Touchten and the Gaming Diplomacy to Connect Indonesia With the World
Jakarta. The mobile game is just one of many ways for Indonesia to be introduced to the global community and has become a major focus for government support of creative industries, a local startup co-founder and chief executive said.
Anton Soeharyo, co-founder and chief execuitve of Indonesia-based mobile game studio Touchten, shared his story with Jakarta Globe of building the startup and his current project with other game developers to help the country's government build a framework to propel Indonesia's gaming industry.
"There is such a thing as game diplomacy. Diplomacy means we connect with the outside world and create a good image of Indonesia. Through a game, we can make the global audience know that we are more than pirates, we are creators," Anton said.
Anton, along with his brother Roki Soeharyo and cousin Dede Indrapurna, founded the Jakarta-based startup back in 2009 with $2,000 gift money from his parents.
"It all started with a fart app we saw [on the App Store] that makes $60,000 a day. If a fart sells, so can we," he said.
According to the man himself, he was once an aspiring diplomat rather than a coder, but his contact with the internet marketing has changed everything he wanted for his future.
"I wanted to be a diplomat, but I think I got a calling in business," he said.
Anton holds a degree in international relations from Waseda University in Japan, international law from Peking University in China and a master degree also in international relations from Waseda University.
"I was obsessed with internet marketing, search engine optimization and search engine marketing at the time. I was curious how a blog gets many viewers. That's how I learn much about search keyword and later it helps me when founding Touchten," he said.
Touchten has secured three rounds of funding and the latest in 2015 came from Japanese mobile and social firm GREE and US-based 500 Startups. Anton said he will restrain from chasing after another round of funding this year and instead he wants to "be more focused on the Indonesian market."
"I think, for now, the fund is enough. We don't want to sell too much. It's better to get sustainability rather than profit. Many people look for funding just to justify their valuation," he said.
The undisclosed sum has successfully helped Touchten landed an office in uptown Jakarta for its 50-strong team.
The company, legally named Langit Impian, have used the fund to build games for Android and iOS platforms which have reached millions of downloads so far.
"We are still growing. We want to hire other programmers, game artists and account managers for our platform," he said, noting that he might need to move his office soon as it starting to get cramped.
Touchten has released mobile arcade games, including Sushi Chain, Ramen Chain, Infinite Sky, Teka Teki Saku, Amazing Cupid, Train Legend and Fun Toilet Game. This year, the startup plans to add another 32 games to its portfolio.
"We want to release three games each month ... The games will still be casual games. We like and we are good at making such games. Besides, people prefer this type of game on their phone rather than hardcore or mid-core games. Even my mom can play [the casual game]," he said.
Anton's interest in search engine optimization has show him the name of a game is key. A unique name — or theme — makes a game stand out over millions of other applications, saving expenses on marketing.
Touchten is among the few game developers in Indonesia that have an early start to garner benefits from a growing game industry in the country.
According to Newzoo, an Amsterdam-based gaming market research firm, Indonesia's gaming market is projected to reach $465 million in 2017 — the second largest gaming market in Southeast Asia. Local developers' contributions, however, are only a smart part in the numbers.
Currently, the government and local developers have started a discussion to create a road map to allow the government to plan ahead game industry-related regulation, ecosystem, mentorship and projects.
"The government's attention to the local game industry is very positive," Anton said. "Nothing has been set in stone [in the meeting], but we're going to keep a positive attitude. All stakeholders in the meeting agreed that the gaming industry is as important as other digital industries. It even made money more than films."
Developers and government representatives will meet again in February, he said.
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