Koska meillä on taustatietoa Digital Chocolatesta, Nokiasta ja Kingistä, halusimme keskustella mobiilipelaamisesta David Fernándezin kanssa Gamelab 2023 -tapahtumassa. Samalla lisäämme, että hänen oma Sandsoft-studionsa sijaitsee nyt Saudi-Arabiassa.
"So, we are a mobile first game developer and publisher based in Saudi Arabia and we are trying to create not just games but a company because we are in a startup", he explains in the video above. "We are 53 people team at the moment. We started our journey in 2021 and we are having presence in different locations, so we have a small team here in Barcelona, 8 people, probably 30 people in Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia. We have smaller offices as well in Shanghai and also in Helsinki".
Koska suurin osa Sandsoft-peleistä on vielä kehitteillä, emme odota kuulevamme, että heidän tulevista nimikkeistään "yksi on RPG-peli, toinen on ajopeli, kolmas on strategiapeli ja neljäs on toinen RPG-peli, mutta pelin päällä on NFT-kuorrutus."
Ottaen huomioon studion sijainnin, hyödynsimme tilaisuutta oppia lisää GCC:n aloittelevasta pelimaailmasta ja mahdollisista eroista sekä aasialaisiin että länsimaisiin yrityksiin verrattuna.
"It's been really a journey and I mean it in a positive way", the CEO explains about building a studio in Riyadh. "I think that you are going not just through creating a kind of industry because games industry is not there, so we are trying to contribute towards the growth of the industry."
"Similarly the country is going through a big socio-economical transformation. So in a given way you are part of a change that is happening in this country, you feel somehow you are making history, if you know what I mean, and then it's really exciting to be that in a country that has a firm belief on investing in games. So one of the things that in this particular case the Saudi government did a few months ago in September, they announced the National Games and Esports Strategy which is an actual national strategy and this is kind of unique. You have certain regions in the world, you have certain cities in the world that have some support for game development and trying to incentivize companies to establish, help them grow and participate in some of the vehicles for promotion of the games industry but here is the actual country. So it is, as far as I understand, the only country in the world that has games as part of the national strategy."
"But at the same time I think that we are trying to assemble truly multicultural, multinational and diverse teams", he later adds regarding Sandsoft Games. "For example in the 53 people that we are across the different locations I mentioned we have 24 nationalities which is, on a company this size, quite unique. Similarly on game development particularly is not an industry that we have enough female and we have not enough female talent, and women are something that we were trying to grow in the industry. Almost 30% of our staff is female. So when you think about how we are a company based in Saudi, some people kind of raise their eyebrow and think, is that true? But actually it's true. We are not different from any kind of game development company in the world."
Toista koko video saadaksesi lisätietoja Sandsoftista, GCC:n kehitys- ja pelikulttuurista ja sen mahdollisista vaikutuksista laajemmalla alalla lähitulevaisuudessa.