VietNamNet Bridge - Le Hong Minh, CEO of VNG, stirred up the public at the Vietnam Game Summit 2017 when he said that he believes Vietnam would obtain $1billion in turnover from games in the next 10 years.

Many people said it was ‘too ambitious’ and ‘too crazy’, because $1 billion is a big figure, which is equal to 1/80 of the world’s game market value. 

However, Minh said ‘craziness’ is an important characteristic that has helped Vietnam’s game industry reach out to the world market. Nguyen Ha Dong helped launch Flappy Bird in  the world market, and therefore, Vietnamese game developers need to be "crazier".

After Nguyen Ha Dong’s Flappy Bird emerged in early 2014, marking Vietnam’s position in the world market, Vietnam’s game industry developed rapidly with numerous game studios, big and small.

With estimated total revenue of $300 million, Vietnam has become the largest game market in ASEAN and sixth largest in Asia.

Nguyen Tuan Huy, CEO of Hiker Games, the developer of many well-known games such as 7554 and Toy Odyssey, said that Vietnamese game studios can make world-class products.

“The success of Pine is a typical example to prove this,” he said. 

Xa Que Nguyen, CEO of HIP, a young firm providing solutions on mobile phones, said $1 billion is a big figure at this moment, but it may be a small one in the next 10 years.

“Vietnam’s game industry will be able to do this if it can receive support from Vietnamese gamers and from the government,” he said.

Dau Tu cited its sources as reporting that by the end of 2016, Vietnamese games firms had launched 150 games into the market and obtained 36 million gamers. 

With estimated total revenue of $300 million, Vietnam has become the largest game market in ASEAN and sixth largest in Asia.

Minh, analyzing Google’s statistics, said the expected revenue of Vietnamese game studios is $40 million in 2017. If counting revenue from other markets such as AppStore, the figure could be up to $80 million.

Nevertheless, games developers, though optimistic about the future of the game industry, admitted that the domestic game market is controlled by foreign games. 

None of the 10 most successful games in 2016 were made by Vietnamese games firms. The majority of the $300 million in revenue went to foreigners’ pockets.

However, Vietnamese were recently encouraged by the success of Sky Garden: Farm in Paradise which received People’s Choice Award. In 2016, Politaire of Pine Entertainment was chosen by Apple as one of 10 most interesting games.

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