Malaysian Devs Steal the Spotlight at SEA Game Awards 2026

Malaysian game developers had plenty to celebrate at the 2026 SEA Game Awards. The ninth edition took place on 15 October alongside LEVEL UP KL and recognised standout independent games from Southeast Asia and beyond. The event also featured performances, trailers, and several new game reveals.

The biggest winner was Metronomik’s Ondeh Ondeh Kaya’s Tasty Tale. The Malaysian-developed game picked up the Grand Jury Award, Best Technology, and Best Score & Music. Those three wins made it one of the night’s most successful titles.

Ondeh Ondeh Kaya Takes the Biggest Prize

Ondeh Ondeh Kaya’s Tasty Tale won the Grand Jury Award, putting Metronomik at the top of the evening’s honours. It also secured Best Technology and Best Score & Music. The game was additionally nominated for Best Visual Art and Best Audio.

The game follows Kaya on a journey to become a Worldbuilder in the fictional land of Selera. Its world draws heavily from Southeast Asian culture while mixing rhythm into exploration, puzzles, and combat. Themes of family, courage, and self-discovery sit at the centre of the story.

That combination gives the game a strong regional identity. Metronomik is using food, culture, music, and familiar Southeast Asian influences rather than copying more conventional fantasy settings. Its success across several categories suggests judges responded to more than just one part of the experience.

TCG Card Shop Simulator Wins Best Game Design

Malaysia also scored another major win through TCG Card Shop Simulator from OPNeon Games. The popular shop-management title beat nominees including Chess Nuke, Duo Quest, Little Tree Kingdom, and Voodoo Craft. It was also nominated for the Grand Jury Award.

The game puts players in charge of their own trading card store. You can stock booster packs, open cards for your collection, set prices, hire workers, host events, and grow the business. The simple idea turns the familiar hobby-store experience into a management game.

The event also screened an accolades trailer. That gave OPNeon Games another chance to highlight the title beyond the award itself. Its success adds to what was already a strong showing for Malaysian-developed games.

Fish Can Man Wins Best Student Game

Malaysia’s student game-development scene also had reason to celebrate. Fish Can Man from Asia Pacific University won Best Student Game. It was also nominated for Best Technology and the Audience Choice Award.

Student awards are particularly interesting because they show where the next generation of developers may come from. Projects like this give young teams exposure to studios, publishers, media, and potential collaborators. For Malaysia, that talent pipeline is important as the local games industry continues to grow.

Other Regional Winners Shared the Stage

Malaysia had a strong night, but developers from across the region also took home major awards. Kidbash: Super Legend from Authentic Remixes won Best Visual Art, while Mission Mancala from Telkom University took Best Audio. Team Project Lunch’s Compensation Not Guaranteed won Best Storytelling.

Little Tree Kingdom from Bumi Studio won the Audience Choice Award. Voodoo Craft from InnerSight Games received the Rising Star Award, while HOMURA HIME from Playism won Best International Game. Together, the winners showed how varied the Southeast Asian development scene has become.

The awards were not limited to one genre or development style. Cosy games, simulations, action titles, student projects, and experimental releases all made the finalist list. That variety is one of the clearest signs that the region’s game industry is maturing.

SEA Game Awards 2026 Winners

CategoryWinnerBest Visual ArtKidbash: Super LegendBest AudioMission MancalaBest Score & MusicOndeh Ondeh Kaya’s Tasty TaleBest Game DesignTCG Card Shop SimulatorBest TechnologyOndeh Ondeh Kaya’s Tasty TaleBest StorytellingCompensation Not GuaranteedBest Student GameFish Can ManBest International GameHOMURA HIMEAudience Choice AwardLittle Tree KingdomRising Star AwardVoodoo CraftGrand Jury AwardOndeh Ondeh Kaya’s Tasty Tale

The results gave Malaysia several especially visible wins. Metronomik stood out most strongly with three awards for Ondeh Ondeh Kaya’s Tasty Tale. OPNeon Games and Asia Pacific University added further Malaysian victories.

Project XII Was One of Several Malaysian Reveals

The event was more than just trophy presentations. A Southeast Asian Games Showcase and THE MAGIC RAIN presentation brought several trailers and reveals from developers around the region. Malaysian studios accounted for a sizeable share of those announcements.

Albrite Studios revealed an exclusive teaser for Project XII. The game is set in a distant future where humanity’s search for resources leads back to a transformed Earth. Players hunt fragments of an ancient prophecy, fight evolved beings, and form uneasy alliances.

The premise blends science fiction with themes of faith, ancestry, and humanity’s future. That gives it a broader narrative focus than a straightforward futuristic action game. It also looks like one of the more ambitious Malaysian projects shown during the event.

Bloodwell Mixes Vampires With Cyborgs

Ten Ten Studio also revealed Bloodwell. Players play Dusk, a Vampire Knight rebuilt as a cyborg. Combat revolves around biting enemies to heal and stealing blood to unlock new abilities.

The character is hunting four Apostles across a gothic city powered by blood. That setup mixes dark fantasy, science fiction, and action in a fairly unusual way. It was one of the more distinctive Malaysian projects shown during the showcase.

Overhours Gets a Release Date Trailer

CtrlD Studio released a release-date trailer for Overhours. The Malaysian game is a single-player action tower defence title set inside a fictional agency under attack from soul-eating monsters. Players work the night shift while using traps and special abilities to survive incoming hordes.

The office setting gives the familiar tower defence formula a different personality. Instead of defending a castle or military base, you face what might be the worst overtime shift imaginable. That lighter setup helps the game stand apart.

Wira Brings a Malaysian-Inspired MMORPG

Another Malaysian project, Wira, was shown through an exclusive teaser trailer. Developer RICRYM describes it as an upcoming Malaysian-inspired 3D MMORPG. The game will also incorporate blockchain technology, although further details have not yet been revealed.

The Malaysian inspiration could become the more interesting part of the project. Few MMORPGs draw heavily from Malaysian culture, mythology, environments, or visual themes. That gives Wira room to create something different from the usual fantasy formula.

Southeast Asia Had Plenty More to Show

Developers from the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia also brought new games to the showcase. The Philippines was represented by Fallen Tear: The Ascension and Sepak U, while Singapore contributed HellHeart Breaker and 13Z: The Zodiac Trials. Thailand and Indonesia added Nightmare Circus, Lost & Found Co., and Dungeon Hot Pot.

Sepak U is especially interesting from a regional perspective. The game blends fighting-game mechanics with volleyball and football, drawing inspiration from sepak takraw. It supports one to four players, with 21 characters and 21 arenas.

Dungeon Hot Pot takes a completely different approach. The Indonesian game is a cosy cooking story where players serve bowls of monster hotpot to tired adventurers inside a dungeon. It is another example of regional studios putting unusual twists on familiar genres.

13Z Brings Fast Roguelike Combat

Singapore’s Mixed Realms showcased 13Z: The Zodiac Trials. The anime-inspired action roguelike casts players as Challengers trying to become the legendary 13th Zodiac Guardian. It supports both solo play and cooperative sessions for two to four players.

Players choose from four animal spirits with different combat styles and abilities. Runs involve fighting hordes, challenging Zodiac Guardians, and building characters through upgrades and modifiers. The structure supports repeated playthroughs with different characters and builds.

LEVEL UP KL Remains Important for the Region

The SEA Game Awards have been running since 2017. They recognise creativity, innovation, and technical achievement among game developers across Southeast Asia. The awards are held alongside LEVEL UP KL, one of the region’s major game-development events.

LEVEL UP KL also gives developers a place to meet, exchange knowledge, and discuss both the business and technical sides of development. The event includes industry panels and talks from speakers worldwide. That makes the awards part of a wider effort to strengthen Southeast Asia’s game-development ecosystem.

For smaller studios, this kind of event can provide more than a trophy. A trailer reveal can put a project in front of publishers, media, creators, and potential players at the same time. That visibility can be extremely valuable for independent teams with limited marketing budgets.

Malaysian Games Are Getting Harder to Ignore

This year’s results show Malaysian developers working across an increasingly broad range of games. Metronomik is building a colourful action-adventure rooted in Southeast Asian culture, while OPNeon Games has turned running a card shop into a successful simulation game. Other local studios are experimenting with science fiction, gothic action, tower defence, and MMORPGs.

That diversity may be more important than any single trophy. A healthy development scene needs studios willing to build different kinds of games for different audiences. The SEA Game Awards showed that Malaysian teams are increasingly doing exactly that.