MDA, SCOGA & China Info. Broadcast Network launch Singapore Game Box Chinese Portal

China the first international partner of the Singapore Game Box initiative,

The Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) and Singapore’s Cybersports and Online Gaming Association (SCOGA) have partnered with China Information Broadcast Network (CIBN) to tap on its database of 60 million gamers, in a move to introduce Singapore-made casual games into the Chinese market.

The partnership was sealed under MDA’s Singapore Game Box initiative, which was launched in 2009 to accelerate the commercialization of locally-made games by providing a mass base of gamers to provide feedback on these games. Thus far, the Singapore Game Box has reached out to more than 300,000 Singaporeans through a series of games events and competitions held at schools and malls. MDA now seeks to expand the reach of the Singapore Game Box, with China as its first international partner.

To kickstart the partnership, MDA, SCOGA and CIBN are launching the Singapore Game Box Chinese Portal in conjunction with the 9th China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference 2011 also known as ChinaJoy, held in Shanghai from 28 – 30 July.

For a start, the free online portal (http://gamebox.catv.net) will feature four popular, award-winning casual games made in Singapore but localised for the Chinese market, with five more games to be localised over the next year. The four games are Rocketbirds: Revolution!, Straw Hat Samurai: Duels, Fish-a-Fish and Tactics Anthem Online II, developed by Singapore games companies Ratloop Asia, Explosive Barrels, Activate Interactive and iCell Pte Ltd respectively (please see Annex for details). These games were selected by CIBN for their popularity and quality – having secured over 2 million players worldwide on platforms such as Facebook, and having clinched international industry awards at the Golden Joystick Awards in London and the Independent Games Festival in San Francisco. These games have now been localised in terms of language, visual elements and game flow to enhance their appeal to a Chinese audience.

The Singapore Games Box Chinese portal is the only platform where Chinese gamers will be able to enjoy and provide feedback on these localised games. MDA hopes to secure 100,000 sign-ups during its launch at ChinaJoy, with the eventual target of reaching out to the 60 million registered users of CIBN, one of China’s most established broadband entertainment and digital services companies based in Beijing.

Mr Thomas Lim, Director of Interactive Media, Games and Publishing, MDA, said: “A fun and innovative game can resonate with players anywhere. That is exactly what the Singapore Game Box Chinese Portal aims to do – to connect Singapore games to Chinese gamers and reach out beyond our shores. The portal will help our game developers gain visibility among gamers as well as games publishers who may wish to further explore business opportunities.

“In the spirit of collaboration, we would also be happy to help Chinese games developers promote their casual games through the Singapore Game Box and explore internationalisation opportunities with Singapore games companies as well”. MDA and CIBN are also organising an inaugural Singapore-China Game Box Championship 2011 to help promote the portal to even more Chinese gamers. Gamers are encouraged to sign up online for the China leg of the trans-national competition that will be held in Wuhan in early November. Four top players who master these games will then be selected to represent China to go on an all-expenses paid trip to Singapore end November. They will pit their skills against Singapore players in the grand finals where they stand to win RMB 30,000 yuan in prizes.

Mr Wang Ping, chairman of CIBN, added: “This collaboration is a mark of the deepening partnership we have with Singapore in the digital media space which we have been cultivating since 2009. We are happy to partner MDA in hosting the Singapore-China Game Box Championship and extending full infrastructure support in the establishment of this portal, so that our Chinese gamers can truly experience gaming without borders.”

The Singapore Game Box Chinese Portal will be showcased as part of the Singapore Pavilion at ChinaJoy. This is also the first time Singapore is participating in this key gaming event which is expected to see 200,000 trade visitors and consumers, signaling Singapore’s growing interest to further cultivate the Chinese games market.

In conjunction with ChinaJoy, MDA is also leading a delegation of 20 Singapore games companies including the IGF-China award-winning Envisage Reality, IG-Interactive and Envee Media to explore collaboration opportunities in co-developing new titles with Chinese partners for the Chinese market. Leveraging Singapore’s strengths in crossplatform technologies and Serious Games which focus on learning and skills development, Singapore games developers will be seeking out publishers for their range of mobile, casual and online games. They also hope to share their social network knowhow and experience with Chinese companies interested to venture into social games.

One of the companies in the Singapore delegation, Time Voyager, is seeing some success with Chinese online game publishers and gaming venture capitalists during ChinaJoy. The four year-old Singapore developer of Massively Multi-player Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) has today announced a licensing deal with Kingsoft, one of China’s top 10 online games publishers which is listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. Time Voyager has also concurrently announced another investment deal involving Singapore’s

Gobi Digital Media Ventures Fund and Korea’s East Gate Partners Fund. These two business deals are worth a combined value of RMB 35 million yuan. Singapore’s Gobi Digital Media Ventures Fund was launched by Gobi Singapore, supported by MDA, in August 2010. The cross-border venture capital fund aims to promote bilateral industry co-operation by supporting Singaporean companies entering the Chinese market, as well as Chinese companies seeking to internationalise through Singapore.