VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY IN VIETNAM

When talking about markets for video games in Asia, most will think of China being the biggest player or the main driving force of the whole area.

However, in recent years, other countries in the region, such as Vietnam and Thailand, have seen a huge increase in the number of gamer, and have been making headlines in the video game community. This has proved that China is not the only place where video games can achieve widespread success and generate big revenue[i].

As of 2013, Vietnam has more than 13 million video game players[ii], and the country’s gaming industry is still growing rapidly. The PC online game revenue of Vietnam has been increasing non-stop since 2012 and was around 291 million US dollars in 2014[iii]. The mobile gaming market also sees a substantial amount of growth with gaming apps being the most consumed content, accounting for 48% of more than 350 million total apps downloads[iv]. With a huge increase in the number of PC and Internet users, along with rising incomes and a huge population of youth who are actively seeking for entertainment content, Vietnam is sure on its way to establishing itself as one of the major players in the Asia’s video game market.

The video game industry in Vietnam benefited greatly from the country’s high rate of literacy and a huge pool of young, dynamic & highly motivated engineers & artists. According to the meeting report of IGDA Vietnam in 2009[v], the Vietnamese video game industry employs around 3000 people to work under various positions: Game Producer, Artist, Designer, Programmer, Game Tester, etc. And as the industry still continue to evolve and expand, the demand for skilled staffs working on video game projects are higher than ever.

At the present, Vietnam is still viewed as a not well-known destination and a hidden gem in the world of video game production outsourcing. Nonetheless, the fact is showing that the country holds great potential to become the best choice for video game outsourcing in Asia.

Sources:

[i] Workman, R 2014, “Vietnam, Indonesia Helping Asian Game Market”, Ayzenberg, viewed on 27 May 2014, <http://www.alistdaily.com/news/vietnam-indonesia-helping-asian-game-market>

[ii] Brown, M 2013, “Vietnam: a nation of online gamers dominated by Chinese and Korean games”, Deutsche Welle, viewed on 27 May 2015, <http://www.dw.de/vietnam-a-nation-of-online-gamers-dominated-by-chinese-and-korean-games/a-17175035>

[iii] Statista 2014, “PC online games revenue in Vietnam from 2012 to 2014”, Statista, viewed on 27 May 2015, <http://www.statista.com/statistics/323814/pc-online-games-revenue-vietnam/>

[iv] Appota Corp 2014, “Insights and Guide to Vietnam Online Mobile Game Market”, Slideshare, viewed on 27 May 2015, <http://www.slideshare.net/appota/vietnam-online-mobile-game-market-insights-and-guide>

[v] IGDA Vietnam 2009, Meeting Report – “The Video Game Industry in Vietnam”, IGDA Vietnam, viewed on 27 May 2015, <http://www.ph-enix.com/igda/IGDAVietnam050609_Report.pdf>