SINGAPORE'S steady march towards becoming a regional computer gaming centre took another step forward yesterday when Japanese game developer Koei officially opened a studio in Chinatown.
Koei Entertainment Singapore will use the studio to develop an online version of its classic strategy game, Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, which earned the company $437 million in revenue last year.
The Tokyo-listed company expects the online version, which will be launched in 2007, to lure one million paying subscribers in Asia alone.
The online PC gaming market in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, earned US$761 million (S$1.26 billion) in subscriptions in 2003, according to research firm International Data Corporation. By 2008, this figure is expected to grow to an estimated US$1.84 billion.
Koei, known globally for its Chinese and Japanese mediaeval action and strategy games, invested $3 million in the studio. This is the first time Koei has used a studio outside Japan to develop a full computer game from scratch.
Already, 20 game developers are working on the online version of Romance. Another 80 will be hired this year. The studio will also produce Japanese, English and Chinese versions of the game for the global market.
Koei's chief executive officer, Mrs Keiko Erikawa, flew in from Japan for the opening ceremony. Also present was Mr Teo Ming Kian, chairman of the Economic Development Board, which collaborated with Koei in 2002 to send several Singaporeans to train at its game studios in Japan.
Mrs Erikawa said Singapore's multicultural background was one of the key factors that attracted Koei here.
Speaking through a translator, she told The Straits Times: 'We need to design, customise and package our games for different markets. Here in Singapore, there is language and cultural awareness. We can easily research and check if there are some minute things we don't understand about any culture.'
Mrs Erikawa and her husband Yoichi founded Koei, which means 'glory' in Japanese, in 1978. It focuses on creating strategy and action games based chiefly on Chinese and Japanese mediaeval history.
Its Romance series of games has sold more than seven million copies since 1985, while the Dynasty Warrior action-strategy games have sold six million copies since 2000.
Koei's studio brings Singapore another step closer to becoming a regional centre for game players and developers.
Another Japanese game developer, Genki, set up an office here last year to develop games for mobile phones and game consoles.
Lucasfilm, the animation and visual effects studio set up by Star Wars creator George Lucas, will also open a studio in Singapore later this year that can develop games.
Later this year, Singapore will host the World Cyber Games.
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