In Vietnam, along with information technology and digital transformation, the development of the video game industry is supporting the country's economic recovery and offering numerous opportunities for Vietnamese game developers.
According to Newzoo forecasts, the global video game market is estimated to exceed US$200 billion by 2023. The market becomes increasingly dynamic and begins to contribute significantly to the global economy.
Le Quang Tu Do, Director of the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information under Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), told local media that the video game market has opened up opportunities for game studios and publishers to demonstrate outstanding production capacity of the Vietnamese workforce in this field.
A screenshot of Axie Infinity game. Photo: Anh Kiet/The Hanoi Times |
"According to the App Annie 2020 rankings, Vietnam ranks 7th in the world and 2nd in Southeast Asia in terms of downloads. In addition, the country is 3rd among the top 10 game app makers in the region. There are about 5,000 games produced by Vietnamese, mainly targeting children, entertainment, and education," Tu Do said.
"The nation is now one of the top countries in Southeast Asia in terms of spending on games, with a 50% increase since 2020," he said, adding that the video gaming industry is worth billions of US dollars and creates tens of thousands of jobs for Vietnamese.
Specifically, positions with attractive salaries include game programmers, game designers with a salary of VND449 million/year (nearly $20,000), game developers with VND187 million/year (nearly $8,000), game artists with about VND389 million/year ($16,588). This is a high salary compared to the average income in Vietnam, the official said.
Revenues of the domestic game industry in recent years have also had positive growth. According to reports of businesses, the revenue of the game industry in 2021 reached more than VND7 trillion (nearly $300 million) and over VND10 trillion ($426 million) in 2022.
In addition, Vietnam appeals to the world's leading online game publishers from Japan, South Korea, China, and North America because of the advantage of a young population who are receptive to the new wave of technology. Especially since 2021, Vietnam has emerged as a "capital" of blockchain games and NFT games with games developed and published by Vietnamese, such as Axie Infinity, My DeFi Pet, Theta Arena, Mytheria.
According to the MIC latest data, the total revenue of Vietnam's game industry in 2022 was estimated at nearly VND16 trillion ($695 million) and the actual figure would be higher.
According to experts, with more game projects sponsored by international investment funds, Vietnam can spread its culture to the world and can become the gaming capital of the new generation.
"Currently, human resources for the game industry is very modest and has not met the growth of the industry. Vietnamese businesses are forced to recruit personnel in foreign markets or outsource. Besides creating tens of thousands of jobs, the game industry also builds a creative industry, exploiting digital content from games," Tu Do stressed.
