Jason

1. Help us understand what you do for a living that makes you a multi-millionaire?

I geek for a living, haha! So, I started a studio where our team would help other game developers and publishers port their games to be compatible with different console platforms and a lot of other technical stuff. Years of working on the side-lines of these games, but not having a say in its design and production, got me thinking why don’t we start making our own games. We already had the technical team, all we needed was to expand our creative team and a million other things which I won’t mention here to make our transition from a game porting studio to a gaming studio look like a flex. So we started making our own games and rebranded our studio as 101Games in 2008 and have worked on several titles – both global and local so far. The journey has been rewarding and the numbers are in front of you. So, to answer your question, we make games and are trying to make our place in this billion-dollar industry.

2. Tell us a bit about your journey in gaming?

When I was young, my older cousins were a bit of j*rks. They all had their PlayStation and I wasn’t old enough to own one according to my mother. And they’d never let me play on it, which did nothing but fuel my curiosity more. So, I’d collect all my monthly allowances and visit a cyber cafe where I’d play console games for hours on end. And one final day when I was actually allowed to own one, I beat all my cousins in their own game. Poor chaps were probably thinking we’ll roast the noob, the joke’s on them. So, games were my way of feeling important, accomplished, and the high scores I’d generate were my legacy. That’s how my relationship with games started. 

3. You’ve earned the title of an “overachiever”, what do you have to say about it?

: Okay the word “overachiever” sounds all fancy, but what it really means is my anxiety doesn’t let me take a breather and I have the constant need to move on to the next big venture, sometimes even before I complete it the previous one. I’m trying to work on it, and I’m learning to take it easy. I am grateful for all the experiences, but I do sometimes feel like I missed out on certain other pleasures of life, like enjoying my twenties, being there for my family during small personal milestones, etc. So, we might want to think twice before we romanticize the concept of overachieving. 

4. What brings you to Star Chef 2 every other weekend?

It’s the ambiance. I am very big on interiors, and Star Chef 2 restaurant seems to have the best interiors I’ve ever seen. Art is subjective and the Star Chef 2 creators seem to have cracked the code. There is a room or booth for every major theme – Hawaiian, Asian, Modern, Ethnic etc. You will mostly find me in the elegant corners of the Modern room, but sometimes I do sneak around in the serene Asian booths as well. I try to avoid the Hawaiian sections as I’ve noticed a lot of youths there, most of who recognize me, and the rest are just too loud for my liking. No offense to them, your 20s are two make noise after all. 

5. Tell us a bit about your next venture.

Ahhh, my next big venture. Well, there are a couple of projects lined up but I cannot speak about a bunch of them owing to the NDA I signed from my own company, LOL. But, I do want to talk a bit about our next game which I’m very proud of as it’s ‘mommy approved’, yea my mom loves the concept. It’s a game about women empowerment, and how women can be the protagonists of their own life. Stay tuned for this one, that’s all I can say for now.