Founder Spotlight: Gabby Dizon of Altitude Games
Gabby Dizon
Founder
Spotlight: Gabby Dizon of Altitude Games
Altitude
Games’ goal to raise the bar for Southeast Asian game production
by Glacer Barnett
Gabby Dizon is one of the co-founders of Altitude Games, a startup with a prominent goal of housing the best mobile games throughout Southeast Asia. Starting way back in March 2014, thanks to the support of expecting investors, Gabby teamed up with four of his current co-founders to create video games. Their first game, Run Run Super V, has already been downloaded over a million times. Overall, it has launched a total of five free-to-play mobile games with 35 people putting in a collective effort of creating the best products for the company.
Altitude
Games gains revenue in two ways: via in-app
purchases — in which people have the opportunity to make a purchase for virtual
items found inside of the game — and via video advertisements. Although a lot
of Southeast Asians play games, the fact that they don’t make it a habit to
regularly use credit cards comes as a hindrance for revenue. To solve this
problem, Altitude Games has partnered
with other mobile companies, forming co-billing partnerships with them. Such
methods provide consumers with the option to make use of their prepaid load to
pay for the items inside the game. The company's business model primarily focuses
on getting people to purchase the items and watch the ads inside the game.
Amending
the difficulties by partnering with others
In the last few years,
it has become easier to produce games, exemplified by the thousands released
per week. However, with these numbers, the real difficulty lies in making a
game noticeable. As the rate of production becomes faster, the marketing
becomes harder. Altitude Games has
resolved to partner with Globe, one
of the most successful telecommunication companies in the Philippines, in order
to make Filipinos more aware of their games through SMS messaging. Before launching, a soft launch process is
also commenced. A game is first made available to selected markets, in order to
test for its marketability. Once it has been verified, the game is released
worldwide. When everything has been concluded, all that needs to be done is to
have the game delivered to regular players and to have it updated with new
functions.
The
builder and his effort in collecting talent to aim for a common cause
Gabby is the CEO of Altitude Games. Prior to taking the
major step to starting the company, he established his rich background in the
tech business back in 2003 by joining the first gaming company in the
Philippines to develop a PC game. In 2005, yearning for creative control over
his work, Gabby began his own company for outsourcing. Unfortunately, the
company was short-lived, only lasting for four years. Gabby recalls how the
painful experience of having his first establishment meet an unsuccessful end,
but he talks of this past blunder as something that formally prepared him for
his future endeavors.
Indeed, starting a
company and prolonging its success was no easy task, so he decided to gain some
more experience by joining another gaming company. For a while, Gabby created
casual games for PC and mobile devices. A few years after that, in 2014, he
finally created Altitude Games. There
are three things that Gabby has always been interested in: games,
entrepreneurship, and Southeast Asia. The combination of these subjects of
interest makes up Gabby’s life’s work.
As a student, he not
only took a liking to games but also displayed an interest in the stories
behind the steadfast entrepreneurs who created them. An entrepreneur at heart,
Gabby aspires to raise the bar of content produced in Southeast Asia. While
there are startup founders with the goal of selling off their startup once it
becomes successful, Gabby plans on keeping Altitude
Games as his last company. His ultimate wish is for it to continually grow
and become properly groomed to stand amongst the big company giants of the
gaming industry.
Perhaps in the future,
once Altitude Games has come into an
establishment, then Gabby would like to get involved in investing, and more
importantly, mentoring. It has always been one of his desires to help the
entrepreneurial youth get on the right track to success.
Identifying himself as
a builder, Gabby enjoys making something of value out of nothing. Gathering
some of the best talents in the country and having them come together to move
towards a common cause is one of his greatest pleasures as an entrepreneur.
Even when he indulges in the comfort of his home, Gabby lives with a
“work-to-life integration” intact. There is no separation between his work life
and personal life. He can answer emails at home or take a call at midnight
while being there for his children.
Resilience
is the quality of an entrepreneur
In order to become a
prosperous entrepreneur, Gabby believes that one must have true resilience.
Going through the entrepreneurial journey, it is inevitable that one will come
to face with the good and the bad. Having his first company closed down, Gabby
knows the feeling of failure all too well. Nevertheless, his current success in
life largely has to do with his ability to bounce back from the loss. One must
also be opportunistic. Anyone can make a great product, but if the opportunity
to do so isn’t grabbed right away, somebody else may take it.
While it is true that
people tend to think of entrepreneurs as giant risk-takers, Gabby perceives the
best ones to be those who minimize risks. For example, it was risky for his
team to release a game in the market, but because of his partnerships with
other companies, the chances of financial loss for Altitude Games lessened with a gain of revenue. Additionally,
expanding one’s boundaries and networks is important. In Gabby’s team, there
are a lot of employees from other countries. “A lot of the people with us are otakus who like anime and manga, similar
across the world, overcoming the cultural differences to bring us together,”
Gabby said.
Talent does not have to be restricted in the Philippines. As long as you have the talent, no matter where you’re from, then Altitude Games would be more than happy to welcome you.
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