Mighty Bear Games on Web3 Game Development in Singapore

Introduction

As fellow co-founders, Ben, Fadzuli, and I found ourselves at a crossroads in 2016. We had all worked for major AAA gaming studios, including Disney, King, and Ubisoft. These were our formative years, but we always shared a mutual interest in setting up our own studio one day. Late in 2016, we collectively decided to stay in Singapore and cultivate our vision of creating mobile games without compromise, leading to the establishment of Mighty Bear Games (MBG) as a free-to-play (F2P) studio. 

Since then, MBG has been committed to creating a non-toxic environment for mobile game development. Our shared rationale is that a relaxation of grind culture will have a net positive effect on the creative minds behind our titles. So far, this has been a resounding success. MBG has released gaming titles that people from any background can enjoy no matter their skill level, including Disney Melee Mania and Butter Royale. Other titles include F2P World of Legends, Mighty Pets & Puzzles, and Best Friends Cafe.

Enabling fun-loving and engaging gameplay is what drives our team. After all, we are all gamers at heart. You’ll find our collective nostalgia imprinted on our games, in particular our first decentralised gaming title, Mighty Action Heroes (MAH). In keeping with the MBG player-first ethos, MAH delivers an imaginative, fun, and rewarding experience. Currently, the on-chain title is in playtest to refine those features that keep players coming back for more. Simultaneously, we are opening up access to the decentralised gaming industry, which tends not to be gameplay driven. MBG is turning this on its head by developing compelling titles while still taking advantage of the inherent benefits of decentralisation.

From Web2 to Web3

MBG shifted its focus to Web3 capabilities in early 2022. Of course, as you would expect, this transition is gradual and iterative. Moving operations to the next phase of the web is always going to be tricky, especially when the industry itself is still in its infancy. This prompted a great deal of back and forth in relation to integrating on-chain technologies into games like Mighty Action Heroes, however, once our team understood the inherent benefits of the Web3 stack the decision made itself. You can read more about that process on our blog.

The “too long; didn’t read” (TL;DR) version: the transition revolved around identifying the gaps in our knowledge and proceeding with careful consideration. When you think about it, we took a bunch of people that had been making world-class mobile games and told them, ‘Okay, now you're going to need to make everything on-chain.’ I realised quite quickly that there was a lot of friction, mostly due to a lack of understanding. To circumvent this, I gifted each person on our team around $200 USD worth of ETH and tasked them with procuring a digital collectible before the week’s end. 

All of a sudden, the team started to educate me on the mints they were doing and how they interpreted the benefits of blockchain-based solutions. Nobody on the team wanted MBG to issue something that was half-baked, so we doubled down on our inclusive work culture. By ensuring everyone on the team felt heard, the co-founders and I gave ourselves a firm bed of confidence upon which the transition could begin.

Game Development in Singapore

Before founding MBG, I had the option to move to Europe for work. The founding team collectively decided to stay in Singapore as this is where we identified the most growth opportunities in gaming. Asia, and Southeast Asia specifically, is the most exciting and dynamic region for gaming. It combines astonishing year-on-year growth with an audience that is open to trying new things and hungry for content. Singapore itself has a fantastic mix of developers and publishers with approximately 3,000 people working in the games industry here.

I’m not sure I would say Singapore is an easy place to do business as a Westerner, but it’s certainly less challenging than other parts of Asia. Singapore is English-speaking, has a stable and well-run government, and a strong rule of law. This makes it somewhere you can do business safely, with lower friction, and more effectively than elsewhere in the region.

Plans for the Future

Now, after building a formidable portfolio in legacy gaming and completing a successful $10M raise, MBG ventures into the decentralised gaming industry with MAH, our studio’s first on-chain release. 

The plan for this year is to focus on successfully launching Mighty Action Heroes later this year.  The game itself is a battle royale style game for up to 20  players and it will be available on the web and mobile platforms. It is easy to access for people who want to jump in and play, but for long-term invested players it has a deep mastery layer with thousands of unique heroes, gadgets, and equipment. It’s immersive and has a unique visual style inspired by the 80s movies and designed by top-tier in-house talent that understands how to deliver to a AAA standard. 

MAH has been regularly opening up for Early Access playtests, for holders of the Big Bear Syndicate and the MightyNet Genesis Pass Collections on OpenSea. The next one is currently planned for April 28th. Every playtest is an incremental step towards a global launch of the game, and the roll-out of the entire MightyNet ecosystem – the home for all Mighty Bear Games titles and collections, which will see players experiencing the overlap of art, technology, and culture as enabled by Web3.

On the hiring front, we’re always open to bringing exciting talent to our team!

Simon Davis, CEO and Co-founder of Mighty Bear Games

Interview conducted by Kirill Tokarev