Asean games associations agree on collaboration

By Digital News Asia June 12, 2015

Regional industry survey, cross-border industry-academia collaboration on the cards
SEA games revenue expected to grow from US$1.1bil in 2014 to US$2.2bil by 2017

Asean games associations agree on collaboration

GAMES association leaders from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam (pic above) have agreed to support the development of a SEA Games Industry survey, the Asean ‘Game Jam’ and GameFounders Asia in Kuala Lumpur.

They also shared a high interest in fostering industry-academia collaboration between their respective countries, Malaysia’s national ICT custodian Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC) said in a statement.

These statements of intent came at an Asean Games Roundtable Forum held in Kuala Lumpur to discuss current happenings in the Asean (the Association of South-East Asian Nations) games ecosystem, part of an effort to position Malaysia as a regional hub for games, MDeC said.

“Malaysia is in a good position to work with our Asean neighbours to [take] the games industry in this region to the next level. This is in line with the spirit of the Asean Economic Community (AEC),” said Dr Sharifah Zarah Syed Ahmad, Secretary General at the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia.

“The Malaysian Government sees games as a … new engine for economic growth,” she added.

The forum was organised in conjunction with the launch of GameFounders Asia, a partnership between GameFounders and MDeC.

In March, MDeC said that it and GameFounders, the first gaming startup accelerator in Europe, had agreed to collaborate to bring a regional games accelerator to Malaysia.

The accelerator programme provides access to over 120 top games gurus, as well as chief executive officers and developers from global game studios such as Kings, PopCaps, Rovio, Unity and Nintendo.

GameFounders Asia has just concluded its Big Asia Tour covering Singapore, Jakarta, Manila, Tokyo, Ho Chi Minh, Bangkok and several cities in Malaysia, with its final leg ending June 11 in Kuala Lumpur, MDeC said.

During the three-week tour, GameFounders Asia met local developers and established new partnerships.

Newzoo’s 2015 Introduction to the South-East Asian Games Market; Opportunities in the Worlds’ Fastest Growing Games Region report showed that the South-East Asian games market is the fastest growing in terms of revenue.

Revenue is expected to double from US$1.1 billion in 2014 to US$2.2 billion by 2017, at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 28.8% from 2013-2017 (click chart below to enlarge).

“We believe the GameFounders Asia initiative arrived at the right moment to tap into this growing sector and provide opportunities to propel youth and game developers’ involvement in entrepreneurship,” said MDeC chief executive officer Yasmin Mahmood.

“Beyond this, it will also further enhance the cross-border collaborations between countries,” she added.

MDeC, as the driver of the National ICT Initiative, the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC Malaysia) project and the Digital Malaysia programme, has outlined various strategies to position Malaysia as the preferred regional hub for games development and delivery.

These key strategies will build upon Malaysia’s existing digital content sector, which includes attracting anchor companies, increasing local games capacity and capability, and raising global market access, the agency said.