According to the latest report of the Ministry of Information and Communications, the total revenue of Vietnam's game industry in 2021 is estimated at 14,500 billion VND, up 11% over 2020. However, actual revenue is much higher.

The value of the global game market in 2020 was 110 billion USD, growing 15.8%/year. What is the highest value of the Vietnamese mobile game market? The answer is the global market because mobile games have no borders.

A game released in Vietnam can be downloaded and played by millions of gamers around the world, and advertising money comes from all over the world. The game publisher will earn based on revenue from advertising on the game.

“Vietnam is ranked seventh among mobile game publishing countries globally. If we try our best, Vietnam can raise its share in the global mobile game from the current 1.2% to 3-4%. This means that Vietnam's mobile game industry can reach 3.5 - 4.5 billion USD/year,” said Mr. Do Cao Bao, co-founder and member of the Board of Directors of FPT Corporation.

In 2021, Vietnam emerged as a "capital" of blockchain games and NFT games with games developed and published by Vietnamese, such as Axie Infinity, My DeFi Pet, Theta Arena, Mytheria...

According to experts, with more mobile games funded by international investment funds, Vietnam can export its culture to the world and can become the capital of games of the new generation.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung, CEO of Sky Mavis, the owner of Axie Infinity, said Vietnam is one of the fertile markets for the game industry, with the advantage of a young population who easily adapts and accepts the new wave of technology. The year 2021 saw the strong impact of blockchain games.

Mr. Duong Vi Khoa, Vice President of the Vietnam E-Sports and Entertainment Association, said that Vietnam's game market is developing rapidly thanks to livestream technology, and has begun to develop into a competitive game system and is gradually being recognized as an electronic sport at many major competitions in the world and region such as the Southeast Asian Games and the Asian Games.

A survey by Vero revealed that Vietnam has the highest percentage of adults playing games in the world, reaching 85%. It is estimated that the personnel serving the game industry is about 23,000 - 28,000 people, including full-time, part-time, and freelancers. The game industry is opening up countless job opportunities and enriching Vietnamese digital content businesses.

With the strong development of the game digital content industry, Vietnamese businesses are very short of game-related personnel.

“There are about 300 NFT games under development at present, but good studios in Vietnam can't afford it. We have to postpone the release plan to the fourth quarter of 2022, six months behind schedule,” said the director of an NFT game project.

Currently, human resources for the game industry is very modest and has not met the growth of the industry. Vietnamese businesses are forced to recruit personnel in foreign markets or outsource games.

In the country, game production studios constantly seek employees such as Systems Designer, UI Designer, Game Developer, Game Designer... Positions with an attractive salary include game programmer, game designer with a salary of 449 million VND/year (nearly $20,000), game developer with 187 million VND/year, game artist with about 389 million VND/year.

Mr. Do Cao Bao said another reason is that the prejudice still exists, so that it is difficult for mobile game producing firms to attract talent. The stereotype that games are bad and playing games is harmful is the reason that universities in Vietnam do not have formal training programs and resources for developing mobile game applications, and parents do not help their children to develop mobile games.

“The state management agencies have not yet recognized in official reports that mobile gaming is an industry in the digital economy, even though it generates billions of US dollars for the country. Without being recognized, there is no support, no development strategy, no strategy for human resource training for this sector," said Mr. Bao.

Besides creating tens of thousands of jobs, the game industry also builds a creative industry, exploiting digital content from games. There are gamers and streamers such as ViruSs, Dung CT, Teacher Ba, PewPew, Xemesis, Linh Ngoc Dam, Nam Blue, Mixi Team, Cris Phan who earn high revenue from games (3.6-5 billion VND/year).

According to Appota's Gaming Creators Vietnam Overview, content creators when livestreaming on platforms, in addition to receiving a fixed stream salary, can share revenue from ad-breaks running on livestreams. Gaming is becoming an emerging industry in the digital economy, so it is necessary to change the way of thinking, and have a development strategy and investment in this digital industry.

In 2021, the total revenue of the world gaming industry is estimated at 180.3 billion USD. It is forecast that in 2024, the whole industry will reach total revenue of 218.8 billion USD, including 116.4 billion USD from mobile games; 6.5 billion USD from cloud games; and 1.6 billion USD from eSports.

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