Agate Studio is probably one of the few great mobile gaming startups in Indonesia that we haven’t been really able to cover yet. Agate Studio is really good at making games as well as holding events for game developers and gamers themselves. Together with Nokia they have staged Indonesia Bermain, and the Mobile Games Developer War. We got in touch with Arief Widhiyasa, the CEO of Agate Studio, to find out more.
1. What is Agate? What is the difference between you and your competitors?
We are just a bunch of crazy people that want to create a happier world, and live the world in a fun way. Our vision is to craft fun experiences to enrich the way of life, we want to create or convert our activities to be more fun, more engaging, happier, and we believe the basic (core) ingredient is the game itself. At Agate, we want to build a legacy, some long lasting alliances that could contribute to a happier world. We really want to focus on the long-term results, that’s why we really focus on building culture, a strong vision, a great and long-term team.
2. You have released many games on many platforms. Which is your best-selling game?
Yup, we’ve made more than 100 games, for various platforms. Not many of our games are B2C games, as we just started to release games for B2C this year. And currently our best performing self-published social game is Football Saga.
3. 2011 was quite a year for Agate with you guys winning some awards and even holding events…
Thank you so much Joshua. We’re just lucky I think. Just like my partner said, “Our best achievement is the happiness we have until now, doing everything that we love everyday.” So 2011 was another very happy and fun year to live.
4. Can you tell me more about Indonesia Bermain?
Of course, Indonesia Bermain is one of our efforts to share and inspire society with the importance and the positive effects of playing and games. It really is a very delightful experience seeing thousands of people come together on the same day, very happily playing together. Basically it’s an event where everyone gathers in a venue with a lot of games. It’s a very big success and we really want to share this happiness with more people in the future.
5. Is there any specific platform that you guys are focusing on? It seems that you have a strong connection with Nokia and its effort to make a comeback here in Indonesia.
Currently we’re not focusing Agate on any specific platform, but actually the focus is on the team. Because we believe making games is platform-independent, as long as we can make fun experiences. Yes, we’re very happy with our partnership with Nokia Indonesia. They really give us a very big opportunity where we can share happiness through our games to a very big market (the mid- to low-end phone market). Maybe most of those customers are not able to play most kinds of games (on PC, consoles, etc), but with the Nokia platform we can access those people.
6. You guys have two games that seem to be popular lately, which are Sexy Witch and Smash Mania…
Yes, those two games were our major releases in the last quarter of 2011, and we created lots of buzz in local markets around the release date. Smash Mania is a game we can play like playing badminton — it’s a full body experience, and we have to swing the device as we swing the racket. Sexy Witch is a simple game on the S40/60 platform. We just wanted to share a fun small game with very simple game-play and a very nice graphic to all mid to low end handset owners.
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7. How many employees do you guys have right now? And are you hiring?
If you don’t mind, we prefer to use the term ‘crew’ because all the people in Agate are partners. Currently our crew is around 65, and yes, we’re always recruiting people with game developing as their passion and a dream to make a happier world.
8. With so many games being produced, are you profitable right now? And with all the venture capital flying in to Indonesia, are you looking for funds?
Yes, we’re slightly profitable; which is lucky, because if not, we would be already filing for bankruptcy since we started with almost no capital. Of course we’re very interested in a strategic partnership, and so currently we’re not looking for just funds but rather to enter into a strategic partnership, to leverage on contributing and building a happier world.
9. Do you have any tips on starting a company for those entrepreneurs-to-be out there?
Live the fun way! Live your life as an entrepreneur very happily and enjoy every moment in the process of building the company. And be sure to start building with a lot of passion, with a clear dream or vision, that will be long-lasting. Never start a company with only greed to gain as much money as you can, or [with the intention] to sell the company to others.