Elevating the Vietnamese Game Development Industry with Glass Egg - A Virtuos Studio

The Southeast Asian region has seen rapid growth in the gaming industry, with indie developers and support studios sprouting from each nation. One of the big names making inroads in the region is Virtuos.

Founded in 2004, this video game development company is based in Singapore with studios in Asia, Europe and North America. With over 3,500 full-time professionals, Virtuos specialises in game development and art production for AAA consoles, PC and mobile games.

Having established a studio in Kuala Lumpur, Virtuos has set its sights on the region as a strategic foothold in its ambition to create the world’s most extensive network of game development studios.

Their next move was to open a Glass Egg studio in Dalat under the Virtuos banner, which is now the largest external game developer in Vietnam. IGN Southeast Asia spoke to Thuy Le, Head of Glass Egg Dalat – a Virtuos Studio on how this studio will impact the local gaming industry and beyond.

Introduce yourself and tell us about your career in the gaming industry.

I started my career at Morgan Interactive (precursor to Glass Egg) as a 2D game developer. When Glass Egg was formally incorporated, I joined as a 3D artist and was one of the first staff members.

I then went into project management in the 2000s and have since accumulated over 20 years of game art production experience and successfully shipped over 100 titles including Microsoft Flight Simulator, the Forza Motorsport series, Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War, and Forza Horizon 5.

What can you tell us about Virtuos' more recent works, like Marvel's Midnight Suns for example, and how the studio contributed to the project?

For Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Sparx* - a Virtuos studio - provided end-to-end cinematics while Virtuos Kuala Lumpur worked on optimisation. Another AAA project we worked on is Need For Speed Unbound; our team at Glass Egg worked on most of its vehicles from the full car modelling stage to the final engine integration.

We worked off of reference photos and computer-aided design (CAD) to provide 3D models and also provided customisation and alternative parts.

In your opinion, what is the state of Southeast Asian game development post-Covid? What does it mean for regional creators to create authentic games?

Post Covid, there has been an easing of challenges that developers might have faced regarding disruptions to in-person collaborations and production pipelines. Southeast Asia remains a vibrant game development hub that is thriving and primed for exponential growth, evident from having world-renowned developers establishing their footprint here, to having the fastest-growing esports market in the world.

Given the diversity of cultures in Southeast Asia, it is important to understand nuances and provide suitably localised content. Tapping into the deep pools of local talent also ensures authenticity, as they can provide diverse perspectives that draw on their lived experiences.

What does Virtuos’ expansion in the region mean for talent development and Southeast Asia’s developer brain drain as a whole?

Virtuos teams worldwide have collectively worked on over 1,500 game titles across PC, console, and mobile, and we have accumulated know-how in project management and providing full-cycle, high-quality game production services to our partners.

By expanding into Southeast Asia, we look forward to welcoming and training the brightest talent to work with us on AAA game production, reducing the need to look overseas for growth and development opportunities.

What kind of opportunities and challenges do developers in Virtuos’ studios in Vietnam and Malaysia face when creating AAA games?

Southeast Asia has a mobile-first population, so talent may not have a strong understanding of AAA visual quality more commonly present in PC and console games. However, given the deep pools of young artistic talent, we see the opportunity to provide them with accelerated career growth through working on diverse AAA game projects with our studios and partners worldwide.

Talent who have worked on mobile games would also have a good understanding of optimization needs and can work with us to make games perform more efficiently and that can be played by a wider audience.

The perception of gaming and career in game development also differs from market to market, which can be challenging for studios regarding access to trained talent. Partnerships with local authorities can be helpful in shifting perceptions and setting up educational infrastructure.

For instance, in Malaysia, we work closely with MIDA and MDEC to create high-value job opportunities and develop and enable young talent to pursue their passion, which contributes to the growth of a digital workforce and ecosystem.

In Vietnam, we have established close partnerships with local schools to promote the industry and bring game production closer to the public.

Why did Virtuos choose Dalat as opposed to bigger cities such as Hanoi and Da Nang?

Dalat is a beautiful city that inspires its big community of artists with its abundance of nature. It is an attractive city for our existing artists worldwide as an internal mobility option, if they seek inspiration and a different pace of life.

Dalat is also my hometown and my passion project has been to bring AAA game development opportunities back home. That sentiment is shared by some of our former staff members who left and moved to Dalat – we were excited to welcome them back and together, train our first batch of local artists.

What is in the pipeline for Virtuos studios in Vietnam this year and next?

This year, both Glass Egg and Sparx* will continue to strengthen our full-stack AAA video game production capacity through training, upskilling, and active hiring. We have multiple internal and training sessions in place, from an internal knowledge exchange program on concept art with Virtuos Montreal to an upcoming public masterclass on 3D character art in Ho Chi Minh City on 13 May.

Meanwhile, we will be working hard to grow our teams and support Virtuos’ goal of becoming the largest game developer in Vietnam with 1,500 employees by the end of 2024.

What are your favourite games of all time?

I’m not a big gamer myself, but I enjoy watching people playing competitive games like racing or sports games like Forza or FIFA. I recall when we worked on the environment and car models for a Forza project, the reference photos taken by our client team from across the world were so inspiring and vivid that they pushed us to achieve the highest realistic quality we could.

It’s nice to contribute to the production of the game and be a gaming spectator, watching everyone enjoy your work.

What advice do you have for up-and-coming Southeast Asian game developers who are looking to make a name for themselves?

It is a continuous learning process, but I would say that game development is passion-driven and studios need to have a clear purpose at the heart of their business and operations. It brings focus and can guide a company in the projects and platforms they work on, their working culture, and values.

Networking and exchanging know-how is also helpful, and on behalf of Virtuos and our partners, we hope to see you at our next community night events.