Week one in HCMC is coming to a fulfilling end. We visited Glass Egg today, a video game art company I’d never heard of before this trip, despite spending way too many hours playing games they design for. They are actually the lead vehicle designers on the Forza series since installment three, and they’ve made approximately 2,670 cars across the entire franchise. In my opinion, the biggest factor behind Glass Egg’s dominance is this very partnership with Microsoft on Forza. This has been a long-term relationship that they have kindled over the past decade with a household-name franchise that has, in a way, encouraged them to keep sharpening their craft. It would be impossible to maintain such a contract for over a decade by being mid. They have leveraged this to work on projects like Farming Simulator and Flight Simulator.

However, If the Forze lineage ever ends or becomes less popular (we are on the 6th installment, afterall) or Microsoft decides to vertically expand their operations, a significant part of Glass Egg’s portfolio will be gone. A long-term threat I imagine is AI. The whole reason studios outsource to companies like Glass Egg is cost and specialization, and if generative AI ever becomes operational, then Microsoft could easily prompt serviceable car models internally with a fraction of the team and cost. However, Glass Egg’s edge is ultimately their ability to focus on the fine detail and managing relationships that have been built up over 25 years. Continued partnerships and more outreach can help mitigate some of these growth risks.

After lunch we had sports day at Trigger Boxing: stretching, laps, squats, and push-ups before a long round of punching the bag. I was drenched in sweat and my passion was on fire. I had the opportunity to talk with Evan, a weightlifting and gym coach at UEF, who moved to Vietnam about nine years ago. He gave great insights into what it is like to truly live here as a foreigner. He gave us a bunch of recommendations I’m definitely going to use that are less touristy.

One thing I want to remember from this week: last night at Pho Viet Nam, I ended up talking to another study-abroad student from Manila. He was also a fan of Gorllaz, and it was his birthday that day. Happy Birthday, Jordan. It was great talking with someone who, despite being across the globe, had a similar interest. This week has been full of such moments. Looking forward to my final week.