Emobi to launch Toy Quest game under new subsidiary, Hiker Game

(techinasia.com)Emobi is one of the first studios in Vietnam to have successfully published an original PC game. It’s known for a historical FPS game called 7554, set in an important period of Vietnamese history known as the battle of Dien Bien Phu.7554 cost Emobi $800,000 over its three years of development.

But while 7554 was supported by players, the media, and even war veterans in Vietnam, it hasn’t been a financial success. The primary reason may have been its price point, which was relatively high considering the average Vietnamese gamer’s budget. On release day, the game retailed for approximately $15. If we consider the amount of work that Emobi had put into the game and compared that with international studios, this price is quite low. However, in a developing country like Vietnam, things are different, and the price was still considered too expensive for most gamers.

Emobi has since been subsisting off mobile games, which are cheaper to produce and generate income more easily. It has amassed a library of mobile games, many of which have been successful. But it looks like Emobi hasn’t been satisfied just publishing games. Last July, it established a subsidiary called Hiker Game, made up of seven experienced Emobi developers.

These seven developers have had their hands in several Emobi projects, including 7554. At the moment, Hiker Gamer is busy with a game called Toy Quest. It is expected to launch by the end of this year, and is already more than 60 percent complete. This cross-platform action game has been in development since February 2014, and will feature 2D graphics and animations. Hiker Game has been reluctant to reveal further details.

Emobi has been dwelling in the shadow of 7554, and its Hiker Game subsidiary could just be what it needs to rebuild its reputation. But Emobi isn’t going to take the road it once travelled. On the contrary, Hiker Game’s efforts will be focused on the global market, rather than the domestic one.

Monetization in the larger global market tends to be easier than the tricky Vietnamese one; international users are also more willing to pay. Publisher-slash-development studios like Divmob and GlassEgg have had successes following this formula, and it’s likely that Emobi will be able to make a similar comeback with Toy Quest.