There is a growing game development scene in Malaysia. That is pretty much known so far with the likes of Streamline Studios, Lemon Sky, Passion Republic and many other game studios based here. But more impressively, it is making big money.
In 2017, RM 684 million worth of exports were produced for Malaysia by over 60 game studios based here. This is a 46% year on growth between 2016-2017, which means it’s continuing to grow healthily.
In line with that, the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia have announced the Digital Content Ecosystem (DICE) policy which will in general, help grow both the video game development and animation industry in the country, which in turn bring benefit to Malaysia’s economy.
“Malaysia, which sits in the heart of South East Asia is well poised to further grow and solidify its position as the games development hub of the region,” YB Gobind Singh Deo, Minister of Communications and Multimedia said.
“Malaysia is attractive to digital content and creative tech studios due to its youthful demographic, access to talent with cultural influences from both the East and West and a higher education system that has a focused tech-track.”
The DICE Policy will be covering on attracting investments, creating local talent and strengthening the ecosystem via government and private sector partnership. The policy will also be covering best practices to promote healthy animation and gaming environments. When asked if there will be any policies regarding safeguarding game developers from unhealthy habits such as overworking via crunch, those will be looked into.
MDEC will be taking the lead in forming the DICE Policy, though it is still a collaborative process with various parties in the game industry through town halls and focus group discussions. The exact policies to be covered in DICE is still in the works.
MDEC has been instrumental in the current boom for the video game development scene in Malaysia. “MDEC, through our Creative Content Team, has been working hard to grow the local creative content industry over the past few years,” MDEC CEO Surina Shukri said. “This has resulted in Malaysia enjoying a head-start in digital content development in the region and Malaysia’s talents and creative IPs are gaining global recognition.”
Malaysia’s government is in full support of the video games industry, with plans to ultimately position the country as the leader in digital content creation and production in the region. It’s a good time to make video games here in Malaysia.