It’s a proud day for Malaysians in the games industry as three of them have been inducted in the 2023 TGA Future Class.

This year sees Persona Theory’s Saqina Latif, IGDA Malaysian Chapter Lead and Metronomik developer Jonathan Tang as well as independent journalist Samantha Low inducted into the 2023 TGA Future Class.

Samantha’s induction also brings one more important distinction, being the only inductee specifically as a member of the media instead of as a developer.

“I really hope to continue my work with bridging SEA and Japanese indie games with the rest of the world”, she says. “And I’m super thankful to all of the editors I’ve worked with past and present who believed in my ideas and pitches to help me shed light on these regions”.

“I feel extremely privileged and humbled for being able to be recognized alongside my peers who has been in the industry way longer than me”, Jonathan says. “It was a journey I didn’t expect to be on, and Im grateful for the privilege of opportunities I was given to be a Malaysian representation for a community I so deeply love”.

Meanwhile, Saqina was gracious enough to share the exact moment she found out she was being nominated:

“I remember getting this email – I was feeling very sad because United Airlines had lost one of my luggage that contained something very sentimental to me. A friend on the same trip, Joyann, cheered me up by saying it’s a sign for me to hold on to new things and make new memories”, Saqina recounts. “The same day I got a confirmation that my luggage was lost forever is the same day I got this email, and I thought about what Joyann had said. I’m so thankful for the amazing support and friends I have who have said they nominated me for Future Class because they believed in me, even when I have trouble believing in myself. Here’s to more SEA representation in games!”

That’s not all the SEA representation in the Future Class either- Singapore’s own Sherry Toh is also an inductee this year for her work championing accessibility in games.

The TGA Future Class is a category that highlights up-and-coming talents in the game industry, with an increasing presence from the SEA region- previous years have seen developers like Anisa Sanusi as well as Sophie Azlan inducted.