VietNamNet Bridge – Along with the worldwide success of Flappy Bird, a 100 percent Vietnamese-created game, and new policies set up by watchdog agencies in 2014, the industry is set to develop strongly in 2015.

1.Flappy Bird, developed by Nguyen Ha Dong, a freelance coder in Hanoi, topped the Google Play and App Store lists of games, with the highest numbers of downloads in January 2014.

Flappy Bird was one of the 10 most searched keywords on Google in 2014.

Though Dong later pulled the game off app stores for several reasons, he has become well known all over the world. The success of Dong has a special significance because it encourages Vietnamese game developers who are still fumbling for the right way to follow.

2. FPT, the Vietnamese largest information technology group in Vietnam, unexpectedly dissolved FPT Online in late 2014, one of its subsidiaries, despite the great successes it gained with MU Online and Thien Long Bat Bo games.

FPT Online was dissolved because it reportedly could not operate effectively any more. The event, in the eyes of analysts, showed how competitive the domestic game market is.

3. The game community was in a stir in August 2014, when the Vietnamese Lawyers Association proposed imposing a luxury tax on online games, reasoning that online games bring negative influences to society.

A number of game firms unanimously shouted for help. In the complaints lodged to relevant agencies, they pointed out that it is necessary to facilitate the development of the game industry instead of restricting it. Luckily, online games escaped the taxation.

4. While Decree No 72 on the management of internet-based services took effect on September 1, 2013, no legal document guiding the implementation of the decree has been released.

Thus, there is still no completed legal framework for the development and distribution of domestically made games.

5. Following Flappy Bird’s success, many other Vietnamese games gained great achievements in the international market in 2014.

VNG’s Thoi Loan Mobile (Wartime), Dead Target and Khu Vuon Tren May mobile (Garden in the Cloud) games have been distributed overseas by companies from South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan.

Color Box and Pine Entertainment have also succeeded with Rip Off and Pocket Army games, while DIVMOB have done well with Panda Jumpm and Ninja Revenge, and Pipogame with Escaptain and Berry 5000.

6. The year 2014 was an auspicious year for the game industry with the establishment many new game firms. In 2012, there were only 12 game firms, while the figure rose to over 60 in 2014.

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