Do not let Vietnamese people play games that are heavy on foreign culture

Vietnam possesses many advantages in the gaming industry but also faces many challenges.

Mr. Le Quang Tu Do, Director of the Department of Broadcasting, Television and Electronic Information (Ministry of Information and Communications) gave an overview of the game market in Vietnam, the problems and development strategies in the coming time. .

According to Mr. Tu Do, the domestic game market has a large number of players, the number of Vietnamese games released globally ranks among the top… However, more than half of online game revenue in Vietnam flows abroad.

According to data, the total revenue of online games in Vietnam in 2021 will reach 665 million USD, but only about half of this will pay taxes in the country. The rest pay taxes to foreign countries, mainly Singapore.

“In 2022, revenue may increase, but sadly, the tax payment rate is only about 50%”the leader of the Department of Broadcasting and Electronic Information raised the issue.

The fact that Singapore has a policy to attract businesses, plus a number of barriers in Vietnam has caused many domestic enterprises to set up companies in Singapore and revenue to flow abroad.

Vietnam has an important global position in the production of small and medium-sized games. Of the top 10 game studios in Asia Pacific and Australia, Vietnam accounts for half. For every 25 games put on iOS and Android app stores, there is 1 game from Vietnam. And yet, 50% of the most played mobile games originate from Vietnam.

However, domestic enterprises still do not have strengths in complex game genres. Only about 15% of hardcore games (games with very high difficulty) released in Vietnam are of domestic origin, the rest are mainly from China.

These games mostly integrate the history and culture of your country, very lack of Vietnamese characteristics, leading to the result that gamers in Vietnam are more knowledgeable about foreign cultures than in the country.

This is because Vietnamese game makers are targeting the global market when producing games. On the contrary, domestic publishers are looking for famous foreign games to bring back to Vietnam. Therefore, there is a shortage of games with domestic spirit.

Game revenue purchased from abroad for domestic distribution is decreasing. Due to the convenience of the Internet and forms of payment, foreign game manufacturers may release games across borders into Vietnam, making the pie of domestic publishers even more modest.

In addition, many game studios in Vietnam are working for foreign projects. If not prepared to produce quality games, maybe in the next 20 years Vietnamese businesses will still stop at the outsourcing level.

Mr. Tu Do also said that although the domestic market is developed, human resources for the game industry are limited. From the prejudice of many people about the game segment, the number of personnel pursuing this industry is not much, leading to a shortage of forces.

The leader of the Department of Broadcasting, Television and Electronic Information said that he is making a development strategy for the game industry. In the immediate future, it will study and propose to implement a number of policies to reduce taxes and fees, reduce administrative procedures to create space for business development. In addition, it will limit the number of foreign games released in Vietnam, especially traditional foreign educational games.

At the same time, promote the gaming alliance to strengthen the industry, prevent illegal games, develop e-sports and change awareness media to attract personnel for this industry.