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More than 400 teams submitted concepts spanning gaming, livestreaming, interactive storytelling, and social experiences, including ideas aimed at making digital entertainment more accessible and inclusive
Singapore, 18 September 2026 – Over 1,270 people signed up for the Garena AI Build Challenge in Singapore to develop concepts that explored how artificial intelligence can enhance the way people play, create, and engage with entertainment.
Under the theme “Reimagine Digital Entertainment Experiences,” the challenge invited students and working professionals to identify opportunities across the space and bring their concepts to life through working prototypes.
From the submissions, ten finalist teams were selected to develop their projects further. Ahead of the finale, each team met with a Garena mentor, who shared feedback and industry perspectives to help participants refine their solutions and strengthen their prototypes. In collaboration with OpenAI, participants also received access to ChatGPT Pro throughout the challenge as an additional resource to support their projects.
The challenge culminated at Garena's Singapore office on 23 August, where the ten finalist teams presented their ideas and demonstrated their prototypes to a judging panel of Garena leaders. The finale also gave participants opportunities to connect with Garena leaders, recruiters, and employees from across the company.
Three projects emerged as the top entries at the finale:
- 1st place – Team Supersede (Clarence Choo Jia Yi, Deng Yida, Lee Hayoung, Lim Wei Tao, and Anson Ng Wee How): The team developed Unseen, a platform that brings a squad's gameplay moments together into a shared story, with features including an artificial intelligence-powered esports coach and a director's cut highlights reel generator.
- 2nd place – Team Ctrl Alt Elite (Jazlyn J, Jason Chua, Gnaneshwar Rao, Putra Syafiq, and Tian Yi Quek): The team developed a global game chat engine powered by game context, designed to facilitate real-time communication between players speaking different languages.
- 3rd place – Team Bacchus (Lee Jia Hong, Chung Jia Cheng, and Ngo Khai Jie): The team developed Withheld, a murder mystery game featuring artificial intelligence-powered non-player characters that improvise during gameplay to create a more replayable experience.
The top three teams received cash prizes, OpenAI API credits, and 12 months of ChatGPT Pro subscription.
Other concepts looked at ways to make visual entertainment more accessible, help livestreamers better manage and engage with their audiences, and refine matchmaking to foster greater compatibility and stronger connections among players.
Together, the projects reflected the breadth of the challenge, spanning not only games, but also livestreaming, interactive storytelling and visual entertainment. Across these diverse areas, participants shared a common starting point: understanding users and considering how technology could address their needs and enhance their experiences.
Learn more about the inaugural Garena AI Build Challenge and explore the featured team projects at https://aibuildchallenge.garena.sg/.
About Garena
Garena is a leading global online games developer and publisher. Free Fire, its self-developed mobile battle royale title, is the most downloaded mobile game in its genre for seven consecutive years, according to Sensor Tower App Performance Insights. The title has also ranked as the world’s most downloaded mobile game across multiple years since 2019.
Garena is run by passionate gamers and has a unique understanding of what gamers want. It exclusively licenses and publishes hit titles from global partners – such as Arena of Valor and Call of Duty: Mobile – in selected markets globally. Garena champions social and entertainment experiences through games, enabling its communities to engage and interact. Garena is also a leading esports organiser and hosts some of the world’s biggest esports events.
Garena is a part of Sea Limited (NYSE:SE), a global technology company. In addition to Garena, Sea’s other core businesses include its e-commerce arm, Shopee, and digital financial services arm, Monee. Sea’s mission is to better the lives of consumers and small businesses with technology.
