Plop down in any public space one of these days, and there will be at least one person glued to their phone screen while tapping furiously as sounds of battle rage on.

Phone-based video games have come a long way since the low-res snake games you used to get on old Nokia phones, with some titles offering gameplay and graphics that rival recent generation gaming consoles or desktops in experience.

There is always something for everyone on the app markets both for Android and IoS. From casual titles such as Candy Crush to story and character-driven role playing games such as Final Fantasy and highly competitive action games such as PUBG and Fortnite.

Indonesia is home to an avid mobile gaming market thanks to the relative affordability of smartphones, data plans and developers who are increasingly keen to enter the market.

The latest title to be introduced to Indonesia is Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links by Japanese developer Konami.

First released in Japan in 2016, the free-to-play game received a worldwide release in 2017, which allowed the title to build a player base in Indonesia before being formally introduced during Indonesia Comic Con 2019 in Jakarta on Saturday.

Based on the original 1996 Yu-Gi-Oh! manga by Kazuki Takahashi, Duel Links brought the trading card game’s mechanics into a simplified version for smartphones. Players have to build their own card deck, which can be purchased using in-game currency or real money via microtransactions.

Duel Links producer Kenichi Kataoka said through an interpreter that the game was based on the franchise’s 2016 feature-length animated movie, and that it was made to allow fans to experience the same card game they had seen or read.

“The game can be played on both Android and iOS, while PC users can also join through Steam. The game has been downloaded more than 90 million times,” Kataoka said, adding that Indonesia was in the top eight of the Duel Links market.

The Duel Links concept allows players to battle non-player characters (NPCs) to unlock more characters from the source material, or even other players around the world in real time.

Real time plaver-versus-player (PvP) games have become so popular that competitions have cropped up in their wake. 

For example, Fortnite, which has approximately 250 million accounts worldwide, held its first Fortnite World Championship in July. The winner was 16-year-old Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf from the United States, who took home the grand prize of US$3 million.

Duel Links itself is no different, with its own World Championship. The game has been a part of the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship since 2017, which originally focused on the tabletop card game at first.

With Indonesia being in the top eight countries for Duel Links, some players have been playing more competitively than other casual gamers. 

Warizmi Thayib, the sole Indonesian to have made it to the 2018 finals and the Asia representative for 2017 and 2018, said he first knew of the franchise through the comics, which he first discovered in elementary school.

“I first found out about Duel Links because most of the tenants in my boarding house played the game. Out of the 30 people there, about 15 of them were avid players,” he said.

According to Warizmi, there were 35,000 contestants in the 2017 tournament qualifiers, and only one of them will advance to the finals in Tokyo.

On the flipside, many other gamers only play casually, whether to pass time on public transport or visiting a franchise they have known since childhood.

One such player is actor and director Dennis Adhiswara, who came upon the trading cards 15 years ago and has since moved to the video games. He noted that the smartphone version was much easier to play and could be played everywhere.

“I  have only unlocked five or six characters, as I focused on creating the ideal card deck. The current bonus campaigns also help a lot for new players,” Dennis said.

Warizmi explained that he considered casual players to be the meter for a healthy e-sports environment.

“In a healthy e-sports environment, casual players should ideally outnumber the competitive players. The more casual players, the healthier it is, as more people can enjoy the game.”

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