It seems that when it comes to video games, South East Asia is where it’s happening. And it’s set to continue happening there too. Predictions for the next few years, garnered from Newzoo research firm, show that game revenues are set to grow by 50 percent per annum and by 2018 reach $485 million. Much of this is being facilitated by the new 4G mobile spectrum.
Even in 2015 there was an expansion of 86 percent. This is substantially higher than China, Japan and South Korea. The main place it’s happening is Thailand, which is, according to CEO and co-founder of Playlab, Jakob Lykkegaard, “becoming a key market for mobile games and studios.”
This could be partly in due to the fact that research has shown Thais to be spending an average of 5.7 hours per day on their smartphones.
It could also be the case that Indonesia will follow suit and soon after because the Number one South East Asian region for gaming due to factors like continually expanding middle class, increase in mobile web penetration and its already considerable population.
Furthermore, a recent announcement will very soon make it possible for Indonesia to have a strategic plan that will shape its entire digital game industry in an effort to give local developers more of a controlling share of the market. An action plan is being developed to facilitate the country’s goal of having local players in the gaming industry control at least half of the market by 2020. Currently, they only have control of 20 percent of the $321 million generated by the gaming industry and there is a threat that the figure will further plummet to 3 percent in the next three years if the government does not collaborate with local industry stakeholders.