Bro's you remember Cloudzen, the 'netflix of gaming' that this company partnered with when it was listed as EM1 as we saw here?
https://announcements.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20181204/pdf/440y79zfzy7c4c.pdfI was chatting with a friend who's active in the gaming industry in the US and we started talking about stuff and Singapore (where Cloudzen was based) came up as a discussion point. Long story short, this period coincides with a period where lot of ventures were pumped full of funds there. Because the studios in Singapore were heavily funded by the government......on the basis they'd actually create games.
Now, the reason this came up in a conversation is because a game recently released through Ubisoft Singapore called Skull and Bones. Ubisoft formed an official Ubisoft Singapore office following Assassins Creed 3's naval combat system being developed there that with a bunch of grants and subsidies from the Singapore government. In exchange, they had to hire local game devs to help build up the local tech sector. Ubisoft Singapore would go on to work on a large part of Black Flag, and subsequently received even more investment from the Singapore government in order for Ubisoft Singapore to expand and helm Skull and Bones. One of the conditions to receiving all this cash is they MUST release Skull and Bones of they're liable to pay everything back.
Here's a news article breaking all this down:
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/skull-and-bones-video-game-pirates-ubisoft-singapore-ps5-xbox-pc-4126386#:%5C%7E:text=The%20Economic%20Development%20Board%20(EDB,'%20game%20title%20from%20Singapore%22So....while that's the highest profile example, there's a lot stuck in development hell for too long that went into the wrong direction in a similar boat where eventually they'll need to put out a final product or the government comes knocking.
