“The best investors out their invest in you, invest in the people,” said Anton Soeharyo during Casual Connect Asia 2014.
Anton Soeharyo, co-founder and CEO of Touchten Games, claims the best thing about being a part of the games industry is being paid to play and make games all day—it’s fun! Of course, his work involves considerably more. As CEO, he oversees the strategy and direction the company is taking. He is responsible for their business and creative focus, including marketing, public relations, and product management.
Building From Experience
Soeharyo’s background is in search engine optimization, web hosting, web development, and, as he says, “How to make money online.” In 2009, when he and co-founders Dede Indrapurna and Rokimas Soeharyo started Touchten, he used this knowledge to succeed with their first game through relying on keyword search on the App Store. Within one year, without any marketing budget, they had reached 1.2 million downloads.
The magnitude of this accomplishment becomes apparent when you realize that Soeharyo believes discoverability can be very expensive, and is currently the biggest challenge facing developers, particularly considering the billions of apps in both Google Play and iOS.
The Discovery Challenge
At Touchten, they are responding to the challenge of discoverability in two ways. First, they concentrate on building their brand, so when players see “Touchten”, they know they will find great games they will enjoy playing. Second, they are building a platform that will allow them to tap into their user base and cross-promote to that audience.
The proudest moment of Soeharyo’s career came when Touchten received their series B funding from three foreign investors. They had searched for several years, speaking to a number of VCs before finally getting this funding. The achievement emphasized to them that what they are doing is worth the money.
Smartphone Growth
In the next three to five years, Soeharyo sees smartphone gaming becoming more and more solid in the industry worldwide. He also foresees hockey stick growth in the wearable tech segment of the games industry. At Touchten, they are making plans to adapt swiftly to this new trend and are ready to create great content as needed for the new platform.
When Soeharyo has free time, he enjoys socializing with friends, playing futsal, and watching movies or soccer games with them. He also spends his time watching TV, writing stories, and sleeping.
For his gaming, his favorite platform is the Playstation series. As a self-described soccer freak, he spends the most time playing the Winning Eleven series. But Touchten owns both PS4 and Xbox One, using them to play at the office.
