Minister eyes game development industry's potential

PARLIAMENT | The Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has supported 60 local game development projects in the last decade with an allocation of RM36.7 million, which in turn generated RM45 million in sales and export value.

“This proves that the digital game industry in Malaysia has great potential to be developed through support from the government in market access, incubators, conferences, workshops, programmes upskilling, reskilling and others,” said Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo during Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was responding to Syahredzan Johan (Harapan-Bangi) who asked the government to state the number of local game developers MDEC supported from 2014 to date, the amount of funds received and its total sale.

In April, Gobind reportedly said the overall game industry has recorded significant growth, with a total projected income of RM3.3 billion.

Gobind further said today that the support for the development of computer, console and mobile games was given through MDEC's Digital Content Fund with an overall allocation of RM163 million in the same period, also available for the local animation, digital comics and creative content.

"All these (game development) projects have also created more than 700 job opportunities,” he added.

The minister said MDEC had also provided a platform and opportunity for companies to explore market access so they can increase the promotion and marketing of local digital games.

"Among the digital game markets include Games Developer Conference in the United States, Tokyo Game Show in Japan, China Joy in China and Gamescom in Europe," he added.

Domestically, Gobind cited local events including Jelajah Saya Digital, Malaysia Digital Content Festival and Comic Fiesta, which in turn invites participation from digital game publishers and distributors at regional and international levels.

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