Sharing at the Google Apps Summit 2025 event, held in Ho Chi Minh City on November 12, Mr. Aditya Swamy, Managing Director, Google Play, in charge of Southeast Asia, India and Australia, unexpectedly mentioned the game "Pho Anh Hai" as a vivid proof of the creativity of the Vietnamese programming community.
Factors that make Vietnamese games catch the eye of Google boss
Mr. Aditya Swamy mentioned the game "Pho Anh Hai" by a Vietnamese student in the section about 10 tips to help domestic programmers develop an effective application. According to him, besides the new elements and gameplay, one of the most important factors that makes "Pho Anh Hai" famous all over the world is the original and unique element of the game.
Mr. Aditya Swamy, Managing Director, Google Play, in charge of Southeast Asia, India and Australia, shared at the Google Apps Summit 2025 event, held in Ho Chi Minh City on November 12.
PHOTO: THIEN TRUONG
According to him, to attract users, game developers should prioritize original intellectual property (IP) and innovative features. Building core elements that are difficult for competitors to copy en masse will make the application unique and different.
Google leaders said that Vietnam is becoming an attractive destination in the eyes of international application developers. Previously, the technology giant sent a group of global programmers to visit and interact with the Vietnamese engineering community for two weeks. What impressed them most was the high-quality human resources. "Vietnamese engineers are especially hard-working, they are willing to try new things, and have creative thinking. We see that there is still a lot of room for cooperation and improving product quality in Vietnam," commented Mr. Aditya Swamy.
How to make the game 'Pho Anh Hai' become the next Flappy Bird
The advice Mr. Aditya Swamy gave to the father of the game "Pho Anh Hai", to be able to succeed in both reputation and revenue like the phenomenon Flappy Bird of Nguyen Ha Dong - more than 10 years ago - is to find a way to retain users.
"Today, if we look at the lifecycle of applications, we will see that everything is really shortened, there are always too many new things appearing for users. The gaming industry is no exception. Therefore, to be successful, game developers must think about how to keep users longer, so that they do not come out of curiosity and then quickly leave," said the leader of Google Play.
According to him, to do this, programmers should focus on the context of the game, taking advantage of AI to create many different layers to attract players. Another important factor is to ensure the balance of difficulty in the game. If it is too easy, players will not be interested, and if it is too difficult, there will be few players, this is a key factor.
From practical experience, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Khanh, CEO of Wolffun, believes that in addition to the factor of retaining users, developers also need to have a mindset about building businesses and teams.
Mr. Nguyen Dinh Khanh, Co-Founder and CEO of Wolffun, shared at the Google Apps Summit 2025 event, held in Ho Chi Minh City, November 12.
PHOTO: THIEN TRUONG
"Games are not simply entertainment products. They must be seen as a model that can make money. From there, publishers can think about appropriate business and marketing models," said Mr. Khanh.
According to CEO Wolffun, even with the legendary Flappy Bird, if Nguyen Ha Dong had a team to continue developing the game in the long term, thinking about a sustainable economic model such as recharging to change the color of the bird, the game could have been even more successful.
Finally, Mr. Khanh believes that in order to seize the opportunity and be able to create the next Flappy Birds of Vietnam, the programming team should be prepared for fundamental factors such as the uniqueness of the game, team building mindset, and sustainable monetization model.
Meanwhile, Google representatives emphasized the use of AI to improve work efficiency and creativity; expand young customer base and seek new revenue; and build close relationships with the user community.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/sep-google-mach-nuoc-de-game-pho-anh-hai-thanh-flappy-bird-tiep-theo-cua-viet-nam-185251112224348724.htm
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