Malaysian Indie Games Studio Signs Worldwide Publishing Deal For ‘Re:Legend’

By Editorial team | March 16, 2018

Another proud moment for the local game development scene as homeboys, Magnus Games Studio, has entered a worldwide publishing agreement with Italian game publisher and distributor Digital Bros, through its subsidiary 505 Games.

Just some info before we dive into the juicy bits…


Who is Magnus Games Studio?
Magnus Games Studio is a new independent game studio based in Malaysia, co-founded by 2 brothers, DC Gan and Welson Gan. They’re filled with passion and creativity, and have sacrificed a lot to follow their dreams. The studio has been awarded the 2017 South-East Asia Best Rising Star Award at the regional 2017’s Level Up KL.

Who is Digital Bros?
Digital Bros Group is a global company that has been operating since 1989 as a developer, publisher and distributor of video games through its brand 505 Games. The Group distributes its contents on both retail and digital channels, and are also active around the world through its own direct operations in Italy, the United States, the UK, France, Spain, Germany and China, with approximately 250 employees.

Who is MDEC?
Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation or MDEC (formerly known as Multimedia Development Corporation Sdn. Bhd.), is an agency incorporated 20 years ago under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia. Its main role is to spearhead the development of Malaysia’s Digital Economy. Its mission is centred on driving investments, building local tech champions, catalysing digital innovation ecosystems and propagating digital inclusivity.

What is Re:Legend
Re:Legend is a monster-raising RPG that allows the player to raise magical monsters, known as Magnus; train in farming and fishing; build a village; and play co-operatively with other players. It first made waves among the gaming community when the company broke the record with a 99% upvotes on Square Enix Collective – a curated platform that enables creators to post ideas, and gamers to judge whether those ideas should become a reality. Inspired by cult-classic farm simulation game Harvest Moon, Monster Rancher and Stardew Valley.

 

DC Gan and Welson Gan ran a month-long Kickstarter campaign in July 2017 which was a massive success as the project surpassed its target of USD70,000 in less than 24 hours, achieving 900% funding from backers all around the globe by the end of the campaign and making it the most crowd-funded game in South-East Asia in 2017.

(l-r) Hasnul Hadi Samsudin, Vice President of Creative Content & Technologies Division at MDEC; Welson Gan, Co-founder of Magnus Games Studio; DC Gan, Director and Co-founder of Magnus Games Studio; Dato’ Ng Wan Peng, Chief Operating Officer at MDEC; Raffaele Galante, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Bros Group; Thomas Rosenthal, General Manager of Greater China at Digital Bros Group; Iju Shih, Business Development and Marketing Manager at Digital Bros China; and Mohan Low, ‎Head of Interactive Media at MDEC.

Now back to our story… Re:Legend, with the help of Digital Bros, will be marketed over digital games platform Steam to players around the globe!
The signing ceremony was held here in KL at MDEC’s Level Up Inc at Komune, Bangsar South, and saw reps from all 3 parties present. Even the Chief Operating Officer of Digital Bros, Raffaele Galante flew all the way from Italy!

Watch the interviews here, courtesy of our friends at NTV7’s 7Edtion:

 

Key quotes from the signing ceremony:

“It is an absolute honour for a budding studio like Magnus to be partnering a major publisher such as Digital Bros. We are thrilled with the market opportunities for Re:Legend that this worldwide publishing agreement brings. We worked hard and poured our passion into making this game enjoyable for our supporters and fans, and we hope to bring the game to the next level through our experience working with 505 Games and Digital Bros to grow Re: Legend into a global franchise and at the same time mature into a leading player in our region.”DC Gan, Magnus co-founder.

“We have strongly believed in this project far before the beginning of the Kickstarter campaign and we are very pleased to finally have the chance to announce it here today with Magnus Games Studio and the support of Malaysia’s MDEC. It is a promising project with passion, novelty, and creativity. Our cooperation with Magnus Games Studio on Re: Legend further confirms our footprint in Asia and our increasing focus on Asian markets, where expectations from fans for games are proving to be very high.”Raffaele Galante, Chief Operating Officer of Digital Bros.

“We dared to dream big with Re:Legend and we couldn’t have done it without the support from our fans who gave feedback and helped shaped the game. We are also truly grateful to have the support from MDEC in providing us with the industry exposure – locally and internationally – to make this game a reality for many of our fans around the world.”DC Gan.

“It is another truly ‘Malaysia Boleh’ moment for us and further proof that MDEC’s endeavours are bearing fruit. We have often lauded local studios and their capability in delivering world-class IPs, so we are extremely proud that Digital Bros shares the sentiment about Magnus and Re:Legend. On behalf of MDEC, we congratulate Magnus for landing this major deal and putting Malaysia another step closer to being the preferred regional hub for games development and delivery by 2025, an inspiration that is in line with our Digital Economy initiative.” – Dato’ Ng Wan Peng, Chief Operating Officer of MDEC.

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