Contestants participating in a Cosplay contest within the framework of the International Game Exhibition 2024 (Viet Nam GameVerse 2024) in Ho Chi Minh City (Source: Organiser)
According to data from a market research company, Viet Nam and the Southeast Asian region had the fastest mobile game growth rate in the world with 7.4% a year from 2022-2025. Therefore, the Ministry of Information and Communications sets a goal that in the next five years (by 2030), the Vietnamese gaming industry will reach a revenue of 1 billion USD.
Ample room for Viet Nam’s game industry growth
According to game companies, the goal is reachable as the industry is booming around the world. In the Southeast Asian market, the total market scale was 4.75 billion USD in 2021 and it is projected to climb to 7.14 billion in 2026.
Currently, Indonesia is the country with the highest revenue from online games, followed by the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Viet Nam. Of which, revenue from the industry in Viet Nam is exceeding 500 million USD with more than 50% of the population has accessed to the game industry.
Game players from MDH Entertainment prepare for eSports events at the SEA Games 31, Viet Nam, May 2022 (Photo: VNA)
Online game production and publishing companies in Viet Nam have taken advantage of abundant and high-quality human resources to focus on developing games of genres such as multiplayer online role-playing game (Mmorpg), turn base (turn-based attack tactical battle game), Moba (multiplayer online arena game), Casual (popular, simple game), SLG (tactical simulation game), and RPG (role-playing game), among others.
Emily Nguyen, Head of Sales for Google Ads – Gaming and Apps in Viet Nam
Vietnamese and Lao teams compete in Cross fire event at SEA Games 31, Viet Nam, May 2022
(Photo: VNA)
New mindset needed to transform game industry
However, the profit margin after tax of Viet Nam’s game industry is still modest, only 3-5% of the total revenue. In particular, the revenue in the mobile game market segment of Vietnamese enterprises only accounts for 22%, the rest belongs to businesses not based in Viet Nam. The revenue of the Vietnamese game industry is currently less than 0.5% of the total global value.
Flappy Bird is created in 2013 and its success story encourages domestic game developers (Source: TechCrunch)
Le Quang Tu Do, Director of the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information (DIT) of the Ministry of Information and Communications acknowledged that in the immediate future, it is necessary to develop a good foundation, especially formal training. In 2023, the department coordinated with the Viet Nam Academy of Posts and Telecommunications and VTC Corporation to provide official training programmes for the industry.
Le Quang Tu Do, Director of the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information (DIT)
Final match in FIFA Online 4 between Vietnamese and Thai teams at SEA Games 31 (Photo: VNA)
Besides technology, attracting capital can be considered an important driving force to help Viet Nam quickly accelerate to catch up with the development of the game markets in other countries.
However, La Xuan Thang, Director of Online Game Publishing of VNG Game, said that in order to attract investment in game projects, game producers still require visions and ideas to produce quality products, which are recognised by the gaming community. Therefore, although investment capital is needed, it is not the first factor to develop the game industry, but it is the results that this industry achieves as it succeeds./.
Source: VNA
