DAVAO City’s thriving information communication technology (ICT) sector got livelier with the recent launch of the massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) Erectus in the city.

Erectus is a game developed by Netherlands-based gaming company Maata Games and Davao City-based ICT-business process outsourcing (BPO) company Next BPO Solutions.

It was launched on March 31 at the University of Mindanao.

Eric B. Manalastas, Next BPO Solutions president and chief executive officer (CEO), told Sun.Star Davao the presence of Maata Games in the city will open more opportunities for Davao City-based game developers.

He said this will also showcase Davao City not only as a hub for the traditional ICT-BPO practices, but also a destination for game development.

“We are not just an ICT-BPO destination but now we can also participate in the game development,” Manalastas said.

He said not many are into large-scale game development in Davao City, but there are a few who are developing games for mobile phones.

ICT Davao President Samuel Matunog said the presence of Maata Games in Davao City and its team-up with a local company reinforces the quality of IT graduates and developers the city is producing.

“We can also encourage more game developers in utilizing our talents from Davao for their own projects,” he said.

Erectus was simultaneously launched on March 31 at the University of Mindanao in Davao City and at nine other local and foreign cities, which includes Cebu and Manila, Philippines; Tokyo, Japan; Hong Kong; Cape Town, South Africa; Luanda, Angola; Amsterdam, Netherlands; San Francisco, United States of America; and Hamburg, Germany.

Manalastas said they will continue to develop the game together with Maata Games. He said Next BPO Solutions will provide the technical and customer support to Maata.