Malaysia offers prospects for local game developers

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is urging local game developers to explore opportunities to work with firms in regional gaming hub Malaysia to promote the growth of the sector and contribute to the country’s exports.

In a statement, DTI said it recently organized a webinar with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corp. Sdn Bhd (MDEC), Philippine Trade and Investment Center-Kuala Lumpur and the Game Development Association of the Philippines (GDAP) to encourage Philippine game developers to explore opportunities and widen their network with Malaysia.

Malaysia is the gaming hub in Southeast Asia.

MDEC vice president Hasnul Hadi Samsudin said Malaysia’s gaming industry, which is composed of 57 companies, is among the country’s fastest growing exports.

He also said Malaysia has a highly skilled talent pool, strategic location, high market growth, vibrant game ecosystem, good internet infrastructure, and strong government support.

“The young generation of today in the Philippines and Malaysia have been exposed heavily to digital media entertainment. The digital industry is said to be one of the major propellers driving the ASEAN economy along with the richest countries in the world, whereby online gaming has come to greater heights as compared from the last decade,” Trade Undersecretary Abdulgani Macatoman said.

GDAP president Alvin Juban said the Philippine gaming industry has made progress in implementing the roadmap created in 2014.

The three steps under the roadmap are gain a new flagship client, gain a flagship studio, and create a Triple-A game—a game with big production and marketing budgets.

So far, the industry has achieved the first two milestones with Gears of War 4 signing with Synergy88 in 2015 and Ubisoft locating in Laguna in 2016.

In terms of nurturing talent, there are now eight higher education institutions offering game development in the country from just two in 2014.

The number of graduates also more than doubled to an expected 1,000 this year from 300 in 2014.

Despite the progress made, Juban said there is a need to offer attractive incentives and come up with more original content to promote the growth of the industry.