By Kris M. Crismundo
MANILA, Nov 6 (PNA) — A studio under Microsoft and four other global players in the game development industry have pledged to help the Philippine game development sector to grow and achieve its roadmap.
In an interview, Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP) board member Andro Baluyut said the country has gained international support in improving the local game development industry.
Baluyut said that during GDAP’s participation in the External Development Summit (XDS) in Vancouver, Canada, Microsoft Studios expressed its support to collaborate with the industry group in developing the local sector.
He said among the possible cooperation with Microsoft is transfer of expertise through education and internship as well as the possibility of setting up studios here in the future.
Currently, the country’s game development industry is still lacking in pool of talents due to limited technology in the local market.
Baluyut added they met two other well-known global game development companies which have studios in Canada, Europe and Asia in the Vancouver summit. These global players are also eyeing to partner with GDAP in improving the country’s game development industry.
Even before going to the outbound trade mission in Canada, GDAP received support from two global game developers which committed to promote the local sector.
According to Baluyut, these global connections and support will help GDAP in developing and achieving its target under its industry roadmap.
For its short-term goal, the industry targets USD500 million annual revenue starting in 2019 and generate 10,000 jobs.
He said these global connections, who are influential in the global market, will help the country in building the skills of a pool of talent in this industry once investments from studios will come in.
He noted that the Philippines is already an attractive destination for investments particularly if it can provide talents for this industry.
He said the cost of operating studios in the Philippines is competitive compared to other markets.
He said global industry players can consider the Philippines for their expansion as a local operation is estimated to cost less than 80 percent than other hubs.
Compared to the Canadian game development industry which pays an average salary for a game developer of USD6,000 per month, he said the Philippines can have an average of USD1,000 per month per employee.
Employees’ salary accounts for at least 80 percent of the total operation cost in the industry, he added.
He also noted that the country has lower rental rates compared to other cities worldwide. (PNA)