Billion-dollar games industry feasible

Themed on unleashing potential and elevating Vietnam’s gaming development to new heights, the event aims to connect the ecosystem and orient the industry’s development for the next 10 years. The conference is taking place within the framework of the centre’s Hoa Lac opening week from October 28 to November 1.

Billion-dollar games industry feasible, Source: NIC

“The whole ecosystem of the gaming industry can contribute 90 per cent to the digital economy. In particular, gamers, viewers, and communities are a data gold mine in today's digital era,” said Nguyen Ngoc Bao, general director of VTC Multimedia Company

“Esport is also an emerging field in the gaming industry, and this field can become a spearhead sector for the digital economy. Esports have a yearly growth rate of 8.1 per cent, and around 640 million people could watch esport matches in 2025,” he added.

Data by the Vietnam Game Development Alliance shows the total revenues of Vietnam’s game industry in 2022 were estimated to be $600 million. In Southeast Asia, Vietnam ranks behind neighbouring countries such as Indonesia ($1.8 billion), Thailand ($1 billion), Malaysia ($900 million), and the Philippines ($850 million).

However, Vietnam’s game industry revenue growth is about 9 per cent, higher than the average growth rate of 8.2 per cent per year in the region. This, coupled with the large number of gamers (estimated at over 54 million people), makes Vietnam a market of high potential.

The Ministry of Information and Communications aims for the game sector in Vietnam to generate $1 billion in revenue, triple the number of game distributors from 30 to 100-150 companies, and add 400 new startups in the field in the next five years.

Nguyen Duc Toan, CEO of Google Cloud Vietnam, said that the goal of increasing gaming revenues to $1 billion in this time frame is feasible. “There are four favourable factors that can help develop Vietnam’s game industry. These are human resources, infrastructure, the young population, and modern technology used in game production,” Toan said.

In particular, technology plays a vital role in the development of the gaming industry.

“More specifically, global coverage infrastructure is needed in order to release games on the international market. For a Vietnamese game to be distributed in Latin America, businesses need to pay attention to players, localisation, and infrastructure, ranging from server systems to telecommunications network connections,” Toan added.

Le Quang Tu Do, director of the Department of Radio, Television, and Electronic Information under the MIC, said that while certain game companies have experienced substantial growth recently, the industry as a whole is still growing slowly. Vietnam’s gaming industry is still in its infancy, without a complete ecosystem.

“The biggest limitation lies in the fragmentation of Vietnam’s game industry. Over the past decade, Vietnam’s game industry has chosen to go alone to go fast, so only a few businesses have developed. As we didn’t go together, we encountered more and more difficulties,” Do said.

“Companies that are good at game development may have no experience in game publishing. Thus, they have gained little access to users. As for the excellent publishers, they yearn to find quality Vietnamese games to upgrade domestic products, but they cannot find them,” Do added. “As a result, Vietnamese people mostly play foreign games.”

Nguyen Dinh Khanh, founder and CEO of Wolffun, recommended that the state should issue tax and capital incentives for startups in the game industry. “Game production studios have made this proposal for a long time, but there have not been many positive changes yet,” Khanh said.

Meanwhile, La Xuan Thang, director of online game publishing at VNG Games, said nations like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore all have government support, strong cooperation of game industry associations, and a vibrant game programming community.

“Hopefully, Vietnam will soon have similar incentives to create an open and favourable market for game businesses to promote their creativity,” Thang said.

NIC determined to remain at forefront of technology The semiconductor value chain is moving to Southeast Asia, and Vietnam has an advantage in the region, so fully welcomes all new opportunities. But unless semiconductor technology is fully mastered, the country will remain on the sidelines of core technology.

NIC providing innovation launchpad The National Innovation Centre and its Vietnam Innovation Network are building a solid foundation for technology and innovation companies to develop more rapidly and go further.

NIC fulfilling promise with wide-ranging programmes Vietnam’s National Innovation Centre has created a solid launch pad for startups to develop new technology nationwide.