Cyprus LIVE #5 Where Are All The Greek Gaming Studios on Cyprus?

Uh, hi. Um, I'm joined today by Alex Madas. I'm a co-founder and CEO of Holy Studios.
And you're Greek?
Yes.
We've been hearing from a lot of Russians
original. [laughter]
Well, we've been hearing about this Port Monto. Um, there are Greek people here as well.
I represent the minority. In reality, we're the only Greek studio here.
Interesting. So, as someone who's Greek, I do have a question for you. Something that's been bothering me since I first came to Cyprus a couple months ago. Where do I find goddamn bugata on this island?
Saloniki. [laughter]
Okay. Okay.
You have to go to Greece.
But if you manage to find good bugata here, I'm interested.
Okay. Okay. This is now going to be my eternal quest. Um, [laughter]
so how how long have you been in Cypress?
I'm here 11 and a half years actually.
Okay.
It's been a long time.
That that is a long time. How's it changed in those 11 years?
Dramatically. Mhm.
I mean, when I came here, Cyprus actually just exited the big crisis they had into like a small place. You

wouldn't have all these big buildings that we have now. It was like a smaller society. Now it's like booming. I mean, you saw by yourself by going to Lima or to other cities. It's growing a lot. And I think we have to thank the government for that because they have this nice incentives and people move here to join the ecosystem.
Do you go back to Greece at all or are you mostly based out of Cypress now? I go but for vacations as a tourist nowadays. Yeah. Or to see you know my family.
So when you compare where Greece is economically and where Cypress is, what do you think Cypress has done right that Greece could learn from?
A lot. Yes. A lot actually. Yeah. It's like huge difference. I mean you can see the economical data but even without that if you go to downtown Athens and to downtown Limasol you can see the difference in people.
People smile more here because they are happier. [laughter] So, you said you're the only Greek studio on the island. What does that mean?
It means that we don't have people who

engaged into gaming here. And this, I think, comes down to education. Like historically, Cyprus was an island that was focusing in bringing foreign companies, you know, for tax reasons. So, parents suggest to their kids to go be study become a lawyer or accountant. And you know it's these people who actually pay the fees for a university. So a kid cannot go to his father and say I want to be a game programmer. What is that? [laughter] This is actually thing I talked with university professors here and they told me they have this issue. They tried to have some curriculums and they faced resistance. Parents didn't want to sign up their kids for that. M do you think the best training will happen in universities or do you think companies will be the best ways to get local cyprates into the industry?
I think that universities can cultivate that can show you that there is potential because in order to go to some profession you need to understand that you can make money to feed your family later on. So the university is an indicator

and of course you will learn by the company. I mean myself studied economics totally different. I had to learn gaming in gaming.
Well, I would say you're speaking to a game economist. So, I I say they're one. I say they're one.
Definitely.
So, what are you making here? What type of game
we make? Idle RPG.
Okay.
Our game is called Firestone and it's a crossplatform actually. Steam, mobile, web, and Epic Games. Actually, today we have the third global promotion in Epic Games.
Congratulations.
Yeah. Free game of the week.
Congratulations. What do you do in the game? The concept is that it's like a fantasy world like Lord of the Rings you can say but our world the world of Alandria and you have to make a team of heroes to beat the bad guys the undead and you the game is premium so you play different mechanics and you have to meet max how you upgrade your heroes to be stronger and have a lot of social elements the game is actually multiplayer so you play with guilds with fellowships and all this

stuff
how big is your studio
we're 21 people now
and when When you think about those 21 people, what's the makeup? Is it local cyprits? Are they Greek? Is it Russians?
We try very hard to find people here. And actually, one of the guys, he relocated from London. He was crian. He relocated here to join the company. Right now, I would say we are like half half. We have half of the studios Greek and Criots. The other half are Russian speakers. Also have some guys in Poland, a guy in Morocco. And you know
how has it been to observe those cultures interact with one another? Is everyone getting along? Are they enhancing one another? Are there things to solve? Are there ethnic cleavages?
I mean on every community of course there is always some you know problems but this is the human nature. I mean everywhere they are in general we do very good
because you know in gaming people are cool. They like peace and do their thing.
No that makes a lot of sense. Are are the Russians drinking uh Fredo espressos

yet?
We try to teach them.
Okay. Okay. Are they are they getting indoctrinated into the Greek cyprate way? You think a lot of the immigrants that are coming here?
I think they do because they see things that were not familiar and that they like. But also for us, I mean, being from Athens, which is like a big city, coming to to Limasol is very different. You learn how to live in a slower pace to enjoy you know more I don't know freedom more sea less traffic so you have to get used to that
so what are some of the things that you would say you've learned from the Russians
work ethics
I think that they have it a lot they are very hardworking people
and what would you think is the inverse what do you think the Russians have learned from the local cyprate or Greek population
I cannot tell you what exactly they learned from the locals because there are no local studios I mean Both the three co-founders of my company we are Greeks Greeks from Athens. So of course we bring our culture and we get some culture from the criate guys in our

studio. What they learn I think how to relax also that life is not only work.
No that that makes a lot of sense. Something I've learned as an American trying to live in Europe. This looks like 6 weeks vacation is quite nice and there's more than just work to life.
Yeah. But we also as Greeks, we learn that because when I was living in Athens, I would work from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. 12 hours. Here, I started to learn that you don't make better results if you work more. You need to clear your head because gaming is a creative business. It doesn't go with the time. You need to clear your head and do something nice.
So, when we think about Cypress growing,
Yeah.
what do you think it needs to do to continue to grow in the games industry? Is it about building more infrastructure? Is it easier visas? How does this place continue to grow? And I guess in my view, I'm already setting up a rivalry with Turkey, but how does it kind of get to that point?
I think there are several things that can be done. I mean, first the the most obvious is not to change the tax system because everybody, especially some big

companies and also us and everyone cares about that. The other is the talent acquisition. I mean, of course, you can hire people remotely, but it's much better when you have people in your studio that at least they can come some days because nowadays we work hybrid that can get into the culture. So, they need to invest in universities. They have to do something and promote that like teach this local society that there is a good industry there and you should check it. What else? Build better infrastructures about housing. actually this is the main complaint of
and so that's something that's really surprised me here because usually the story of economic growth is a city grows. It becomes an attractive place to live. People start to move there. Real estate prices accelerate because no one wants to build or the rules against building housing. The local population turns on the immigration that's happening. They interact new regulations which prevent people from coming or prevent new buildings from being built. Some way to keep the outsiders out. And

so far I haven't gotten that vibe yet despite the fact I just signed an apartment last week and I would say I had sticker shock. I thought it might be in San Francisco. Why hasn't there been more resistance?
Actually there is resistance. I mean of course
in Limasol you cannot easily see it because maybe you didn't interact with locals yet. [laughter]
There is resistance and the resistance is because of change. Because even real estate prices that everybody complains that it's expensive. If you compare it with any city in Europe it's way cheaper. even with Athens which is like has 30% less GDP per capita.
So yeah,
how is your Russian progressing
or how are the Russians Greek progressing?
I mean Russians have a big motivation to learn [clears throat] Greek because of the passport situation. I mean since last year they have to learn Greek to get passport.
Okay.
Yeah. So everybody's trying to learn right now.
Okay. How is that going?
Actually quite good. good. I mean, I see many people who have really nice progress for me being Greek and I mean, I have a very good passport. I don't

have the same motivation. I want to learn Russian and I I know some words and I want to spend more time because you know the ecosystem here. Yes, it has a lot of Russian studios and the majority of my friends are either from Russia or Ukraine or Belarus. So, it's something I want to do for me, you know.
So, you are learning Russian or you have learned Russian. I tried several times to start, you know, but you know, running a company at the same time, it's pressing your schedule a lot. So,
it's okay. We can wink about my
I have a Russian girlfriend, so I have to kickstart it again. [laughter]
No, that's Thank you for joining.
Thank you very much, Phil. She's better than Greek. There is no Greek sales. It's only [laughter]
but feta is the best cheese. [laughter] You can find bugata here.
I do love bugata. I've been to like five times.
It's amazing.
Oh, it's it's so good. And it's got protein. It's the best breakfast you can possibly have is bugata. It's got the cheese, the protein. It's delicious. You

put a little
It's
Yeah. Actually, you know, in Greece and Cyprus, there's like a big culture in past things.
Yeah.
Like a big variety.
Well, I saw um there's a sweet pea here with honey.
Yeah. I I don't remember the name to be honest, but I know what you're talking about.
Okay.
I have the visuals in my head right now.
Yeah. Someone said that was like the Pepsi Dupatas, like Coke or something, and I [laughter] didn't I didn't believe them. I didn't think that was the case. Uh I need my cheese and protein.
Yeah.
Okay. That's all I got, man. and I'm out of [laughter] Thank you for Thank you for coming on. [applause]