00:00For web 3D games, if you're a good player, you're able to try and play it out,
00:04you're able to farm, you're able to play. In the long term, you're still able to earn.
00:07And if you get lucky, you might be able to sell those assets as well. You don't have to be the
00:10top 1% or top 0.1% of the players in the world to be able to earn and monetize from this.
00:16Emerge is a commercialization partner for IPs around Southeast Asia. What that means is that
00:35we look for monetization opportunities for people like content creators, for IP project titles,
00:42and we are also very enthusiastic about web 3D gaming.
00:47So for web 3D game publishing, what we do is we assist those web 3D games,
00:51such as we are the official game publisher for Immutable, Tezos, Chroma, C and Gala.
00:55So we kind of assist them to push user acquisition, marketing, as well as localization
00:59in terms of languages, so on and so forth. In the web 3D environment, users, they have
01:05actual ownership of their in-game assets. The users will also have a chance to have
01:11revenue share or profit sharing with the game. They also have a stake in the game,
01:16so a stake meaning that they can come together as a community. They can decide on certain directions
01:23and how the games actually encourage this is by contribution. So for example, very recently,
01:30MapleStory, a lot more AAA titles will slowly come into web 3.
01:35So the key differentiation between the web 3 game publisher and web 2 game publisher is first,
01:40the distribution platform. So for web 2 games, they are normally seen through like Google Play
01:46stores, app stores as well. But for web 3 games, it can be on the app store, but it can be on
01:51various other channels as well. And the key reason is because of the mode of payment.
01:56And some of the mode of payments is very different in terms of traditional games,
02:01such as you are using cash and stuff. But for web 3 games, you might be able to use cryptocurrency
02:06or different type of assets as well. Main differentiation is that you might be able to
02:11earn from playing web 3 games as compared to playing in web 2 games. So for web 2 games,
02:16some of it, you may know that you may only earn through being the top performers,
02:20such as being a pro esports players. And that might be just the top 1% or 0.1% of the world.
02:25But for web 3 games, if you are a good player, you're able to try to play it out, right? You're
02:30able to farm, you're able to play in the long term, you're still able to earn. And if you get
02:33lucky, you might be able to sell those assets as well. You don't have to be the top 1% or top 0.1%
02:38of the players in the world to be able to earn and monetize from this.
02:42How I also envision it to be is that users will be able to co-create games or certain directions
02:48along with the game developers themselves. In web 3, I would say the community actually makes
02:53or breaks the game. So in web 3, even a few or a very dedicated community, if they are very
03:00influential in the web 3 space or in that community, the games will be more inclined
03:05to actually listen to them. This is also something that is different from web 2,
03:09is that users are incentivized to create a lot of user-generated content. So in a way,
03:16that will actually encourage a lot of organic marketing as compared to a web 2 game where
03:22users are not incentivized or they don't naturally create content for the game.
03:30How did you get involved in eMatch?
03:34For eMatch, we definitely started with a small team and we have also tried a lot of different
03:41things including setting up our own esports professional team. We had that called Kingsmen
03:48and we were competing in different games such as Mobile Legends, Valorant and also Brawlhalla.
03:55It's fun, right? Because it's a personal dream of mine to own a team, especially in games that
04:01I like. And of course, games that I play myself and watching them win. And of course, getting
04:08first in the regular season, especially for our first ever time, was very chilling as well. And
04:13sitting in the private room as one of the owners of the team, watching them win is really a crazy
04:19experience for us. How do I feel when I have to exit the esports team or wind down the ventures?
04:27It's actually kind of bittersweet at the same time in some sense where, of course, having your
04:31own team, you definitely have that sort of adrenaline rush when you support them as well.
04:36But it's actually important for us to understand there's definitely a certain conflict of interest
04:40as well because we manage so many teams. And also, one of the key things is that we want to
04:45make sure that there's some sort of business integrity as well, where we won't just favour
04:49our own team. Internally, our team, internal employees and team members feel sad as well,
04:55but they all understand that the needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few.
04:59At that point in time, I honestly felt very sad, mainly because I had a lot of fun during my time
05:06at Kingsman. There were a lot of enjoyable moments, a lot of bonding experiences with the team.
05:11So even though one door was closed, another actually opened up. One of the main reasons
05:17why I came to eMerge Esports was because of two things, which is esports and then Web3.
05:24So it was the best of both worlds for me. And being in Web3 also continued and allowed me to
05:30work with many other esports teams, such as Tier 1, you know, RSG. Both of them are our partners.
05:37As your team gets better, that's where you will actually enter into a franchise league.
05:42Then basically, you will expand your team to have content creators, merchandise,
05:48and then slowly you will be able to be self-sustaining.
05:51There's been a lot of small and big wins for eMerge. So over the years, including our esports
05:59team before, they have also gotten into certain standings in the tournaments. And we have also
06:06received PR awards and marquees awards for the launch of eMerge. So we have gone through that.
06:14And today, eMerge is beyond just having our own esports team. We are doing anything that is
06:21possible to unlock the potential of gaming and leading that to monetization opportunities for
06:28people in the ecosystem. Other things that I've learned from that is also to think of other
06:35creative ways to bring in monetization opportunities for gaming, because there's a lot
06:42more that you can do. And nowadays, gaming is not just a vertical that stands on its own.
06:49It is also relatable to other industries as well. For example, even like FNB, they are also looking
06:56into gaming content to speak to their audience. The possibilities can be very creative when you
07:05open your mind to them. In my personal opinion, playing games and career, how do I really transcend
07:10into it? It's kind of like, if you love what you do, you don't really feel like you're working at
07:15every day. You've got to really have that passion. And of course, gaming has been something that
07:19unites us as well. And that's one of the main reasons why the team, at least in eMerge, most
07:23of them stayed beyond two to three years and has been with us as well, because this is what they
07:28like. And at the end of the day, doing something you like and making money at the same time is
07:33the best thing that you can ever dream of. I think there's two main key learning points that I can
07:38take away from being in an esports team. Support from both the games and the government. So for
07:44example, the games, you could spend a lot of resources on building up a team, but if the
07:50game just decides to stop or don't support you, cut you off, then that's like sunken costs. Secondly,
07:57government support is extremely crucial. And in Singapore context, the Singapore government has
08:02been actively, increasingly supporting the local esports scene, such as Campus Legends by Skogar,
08:10the whole tertiary level esports tournament. So I think providing support at a grassroots level
08:16is the first initial step. And that's where the government can actually continue.
08:33So
08:56I think Emerge consistently, we have been trying to really contribute back to the society as well.
09:02We have done quite a few now, and one that we are doing this year includes Campus Legends.
09:08So Campus Legends is actually an inter-institutional tournament where it allows students to form teams
09:16from different schools to participate in the same tournament. We have been actively trying to
09:20participate such as Campus Legends. We are very involved in that. And of course, through our
09:26efforts like mentoring, through mentorship opportunities in like IT College Central,
09:30in like SCAPE, we have been trying to do that as well with multiple other polytechnics as well.
09:35So we do believe in contributing in terms of the grassroots levels to foster the next generation
09:40of, of course, better talents in the space. But much less, we are not really doing much
09:45in the business opportunity side of things in Singapore. And I hope to be an inspiration to
09:49them to show them that I'm a living case study, that don't give up, just push on and you can do
09:54it, right? You never know what you can achieve if you just don't stop. We hate staying status quo.
09:59So breaking new grounds would mean that we have reached new levels of achievements,
10:04and that would be how success looks like to me.
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