Vietnam Gaming Industry: Growth of Billions Gamer's Country

Vietnam is one of many countries in Southeast Asia that has always developed in many industries. One of which is the Vietnam gaming industry. This industry seems to have been growing over the years. Such industries could not be wasted away.

The gaming industry in Vietnam has left a good mark with its hit games like Flappy Bird. Vietnam itself has emerged and thrived on video games in particular. Vietnam is pushing its gaming industry and capturing the attention of the young generation and investors. This development is affected by the fact that Vietnam was ranked among the top 15 in terms of smartphone users in the world in 2022. This fact gives opportunity to the gaming industry to keep changing and develop even further.

Moreover, the video games market in Vietnam specifically has a projected market that is expected to reach US$922.8 million by 2027. The projected market includes mobile games as the largest segment. To look even further, playing video games has become a beacon of light for younger generations as it is one of the promising career paths in Vietnam. This also included streaming games, professional gaming, and esports competitions. With this fact, the gaming market will keep growing as it becomes a serious career path for some people.

How the Vietnam Gaming Industry is Recognized

Vietnam in 2019 to the first quarter of 1 has jumped to the top 15 globally. This rank is mainly in terms of app downloads that reach 5 billion downloads. According to the report by DataAI & AppMagic, there are four developers in Vietnam that enter ranking 50 globally. These four developers have reached new application downloads that surpass 100.000 downloads in 2022.

The news agency, Bloomberg, also rated Vietnam as a game powerhouse. This is due to the fact that Vietnam is in the top 5 of the world's mobile game countries. It is measured by downloads in the first month of 2023.

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Factors of Video Gaming Industry Growth

The growth of video games in Vietnam seems to have some factors behind it. To understand it better, here are some of the factors concluded from some sources.

• Young Population

The potential of the gaming market in Vietnam is affected by the generations. The youth population in Vietnam is making up to 22.5% according to the Vietnam National Youth Committee. There are also around 3.99 million gamers that are based in Vietnam with more than 60% being between 18 to 30 of age.

With this fact, we can understand that the growing gaming industry will still be on Vietnam's side. This is also supported by the fact that many young generations are prone to make a living as gamers. More people are taking a serious route in gaming activity, this can keep the increased development of the gaming market in that area.

• Vietnam's Strategic Location

Between the years 2008 and 2023, the Statistics from the Ministry of Information and Communications reveal that almost 90% of the games that are approved by the ministry were imported. The majority of the imported games are from China.

Vietnam's market opens up many opportunities for collaboration and partnership of gaming technologies. Especially with China and South Korea. This will widen the gaming industry to reach a new level. The deals between the game publishers in Vietnam and game production from other countries have been increasing. Especially with South Korea. In 2023, the VTC Game revealed a partnership with South Korean Wemade Max, which resulted in the exclusive release of the Silkroad Online game in Vietnam.

• Talent

Flappy Bird by Nguyen Ha Dong has the attention of the world and has become viral for some time. There are also other significant achievements from Vietnamese in many renowned games. Many talents from Vietnam continuously strive and prove to the world the knowledge and creativity of the Vietnam gaming industry.

This could also be the effect of the development of gaming developers' education in Vietnam. A lot of renowned universities in this country provide specific bachelor's degree courses in gaming. Such examples are Hanoi University of Science and Technology, FPT Polytechnic College, and RMIT University.

This could help many young generations of Vietnam to pursue their career in the game development industry and other related fields. This will help to ensure the growing talent to increase the video gaming industry revenue in the future.

The Challenge of Vietnam Gaming Industry

The rapid growth of an industry will always face challenges along the way. Vietnam's industry is not without one. Here are some challenges that could become an obstacle to the success of the game industry.

• Cultural Differences

Games that want to be officially released in Vietnam need to have their content approved and appraised by the Ministry of Information and Communication. While this might be necessary for the government, many international game developers might find it unfamiliar with it.

The game also needs to undergo a process of translating text, adjusting the cultural elements, and adapting the gameplay. This process is necessary to make sure that the game will be received well and still relevant to the Vietnamese. Also, the process of localizing the game content is to make sure there are no cultural references that are sensitive to the people in Vietnam.

• Vietnam's Regulations

The international gaming market still faces challenges due to the strict censorship laws and administrative procedures. The foreign developers must incorporate joint ventures so they can enter a business contract with the local company. This is done so they can legally distribute their video game. This is because foreign ownership in the sector is restricted to a maximum of 49% as per the existing foreign investment regulations.

• The Unlicensed Games Problems

The gaming industry in Vietnam has strict legal regulations. However, this is not balanced with the efforts of law enforcement in this area. Law enforcement is rather weak then leads to high pirated games in Vietnam. This is a big challenge to the game publishers. The factors behind it could be the fact that many gamers are still choosing free gaming options instead of paid ones. Many are not willing to pay for games. This fact leads the developer to apply in-app purchases and advertising to gain revenue.

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Room for Development

With the challenges in mind, there is still a chance to improve the Vietnam gaming industry. Alliance and partnership can become the beacon of success for the gaming market in Vietnam. This collaboration is meant for the gaming community. In the past 10 years, the gaming community has not been together yet. The game industry still has not been together and going on alone. This led to the success of only a few game developers. Togetherness and collaboration between the game community are supposed to help the growth of the industry and take advantage of each other. If one writes and makes good games, they do not have publishing experience. If there is one good publisher, they cannot find good quality Vietnamese games. The problems led to the fact that many Vietnamese play mostly foreign games and that the Vietnamese enterprise produces games that are not for Vietnamese. With these problems, The Ministry of Information and Communications has set up a collaboration to support the game industry in Vietnam. Investors and foreign businesses are welcome to cooperate in this field.

Conclusion

The Vietnam gaming industry will still thrive in a better place in the world. This is due to the increased use of video games and mobile games. Vietnam's rank among smartphone users is also one of the factors.