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Dutch web browser game being developed in Davao

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews / 20 Nov) – A Dutch firm has tapped a Davao-based BPO company for the development of an upcoming web browser game.

Maata Games of Arnhem, Netherlands has selected Next BPO Solutions to be one of their partners in creating a massive multiplayer online game (MMOG) together with Tinotech Nederland B.V., another technology consultancy firm from the Netherlands.

Maata Games’ Paul Ludwig, who does marketing and sales for their company, revealed to Davao reporters that the game is going to be called Erectus.

“It is going to be about the clash of civilizations of Homo Sapiens and Homo Erectus 130,000 years ago,” Paul said. With him during the announcement was his wife and business partner Alet Ludwig-Roesink, who manages company operations and finance.

Davao developers from Next have started working on this collaboration since early this month. The game is expected to be completed for launch March next year.

Paul said that Erectus will come in four different languages: English, Dutch, Japanese, and Tagalog. The game will be free to play but will come with in-app purchases (IAP) – this is how he intends to monetize the game. Erectus will be available as a web-browser game.

In a press release, Next BPO Solutions president Xavier Eric Manalastas wrote that “the engagement, which is the first of its kind to be undertaken in Davao City and by Next BPO Solutions, puts the city in the map of global gaming arena and underscores the world class talents and skills of the city’s web developers and designers.”

“This is a good milestone for the software industry of Davao City,” said Atty. Sam Matunog, president of ICT Davao. “We are very pleased to showcase the quality and capabilities of our developers here and that Maata Games has selected Davao City to be the launching pad for their global game.”

“From the outset, we knew that we will have a good team and coming to Davao City to personally meet and work with the developers has confirmed that we have made the right decision,” Ludwig said.

Erectus took about three years to conceptualize in the Netherlands; most of the ideas for gameplay, storyline and graphics have been developed there, Ludwig said. They have come to Davao to work with a team of five developers from Next who will be working on the programming aspect of the game.

As to why they chose Davao in the Philippines (or Philippines among other countries in the world), Roesink shared that their decision was largely driven by her frequent visits to the country for an adopted Filipino brother in Manila.

Ludwig also said that he likes the idea that Filipino game developers are team players because they know how to work on given tasks while still being objective.

He said Filipinos are unlike other developers in Asia who just say a plain yes to tasks. Ludwig said that Filipino game developers know how to give input in terms of ideas. “They know how to think for themselves,” he added.

More information about Maata and the game ERECTUSTM are available at Maatagames.com.

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