Sharings on the Gaming Industry by Sean Lim, Founder of GamerBraves, Gamer Santai & Wanuxi

You own 3 Gaming sites that cover content in 3 different languages (English, Bahasa Malaysia & Chinese). Can you tell us more about your sites & what each one aims to cover?

The 3 gaming content sites that I run are: –

Wanuxi , pronounced as Wan-You-See (玩游戏 = Play Games) is a gaming news portal started since 2013. We cover games from PC to Console to Mobile platforms. As of 2019, Wanuxi is probably the most prominent gaming news portal in Malaysia. We write exclusively in Mandarin Chinese.

Gamerbraves is an English gaming content site that puts a laser focus on mobile gaming. The site was established in August 2016 and is currently one of the most recognizable mobile gaming content sites globally. From 2018 onwards, we ventured into other platforms like PC and Console among other platforms.

Gamer Santai started in early 2018. The reason behind the establishment of this Bahasa Malaysia gaming platform is because we felt that the Malay-speaking community was being underserved with gaming news in their local language. Plus, there is a lot of content that we can exchange and leverage on with Wanuxi and GamerBraves, which we think would be interesting for our Malay audiences.

Generally, all our sites have different directions and are independent of each other, but at the same time, we share resources between the sites with the ultimate goal of creating better content for our readers.

What future plans do you have for your portals?

We are working on adding new features to the sites and improving the reader experience. We have a couple of big plans on enhancing our video content, so you’ll get to see some big surprises coming your way this year.

How has social media impacted the success of your portals?
It really depends on which site and what is the source of traffic. English sites generally rely more on SEO rather than social media (it is still important, but less impactful). However, for Chinese and Bahasa Malaysia portals, social media plays a very important role because these readers are more engaging on social media.

When did you develop your passion in Gaming & what prompted you to start up your Gaming sites?
I started gaming when I was in primary school. In fact, I played too much up to a point that my mum hid the console away from me (Too bad she can’t do that now).

6 years ago, I was working at a company that provides social media marketing solutions where we had multiple game publishers as our clients. In order to figure out what was the best way to write captions on social media platforms, we started Wanuxi. The response from the fans was so positive that we decided to take it up a notch by making a wholesome portal out of it.

Fast forward 3 years later, I took over Wanuxi, formed a company on my own, and established GamerBraves and Gamer Santai.

Many millennials perceive that being a Gaming journalist is all fun & games (literally). What is your opinion on this?
Being a gaming journalist is a lot of fun, to name a few perks, we get to –

• Play games during working hours
• Engage and work with game publishers directly
• Interview and speak with game producers personally
• Sometimes get to play the game ahead of others

To be a gaming journalist, hard work and passion are essential. At times, we’re required to work at odd hours, making sure to be on standby for game announcements that are made in Japan, EU or US time. Being creative and well versed with the workings of the gaming industry, as well as being updated with the latest trends are also crucial for us to be able to produce good quality content.

Over the years, Gaming has become a lucrative industry. How do you see the industry evolving in the next few years?
From Newzoo’s 2018 report, we can see that mobile gaming revenue is on the rise.

In order to play games in a console, first, you need to buy the console and a TV/monitor (which means a higher level of entry barrier).

For PC, better PC specs will grant you access to games that demand more from the hardware (which means if you want to play better games, you’ll need to be able to afford the hardware).

As for smartphones, it is available as cheap as a couple hundred bucks. More importantly, most mobile games are made to be less hardware demanding (so that more users can install it).

I believe in the next few years, we’ll definitely see more companies venture into mobile games, you’ll see a lot more AAA game IPs moving to mobile platforms.

You have attended the largest Gameshows across the region. What is the best part about being a part of these extensive events?

The fact that we get to see amazing booths and surprises during live announcements feels insanely good. The moment they announce a new game or show us a new trailer of a new unexpected game, the cheering from the crowds is exhilarating. Being able to interview and talk to game producers directly are also equally amazing, sometimes we don’t understand why certain features are incorporated into the game. Hence, to be able to get first-hand answers from the game producers themselves lets us understand more on the thought process of the game.

Lately, there have been intriguing discussions about eSports. What is your outlook on this?

eSports is growing globally. However, I believe Malaysia still lacks the infrastructure of supporting eSports. Internet coverage is still inadequate. I have friends & colleagues who live in Kuala Lumpur and still don’t get access to the internet beyond 5 mbps at home. Better internet coverage increases the chances of having more interested gamers, which will eventually result in more audiences for eSports streaming.

Considering the fact that we’re living in a technologically advanced world, how do you think companies should adopt Gamification in their businesses?
I believe that the reason gaming is able to flourish is that it is fun. If Gamification is being adopted and it’s still not fun, then probably it’s not a good idea. If it is fun or more enjoyable after Gamification process, then it is probably a good idea.

If a gaming studio is launching a mobile game in Malaysia, how will you suggest they promote this game to the media and gamers? What role do press releases play in this communication plan?

To be honest, it really depends on the game genre & platform. On the basic level, having a pre-registration / pre-order before the game launch, sending out press releases to the media is a must. If there is more budget, then game studios/publishers will need to research more on their game’s target audience. Not all gamers are the same, some like to play FPS (First Person Shooter), some like MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), some like Card games, and spend marketing dollars efficiently on reaching out to them.

What’s your all-time favorite game & why?

If I really have to pick, I would go with the Monster Hunter series. I am fascinated by how the game designers & producers created the Monster Hunter universe, especially the monsters – their behaviors and their habitats. The ecology in the game is amazing.

This blog post is contributed by Christine Pereira, Senior Audience Development Executive at PR Newswire. Christine is in charge of partnerships, expanding our media network, organizing our bi-annual Media Coffee events, conducting media interviews, and other company-wide projects for the Malaysian market. You can contact her at christine.pereira@prnasia.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.