With important development milestones and abundant room for future growth, the game industry stands a chance to become a valuable export sector. — Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

HÀ NỘI — The annual revenue of Việt Nam’s game industry has exceeded US$500 million, ranking fifth in Southeast Asia, and huge potential remains for this industry to grow further, heard the Việt Nam Game Maker Conference on Tuesday.

The industry of Việt Nam has made breakthrough strides over the last 10 years as seen in the rising revenue and more than half of the population accessing video games for entertainment, Director of the National Innovation Centre (NIC) Vũ Quốc Huy told the Hà Nội event.

It has recorded some leading developers such as VNG, Amanotes, Sky Mavis, Appota, and VTC, of which Amanotes and Sky Mavis have reached the world level, while creating jobs with high economic value in programming and design.

With important development milestones and abundant room for future growth, the game industry stands a chance to become a valuable export sector that will help develop high-quality human resources based on innovation and science-technology and raise Việt Nam’s stature in the global value chain, Huy opined.

Lã Xuân Thắng, a representative of the VNG Corporation, said about three billion people play video games around the world at present, accounting for 40 per cent of the global population. The game industry’s revenue this year is forecast to hit $187 billion, half of which comes from mobile games.

The growth of the game industry is closely linked with the development of mobile devices, especially smartphones, he went on, adding that Asia contributes to half of the global game players and revenue, and Southeast Asia is an important market posting the world's second-fastest growth rate in this regard, after the Middle East.

In Việt Nam, the industry earned $500 million in revenue last year, but this figure is just the “tip of the iceberg” because it may exceed $1 billion if some forms of payment are included, Thắng pointed out.

This shows that the game industry is developing not only in the world but also in Việt Nam, he emphasised.

However, he said, despite its development prospects, the industry has not received due attention in terms of policies and legal rules.

To boost the game industry’s development, it is necessary to devise favourable policies such as tax incentives and support measures, Thắng noted, adding that insiders also hope authorities will view gaming as a business line and an occupation in society.

Việt Nam needs about 30,000 workers in the game industry in the coming time, an opportunity for young people, especially Generation Z.

Some ministries and sectors have made positive moves to support the game industry, which is a source of encouragement for insiders, according to the VNG representative. VNS

Jin Oh, representative of Bikraft investment fund, said that the gaming market had a revenue of about $200 billion, the gaming trend is aimed at many different players and ages.

In particular, today's gaming platforms did not simply play games, but also integrated movies and interaction; at the same time, the gaming industry quickly updates new technologies in the world, such as AI, virtual reality (VR), and blockchain, said Oh.

Thanks to that, the revenue of gaming companies was not inferior to that of technology companies. This was the future opportunity and prospect that Việt Nam could look forward to, he added. — VNS