THE Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Export Marketing Bureau (EMB), in collaboration with the Game Development Association of the Philippines (GDAP), will conduct an Outbound Business Matching Mission (OBMM) for the game-development sector during the Philippines’s participation in the External Development Summit (XDS) from September 4 to 12 in Canada.
XDS is the only annual, international games-industry event held in Canada, focused on external development for art, animation, audio, software engineering, quality assurance and localization.
Following the success of the GDAP in its initial attempt to promote the game-development industry in the concluded Philippine business matching mission in Canada held in 2015, this OBMM in 2017 will be a continuing export promotion activity led by the DTI-EMB to sustain presence of Philippine companies in Canada.
In 2015 the game-development industry generated a revenue of $80.5 billion and is expected to reach more than $100 billion by 2022. It is estimated to record a CAGR of 5 percent during this period. The video-game segments covering the online, tablet and mobile game is anticipated to register the highest growth rates. This segment is highly popular, with nearly 60 percent to 80 percent being outsourced.
Research revealed game-development companies in North America, Europe and Japan continue to outsource the more labor-intensive functions of the value chain to the Philippines. With that, the country is considered an outsourcing option due to the low cost of labor and the availability of animation/graphic-design platforms.
Participants in the XDS 2017 represented a concentrated group of game developers, vendors, trade organizations and middleware providers working within external development, representing over 36 countries.
Thus, this OBMM was expected to generate significant connections for the Philippine delegates who participate in XDS, which are into game development and animation outsourcing. Scheduled visits to game and animation production studios and colleges specializing in the game, art, animation and design, such as Sheridan College and Seneca International College in Canada, will be one of the component activities of the OBMM.
The Philippine companies participating included Renderbee, Synergy88 Digital Inc., Pixel Mafia, Toon City, MORPH Animation, Toon City Academy, Indigo Entertainment, Pixel Mafia, Three Digital, Puppeteer Studios, Ingenuity Global Consulting Inc., Ingenuity Global Consulting Inc. ASI Studios Inc. and the Game Development Association of the Philippines.
This OBMM is supported by the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Canada with Senior Trade Commissioner Maria Roseni M. Alvaro who specifically provided assistance in the arrangements for visit in the studio and schools specializing in game and animation.