Vietnam's game market potential to be unlocked

With over 18 million esports players, according to the 2021 Vietnamese Esports White Paper, the Vietnamese esports industry has a potential foundation for development, writes Phung Viet Thang, country manager, sales, marketing & communications group, Intel Vietnam.

2022 and 2023 were the years when the gaming industry experienced the most significant growth. According to data from Newzoo, by the end of 2022, there were nearly 3.2 billion gamers worldwide, and the total revenue of the entire industry reached the highest figure ever at $182.9 billion. In 2023, revenue is estimated to reach a new milestone of $187.7 billion. Of this, mobile games alone contributed over $92.6 billion.

In his recent speech at the National Forum on the Vietnamese Game Industry, Vu Quoc Huy, director of the National Center for Innovation (NIC), said: "Vietnam ranks fifth in Southeast Asia with over $500 million and is still growing rapidly." In reality, Vietnam has all the necessary foundations and potential to develop further as the number of young gamers is increasing, and access to smartphones and computers has become easier. However, the Vietnamese game industry still has invisible barriers.

A market with great potential

The Vietnamese gaming industry has achieved some notable successes in 2023. The Haunting by DUT Studio made a strong start by reaching the top 1 trending position on Steam on the day of its release, surpassing both Dota 2 and GTA V. A few days later, this horror game became the most played game, with an estimated 1,500 concurrent players at peak times, with 97% positive feedback. This success was like a drumbeat to encourage Vietnamese game studios to explode.

Esports or eSports in Vietnam has also made some impressive strides. In the past 10 years, Vietnamese esports teams have broken out of the Southeast Asia region to compete with other top teams around the world. At SEA Games 31, the Vietnamese esports delegation won four gold medals and three silver medals.

The appearance of esports at SEA Games also shows the efforts of the Vietnamese government to promote esports. Now, professional gamers or careers related to games and esports are becoming increasingly popular in Vietnam.

The development of cybercafes has also contributed to the rising popularity of esports, as gamers can experience esports titles in a more professional and consistent way. A good example is Vikings Esports, a network of11 professional cybercafes spread from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi. This chain of Cafes has heavily invested in outfitting their systems with the right configuration and equipment, all to ensure that gamers who come here have the best gaming experience. This is the first cybercafe in Vietnam to be fully powered by genuine Intel CPUs.

Domestic esports tournaments from professional, semi-professional, to university level are becoming more popular. The National Student Open Cup is a good example with the participation of over 100 universities and colleges across Vietnam. In addition, many organizations such as Intel are also collaborating with local partners to promote esports by organizing tournaments at many levels, such as the recent Dau Truong May Tinh 2023, Intel Tech Camp 2023.

Government support crucial to sector-development

While gaming sector is full of potential, and its studios packed with both creative and technical talents, government support has proven a recurring theme for the development of the gaming sector in numerous markets in the past.

These studios frequently begin as entrepreneurial ventures of small teams collaborating to bring their gaming dreams to life – and frequently on shoe-string budgets. Encouraging the development of this sector may involve a regulatory and taxation climate that allows these bedroom-startups to flourish without additional early burdens on their cash flows.

Each country applies taxes in its own way, but the important goal is to create incentives and the best conditions for developers to bring the best products to users. In the U.S, game developers can be eligible for a research and development (R&D) tax credit for creating and improving products. Or in the UK, the government supports game developers by refunding the money they spend on designing, producing, and testing new games.

In terms of esports, Vietnamese tournaments are becoming more and more common today, but lack a common vision. Major tournaments mainly come from publishers to promote games. Meanwhile, the development of the esports industry needs to be implemented in a consistent manner a supportive ecosystem that covers everything from players to programmers to policy makers.

In the early 2000s, South Korea implemented a series of support policies for the gaming industry, creating a complete ecosystem and establishing the KeSPA (Korea Esports Association) to focus on organizing major gaming tournaments. Even the Korean military service law, which is considered the strictest in Korea, is also willing to exempt gamers who achieve high international competition results. Thanks to that support, South Korea is considered a powerhouse in esports and has reaped many economic benefits in this field. One of the most famous gamers in Korea – Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok – has an income of up to $2.5 million.

In Vietnam, the Vietnam Esports and Entertainment Sports Association (VIRESA) has become a spearhead to promote the development of esports. VIRESA has coordinated and supported with major publishing units such as VNGGames to organize major tournaments, most recently the League of Legends Friendly Tournament between the Korean and Vietnamese teams in September 2023.

VIRESA also works with universities to gradually popularize esports through the club model. However, the popularization of esports requires more effort and support from the government to come up with appropriate management and development strategies because this is a long way, requiring cooperation from many parties.

Ripening the fruit of Vietnam’s gaming industry

It is not by chance that South Korea has become an economic powerhouse in the gaming industry. They recognized that this field has a huge potential for breakthroughs and all it needs is the right conditions and opportunities in terms of funding, regulations, and broad sector promotion that will see gamers and studios overcome challenges and ultimately enjoy the fruits of their labors.

In the field of game development, the government can consider introducing preferential policies to encourage game studios to research and develop high-value products that bring many benefits in many aspects. Games are also a good tool to promote Vietnamese culture to the world. Therefore, lawmakers can consider these factors to introduce policies to promote talented engineers in Vietnam to create quality game products.

Meanwhile, esports requires major changes in policy and legal environment. Each country will have its own perspective on video games, but the great economic benefits that this discipline brings are undeniable. Therefore, if you want to develop esports in all aspects, the management agency needs to create conditions and a suitable environment for the relevant parties such as VIRESA, universities, game publishers, and brands to be more daring in training, creating a playground in a systematic and long-term way.

From talent development, Vietnam needs more policies to support gamers from an early age. Esports classes need to be invested systematically, meticulously and legalized, not just in a scattered way.

To the competition for titles, Vietnam needs to increase benefits for players when participating in training and competition, create appropriate policies to help sponsors feel more comfortable when developing domestic services. Only then will the Vietnamese esports teams have enough potential and conditions to focus on the best training. This is also the way that developed countries such as South Korea, England, the United States, or China are applying.