize awards 2018.
And just last week, Malaysian game developer Magnus Games Studio announced a publishing deal with 505 Games—a subsidiary of Italian games developer and distributor Digital Bros—to have their indie role-playing game (RPG) Re:Legend released internationally through digital games platform Steam.
“It is an absolute honour for a budding studio like Magnus to be partnering a major publisher such as Digital Bros. We are thrilled with the market opportunities for Re:Legend that this worldwide publishing agreement brings,” said Magnus Games Studio co-founder DC Gan at the announcement ceremony.
“We worked hard and poured our passion into making this game enjoyable for our supporters and fans, and we hope to bring the game to the next level through our experience working with 505 Games and Digital Bros to grow Re:Legend into a global franchise and at the same time mature into a leading player in our region.”
A Critical Hit
The highly anticipated Re:Legend first gained traction when it received a 99% approval rating on the Square Enix Collective—a curation platform where creators can post game ideas to judge whether or not they should be put into development.
The game combines elements from famous farm simulators such as Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley, and allows players to raise magical monsters, build entire villages, and play cooperatively with other players .
Convinced of the viability of their idea, brothers and co-founders DC and Welson Gan launched a Kickstarter campaign in July 2017 which has since proved wildly successful.
The campaign garnered financial backing in excess of US$630,000 and greatly surpassed their initial goal of US$70,000, allowing the Magnus Games team to add various other features to Re:Legend including full voice acting, underwater quests, as well as releases on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
According to an article published on GamesIndustry.biz, Re:Legend’s Kickstarter effort was the most successful campaign of any kind in the Southeast Asia region.
And all this comes at a time when gaming is at a high point.
An Ocean Of Opportunity
According to marketing intel agency Newzoo, currently there are an estimated 2.2 billion gamers across the globe. This market generated about US$108.9 billion in game revenue for 2017 alone, with the Asia Pacific region at least a quarter of all revenue.
On the digital distribution front, Steam shared in August last year that there were about 67 million monthly active players, most of them from North America and Europe, with Asia quickly catching up.
This represents a huge opportunity for Magnus, which started as a two-man operation back in 2015. The company now has a staff force of 20 and is based in LEVEL UP Inc., an incubator space for game development created by MDEC themselves.
Representing MDEC at the signing of the agreement, MDEC CEO Dato’ Ng Wan Peng said, “It is another truly ‘Malaysia Boleh’ moment for us and further proof that MDEC’s endeavours are bearing fruit.”
“We have often lauded local studios and their capability in delivering world-class IPs, so we are extremely proud that Digital Bros shares the sentiment about Magnus and Re:Legend,” she said.
“On behalf of MDEC, we congratulate Magnus for landing this major deal and putting Malaysia another step closer to being the preferred regional hub for games development and delivery by 2025, an inspiration that is in line with our Digital Economy initiative.”
So far, the signs look good for the gaming industry, and hopefully we’ll be able to see more of these success stories appear going forward.
- Check out the official Re:Legend website for more information about the game and its current status.
Feature Image Credit: Magnus Games Studio