Malaysian boy, 12, a national hero after building an e-sports game at a cybercafe and trying to sell it for US$0.25 to help his mother
- Muhammad Thaqif spent one year working on the game at a cybercafe
- With the game 75pc complete, cafe owner deleted it thinking it was a virus
A 12-year-old boy has won the hearts of fellow Malaysians after he built his own zombie-shooting e-sports game at an internet cafe and then tried to sell it online for one ringgit (US$0.25) to help his mother – only to have his work deleted by the shop staff because they thought it was a virus.
The online PC community has come together to help Muhammad Thaqif fulfil his dreams, with Malaysia’s youth and sports minister, Syed Saddiq – a major supporter of e-sports in the country – paying him a visit this week.
“[I’m pictured] together with the youngest game developer, Thaqif who studied at Tahfiz [religious school]. He once tried to sell his own game at RM1 which was developed in cybercafe,” the minister tweeted along with a picture of himself with Muhammad.
“The industry is expected to be worth around US$4.5 billion by 2021. I want to position Malaysia as the leader in Asean.”
Muhammad’s family moved from Bangi, a commuter town about 60km from Kuala Lumpur, to the village of Jengka around 250km away in the state of Pahang because of “his health problems”, according to local media.