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Exciting News for Game Development in the Philippines

December 30, 2011


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A bright future awaits game development in the Philippines as the new year rolls in. As 2011 draws to a close, the local game development industry already has a lot to celebrate: the recently concluded Philippine Game Development Festival was a success; there is an increasing number of gaming development companies in the country; and there are more schools offering game development as a four-year course. The Philippines may still be a tiny fish in the big sea of game development, but it’s definitely putting on the pounds.

As FunGuy Studio Co-Founder and GDAP President Darwin Tardio said in a recent feature on the present and future of game development in the Philippines, “The local industry is very small right now and we’re trying to get a bigger share of the market. It’s booming, and can be lucrative. When GDAP started there were only four member companies. Now, three to four years later, there are 22 companies working on a lot of game projects, many of them big ones.”

Apart from the growing number of game development companies in the country, existing businesses are moving forward and forging partnerships with established global companies. One such game development company in the Philippines is Makati-based Filipino gaming studio FunGuy, which recently announced its team up with Phoenix-based 2XL games.

FunGuy Studio is known in the Philippines for developing successful Massively Multiplayer Online Games and mobile and web apps for leading Filipino companies and media outlets. It directly employs around 30 staff in its gaming division and over 100 across its other businesses at present. The joint venture aims to generate up to 100 additional jobs over the next 24 months.

According to CEO Robert Johnson, when 2XL made the decision to expand into Asia, it looked at openings in China, Korea, Singapore and the Philippines. But it was the outstanding combination of talent and great communication that triggered their decision to focus on the Philippines.

There’s definitely a lot to look forward to in the coming year for the game development industry.