I still vividly remember the shock I received when I first went to the arcade,at the times when I was young, playing Squid Game, Dabangu, and Marbles with my friends. When I moved the joystick and pressed the button, a bullet was fired and I was dying from an enemy missile, I didn't realize it at the time, but I felt like the world was changing. The history of games dates back to ancient mankind, and it is estimated that the word game began to be used for computer games in the 1960s. The game that started like that has evolved into various categories such as console games, PC games, online games, mobile games, etc., It has become the leader of the digital era.

Games are called comprehensive art. The game planning area that creates the worldview and storytelling requires a scenario writer, a producer in charge of game development, a director in charge of content development, and a project manager, as well as a graphic designer in charge of all visible visual areas, and 2D and 3D design. , technical artists are needed, and programmers, or developers, are needed to breathe life into, operate, and move the world created by planners and shaped by graphic designers. Server programmers who design game engines, handle various technologies such as online communication, security, databases, and networks, and implement architectures that accommodate millions of simultaneous user connections are also essential, and without game testing, they cannot provide stable play. If even one thing goes wrong, game development may be disrupted and release may be delayed or halted. In addition, it is a complex business in which literally nothing must be left out, such as background music, sound effect creation, and attracting users through promotional marketing. 

When talking about Korean game companies, the representative companies are 3N (Nexon, NCSoft, Netmarble) and SK2 (Smilegate, Kakao Games, Krafton). Nexon developed Kingdom of the Winds in 1996, NCSoft developed Lineage in 1998, and Smilegate developed Crossfire in 2007. Just as it succeeded after launching with its own IP and then grew into a global player with successful follow-ups, its own IP is really important in the gaming industry.

The size of the Vietnamese game market was worth $600 million in 2022 and is growing 9% every year. It is still small compared to Indonesia's $1.8 billion, Thailand's $1 billion, Malaysia's $900 million, and Philippines' $850 million, but with 54.6 million game users, it will not take long for it to overtake other countries. However, the quality of games developed and released in Vietnam is assessed to be relatively inferior to that of other countries, and although mobile games have caught up, there is still a long way to go in the PC and console game markets. 

The 85% of games released in the Vietnamese market are developed in Korea, Japan, China, and North America. China accounts for 76% of the Vietnamese game market, and Vietnamese games are estimated to have a share of about 12%. Because the game planning field is still weak, it is difficult to find game companies with their own IP, andsome companies provide graphics and programming outsourcing in the areas of character design, game architecture design and implementation, mobile and web development, and 2D and 3D design, and the representative companies include Glass Egg, BEETSOFT, and Alley Labs. The number of publishers that market and provide services for overseas game companies' games is growing, and representative examples include Gamota, VNG Corporation, SohaGame, and VTC Game. Although sales can be increased through publishing, it is difficult to make profits on the desired scale. 

This is why Korean publishing companies try to have their own IP games. Players to note in the Vietnamese game industry are indie studios, which create games targeting various types of users and collaborate with game publishers. Just as the number of indie game users in the global market grew from 19 million MAU (Monthly Active Users) in 2018 to 54 million in 2023 at an average annual growth rate of 23%, the increasing number of indie studios in the Vietnamese market is also a good sign for the growth of the game market. I think it's a signal.

It was mentioned that games are a comprehensive art, and among the areas of game planning, graphic design, and programming, an ecosystem is being formed in the fields of graphic design and programming, but there are still limits to the number and scale of related companies. Because universities do not have departments related to game content, graphic design, or game programming, there is a shortage of game experts produced by schools, and each company has difficulty developing business while providing education on its own. 

Game planning experts are not trained, and in the programming area, game engine developers who can handle languages such as C++, C#, Rust (Unity, Unreal, Godot, CryEngine, Cocos, Gamemaker Studio, etc.), C++, C#, and Python. Although there are PC game developers who can handle languages such as, the number of people working in the game market is around 35,000, which is a relatively small number compared to SW developers in Vietnam. Since there are no universities that teach how to use game engines such as Unity and Unreal, game development is carried out by educating and training people hired by each game company. 

The number of PC game developers is 5,000 in Vietnam, and about 2,250 (45%) live in Ho Chi Minh City and work for companies that provide outsourcing for game companies in Korea, Japan, China, the United States, and the United Kingdom. In Vietnam, relatively many mobile games have been released, and several NFT games have been released by 2022, but as the boom in the virtual currency market fades, it is now at a standstill.

It is estimated that there are about 30 companies producing games in Vietnam, and the Vietnamese government is reportedly working to revitalize the game industry and is planning to grow the number to about 400. As mentioned earlier, there are publishers that market and service overseas games, but game companies that create games with their planning capabilities are not yet visible. 

The Ministry of Information and Communication is promoting measures to revitalize the industry, such as government policies, tax benefits, and startup funding, but above all, for the gaming market to grow, companies that are successful with their games, similar to Korea's growth trajectory, must emerge. As game companies form fandoms based on their IP, gather more users, generate sales and profits, and create follow-up games, the pool of planners, graphic designers, and programmers working in the game industry grows, creating better games, it seems that a virtuous cycle in which the industry grows should be created. 

The Vietnamese gaming market is not yet large. It is still difficult to predict which company will become Vietnam's leading gaming company, but if the efforts of the government and the gaming industry are combined, and Vietnam's strengths in software development are combined with the gaming industry, it will grow into a leading industry in the country in the not-too-distant future. I think it can be done.

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