In 2013, Flappy Bird was released to the world by Vietnamese developer Dong Nguyen and its instant virality set the bar for Vietnamese developers to aspire to. Leo Nguyen, Chief Growth Officer at Apero Technologies, and the man in charge of their mobile game studio Superminds mentioned to me that back then “Everyone wanted to be like Flappy Bird ”, but in 2013 – the idea of Game Development was a much more foreign concept in Vietnam.
Fast forward to today and Vietnam looks set to establish itself as a Mobile powerhouse Globally – already hosting one of the strongest consumer bases for Mobile, and one of the fastest growing talent pools – too.
Superminds, an Apero Technologies Venture
Founded in 2020, Superminds started out as “Apero Games”, a small team within their venture firm Apero Technologies (a Top 20 Publisher on Google Play). The purpose of Superminds was to focus on the Gaming segment of Apero’s business, using their access to data-insights and technology to quickly iterate and publish mobile games. The studio’s focus is innovation and standing out, which is behind their rebranding to “Superminds”: “The name reflects our philosophy that everything we create starts in the brain” explains Leo.
Having previously experimented with NFTs and midcore games, Leo wants Superminds to now specialise and dominate the casual and hypercasual puzzle game genre. Their goal is to produce games that get a longer lifespan of at least a year, so that they can continuously update and enrich player experiences with more content.
The offices of Superminds are on the same floor as their parent company Apero Technologies, in Hanoi. This huge floor houses various teams focusing on AI apps, lifestyle apps, general mobile applications, and of course gaming through Superminds. Apero gives the advantage of being closely partnered with Google, leveraging insights and data from Google Play to refine their apps. As an entire group they recently surpassed 1 billion downloads across all of their products, and the new milestone in their sights will be a $1 billion valuation.
Vietnam’s Growing Influence on Mobile Gaming.
Most of the games that the Vietnamese play locally are taken from China and localized/republished in Vietnam. The main genres include: MMORPGS and E-Sports heavy games likes League of Legends, or PUBG.
Superminds, however, have no plans to compete with or venture into these genres. Instead, they are sticking to their guns and intend to carve out an identity with casual and hyper casual puzzle games. Whilst Apero Games had previously released games outside of the puzzle genre like a simulation game called DIY Boba Tea – Boba Recipe (Leo’s favourite Recipe is “Classic”), and a “weightlifting game” Giant Lift Heroes Idle Workout, Leo assures me that their new focus will remain solely niche.
Instead, they will stick to games like Match Market Sort: Triple 3D, and Triple Minded 3D Sorting Game. The hyper casual space is an incredibly competitive space, with thousands of small developers trying to do the same – especially in Vietnam – but Superminds are a big fish in a small pond in that regard, especially with the technical and financial backing of Apero. They should have a competetive edge, and already have many top-downloaded titles under their belt.
The appeal, of course, is how fast these apps can be pumped out for huge returns on investment if they hit. It’s not all easy, though, as Leo notes monetization is a problem: “Vietnamese culture emphasizes value in spending, casual games are very rarely purchased by consumers here”. Consequently, as is the case with most mobile and casual games, Superminds will rely on advertising and other monetization methods with the support of Apero’s data insights.
Asia’s Ascent in Global Gaming.
Leo firmly believes that Asia is a “Fast growing beast” in the global gaming industry, and that Vietnam – with Superminds – will represent the hyper casual mobile powerhouse. Even with many studios Globally suffering layoffs, we see much less of an impact on the Mobile Gaming sector compared to AAA console/PC focused studios, and even less of an impact in Asia due to lower production costs.
For AAA, Leo noted that the world should be watching Asian developers, who have now demonstrated that they can produce AAA titles that take the world by storm, see: Black Myth Wukong. Whilst Superminds will not venture into AAA, he does believe that “Vietnam, when focussing on something small and specific, can be incredibly agile with projects like hyper casual puzzle games”. That, alongside Asia’s growth in general, should contribute to more available talent and technology as well as government initiatives to support companies like Superminds.
The vision is that Vietnam will be the “top country” for the genre of hyper casual, and mobile. Leo predicts that cultural acceptance and government support for development will grow significantly in the coming five years, which would generate lots of jobs. With their development costs being as low as $13,000 per game – and many of their title’s generating $1 million+, Superminds have a strong business model to work towards Apero’s billion-dollar valuation goal.
Superminds and Apero Technologies are poised to redefine Vietnam – and Southeast Asia’s – role in the global mobile gaming landscape, they’re one to keep an eye on for all things mobile.
Find out more here: https://apero.vn/en/
P.S. – Indie Developer? Superminds have also got a publishing arm looking to fund and publish games with 100% of the marketing, they are especially interested in hyper casual puzzle games for mobile.
Reach Chris@Gamescoutjournal.com for more information