- MEGPlay is a gaming startup that wants to become the go-to platform for mobile gamers in Southeast Asia to connect with each other.
- They have already launched their iOS version with the Android version set to launch soon.
By the end of 2016, mobile games were expected to reach USD35 billion in revenue. However, actual revenue was over USD40.6 billion, with Asia generating the most revenue in mobile games at USD24.8 billion, which is more than half of the total number.
It’s no surprise that more people are looking into this industry as they hope to grab a share of the market but so far, nobody has looked into connecting all mobile gamers into one platform, especially for Southeast Asian users.
Mobile gamers are stuck with using Facebook groups to find new people to play with or have to leave it to the game’s matchmaking system to match them with a teammate. Hence, in comes MEGPlay, a go-to platform for mobile gamers to connect with each other.
For someone who prefers to play mobile games compared to console games (thanks to the mobility and convenience of just picking it up and playing it anywhere I want), this is good news to me as I’m always looking for new people to play with.
Making An Impact In Their 20s
MEGPlay was founded by 24-year-old Mao Shun Hun and 22-year-old Constance Lim in late 2018.
Mao Shun Hun was the head of digital marketing in iPrima Media, a digital marketing firm that serves in Johor Bahru, Singapore and East Malaysia. With his expertise in digital marketing, it helped in validating the market and brought the cost to penetrate the market at a much lower price. He has a strong belief that bringing people from offline to online and online to offline can bring the gaming community closer.
As for Constance, her passion for entrepreneurship began when she was just 17, after taking her SPM. Coming from a small town in Pahang, she took the leap to move to KL to find jobs to help reduce her parents’ financial burden. She had to do jobs such as selling health supplements at RM150 per week, ushering, modelling and plenty of other jobs.
She added, “It was really hard for me and I knew nothing about doing business. That’s when I acknowledged that I needed to improve more.”
Her lucky break came when she joined an investment firm where her mentor thought her everything from business, tech startups, investments and leadership.
“After a year, using my skills and savings I had on hand, I started my own branding and designing firm,” added Constance.
During that journey, she has always been playing mobile games a a hobby and met dozens of friends who had the same interest. From the different group of friends that she had, she had to manage plenty of gaming groups on different platforms from WeChat, Facebook and WhatsApp groups, all of this was time consuming and troublesome for her.
Being a problem solver, she realised that there were platforms for business communities, designer communities, foodie communities, freelancer communities, but there was no platform for a gaming community yet. Hence, she came up with MEGPlay—Mobile Esports Gaming Play.
With MEGPlay, Constance and the team will be looking to penetrate the mobile gaming market of Southeast Asia that is expected to hit USD3 billion in revenue this year with most of it coming from the “Big 6” countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
A Platform For Mobile Gamers
As of now MEGPlay has a few supported games on their platform: Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, PUBG Mobile and Arena of Valor.
“We see that there is a rise in this trend of Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) and multiplayer styled games in SEA. These mobile games can be played anytime and anywhere as long as gamers have a phone on hand,” explained Constance.
As of now MEGPlay is free-to-use for everyone. It will be based off a freemium model where additional features are available by subscription. They also have a long term plan to monetise the business by introducing e-commerce such as gaming peripherals in the future.
With their main investor BEAM, they’re looking to fully launch their minimum viable product (MVP).
“We are very fortunate that we had the BEAM team as our mentor and investor. They helped us to overcome the tech issues and guided us through the business side of things,” explained Constance.
The iOS version of MEGPlay has just launched and the Android version is set to be launching very soon.
Since its roll-out, MEGPlay is currently acquiring an average of 400 users a day without any advertising spend, thanks to constantly organising competitions that has attractive prizes.
MEGPlay is also working with more than 20 F&B owners to increase their patrons by bringing mobile gaming events to their locations.
“The goal is to encourage gamers to come out and play together, the features and gamification of the platform will revolve around this aspect.”
Faster Speeds & A Bigger Community
The population of mobile gamers in SEA is set to grow to an astounding number of 250.6 million people in 2021 compared to 170.6 million in 2017. This impressive growth is being driven by increasing internet and smartphone penetration, along with the rise in disposable income.
“As the internet speed is becoming faster and more accessible for everyone in SEA, and SEA being one of the youngest populations in the world, we see that this could be the next big thing when everyone will be a mobile gamer,” said Constance.
Furthermore, 5G technology is developing further and in a few years time everyone will be using 5G and internet speeds will see a big jump.
“The quality of mobile games will soon mirror desktop games and there will be more competitive games rising up and more competitions will be held,” she explained.
“Gaming conglomerates, telco companies and phone makers will be very interested in this market. Therefore, MEGPlay’s ultimate goal is to be the largest mobile gaming platform and community in SEA,” said Constance.
- If you would like to know more about MEGPlay you can check out the website here and social media here.
Feature Image Credit: MEGPlay
