Bangkok Post : Digital revolution for game industry

Experts are predicting digital distribution will revolutionise the game industry by opening hitherto unavailable opportunities for developers.

But at the same time, gaining a foothold in rising economic superpower China will require co-production models.

These industry figures were speaking at the Thailand Digital Content International Seminar 2010, which featured The Road to Global Market collaboration initiative, co-hosted by the International Institute for Trade and Development and Sipa.

Ten local animation companies have so far been selected to take part in the initiative. They are Beboyd CG, Animotif Studio, Lunchbox Studio, Kanya Animation and Polypress Studio, and game producers Novaleaf, PromptNow, Game Square Interactive, AIM and CyberPlanet Interactive.

Frank Holz, management consultant and owner of Interactive Entertainment & Multimedia Consulting from Germany, said the international games market is worth $52 billion, which is bigger than the international movie and music markets - and it is expected to grow by 5-7 percent over the next five years.

There are several channels helping to expand market opportunities, especially in digital distribution, such as Microsoft XBox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, Nintendo WiiWare/DSiWare and PC Digital Distribution.

In mobile gaming iPhone has the biggest share but suffers a huge piracy rate, with about 75 percent of games being illegal versions on cracked handsets.

Another area is social gamin, such as on Facebook, although most users only play the free versions, with just 1-3 percent paying to play the full versions. Similarly, around 5-15 percent of online PC gamers pay to play.

Marc Kuepper, game consultant for Simple Plan Production in Germany, said the game industry is entering the digital distribution era, which will open opportunities for small game developers to distribute their across different platforms more easily, unlike in the past when the market was fragmented and dominated by big game publishers.

Jurgen Reusswig, game consultant at Game Patrol in Germany, added to the predictions that digital distribution will revolutionise the industry.

"The market situation will change from physical to digital and it is a big opportunity for Thailand, but there needs to be a focus on game development and production workflow to fit with the trend," he said.

Key strategy to enter China

Vinncent Guo, advisor for the China Information Broadcast Network, said China has tight restrictions on the import of animated content, so the only possible way to break into this market is through co-production models with local partners there.

China is an emerging global media player with a population of 1.3 billion people, over 4,000 TV stations, 300 million households with broadband and over 750 million mobile users.

All these people are open for a variety of distribution channels but it is crucial that reliable partners enter this market.

Guo is currently in discussions with one Thai company in for three projects in co-production of games with China and another company for animated movies and TV series.

"The hottest animation themes in China currently are environmental issues, while popular game content features action and fighting, although development of such is dominated by Korea and Taiwan. This market still has room for international players and so Thailand could export to the market," concluded Guo.