Leveling Up Our Games

by Istin - 9/28/2017 10:42:00 AM

Leveling Up Our Games

Malaysia and the Philippines will be building better digital economies together, starting with Games.

Southeast Asia’s population brew of 620 million brings about the hottest global game revenue growth as it has doubled its total market size from 2014 to $2.2B spell casted for 2017. Contributing to this affinity are Malaysia and the Philippines, both having a keen understanding and already encouraging throngs of its gamers into proper content creators. To-date, the two have dedicated educational programs for their respective games and animation sectors. At the same time, they also have engaged with a range of emerging flagship studios that feature great leadership, young talents, and long-term digital ambition.

For the longest time, they have continued to raise awareness for this industry with flagship events like LEVEL UP KL for Malaysia and E-Sport & Gaming Summit (ESGS) for the Philippines. In cooperation with the Games Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP), ESGS (Oct. 27-29) is putting together its GameFest event on October 26, 2017, featuring headline industry professionals such as:

· Brian Recktenwald – Environment Artist from Naughty Dog, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End & Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

· Ian Lang – Senior Animator from Blizzard Entertainment

· Josh Axner – Technical Artist from Blizzard Entertainment

· Ryan Torrey – Senior Animator from House of Moves, Injustice, Mortal Combat X

· Jia Shen – VP of Product for Blackstorm Labs, makers of Everwing

Yi Fei Boon – former Lead Programmer of Sparkjumpers, now Field Engineer at Unity

· *Jeff Agala – Creative Director of Klei Entertainment, makers of Shank, Mark of the Ninja and Don’t Starve.

*Tentative

Adding fuel to this ambitious pursuit is the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) partnership with GDAP as both have come together to form a partnership for the first-event cross-promotion process in the region.

Enabling this partnership to bear fruit is Hasnul Hadi Samsudin, VP of Creative Content & Technologies Division at MDEC. He shared: “This MOU shows a commitment from both sides that, as a region, we believe the best way to grow is to do it together. Since 2014, Malaysia, and MDEC, has always pushed for closer collaboration among friends from South East Asia. This signifies the formalization of a partnership between MDEC and GDAP that, we hope, will benefit both our game development communities in Malaysia and Philippines. This is indeed exciting times for all of us."

Also critical to this promotional partnership is the curators /advisors for GDAP – the famed Art Director of Sony Computer Entertainment’s Naughty Dog LLC, Erick Pangilinan, and Animation Vertigo’s Utah-based CEO Marla Rausch.

“This partnership is not just based on common goals, but on shared paths. We Filipinos have found no better neighbors than Hasnul Samsudin and Dato’ Ng Wan Peng, Chief Operations Officer of MDEC, on this digital road,” added Alvin Juban, President of GDAP.

MDEC and GDAP are keen to pursue three key actions with this partnership: raise capability building through experts influence, talks, and workshops; conduct cross-regional events promotion for respective flagship events – GDAP’s GameFest and MDEC’s LEVEL UP KL; and build a stronger Southeast Asian games community via this progressive framework of cooperation.

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About Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)

Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation or MDEC (formerly known as Multimedia Development Corporation Sdn. Bhd.), an agency incorporated 20 years ago under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia, spearheads the development of Malaysia’s Digital Economy. Its mission is centred on driving investments, building local tech champions, catalysing digital innovation ecosystems and propagating digital inclusivity.

MDEC is also responsible for ensuring that Malaysia continues to develop digital innovation and nurture local information, communications and technology (ICT) talent, while attracting participation from global ICT companies to invest and develop cutting edge digital and creative solutions in the country. To know more about MDEC’s efforts and initiatives in driving Digital economy, please visit www.mdec.my or follow us on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyMDEC/, Twitter: @mymdec

About Games Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP)

GDAP is the Trade Association for the Philippine Video Game industry, which was established in 2007. It has a collective of over 50 members composed by Content Developers, Support/Management Studios, Creative Technology enablers, and Educational Institutions. It draws support from agencies such as the Department of Trade & Industry and the Department of Information & Communications Technology and the IT Business Process Association of the Philippines (iBPAP).

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THE EVENTS

PHILIPPINES

ESGS

Gamefest @ ESGS	October 26, 2017	Function Room 1 SMX MOA, Manila
ESGS Convention	October 27-29, 2017	Halls 2-4 SMX MOA, Manila

MALAYSIA

Level Up KL

Game Jam	Nov. 4-5, 2017	Connexion Conference & Event Centre - CCECNo 7 Jalan Kerinchi Bangsar South City, Wilayah Persekutuan KL
Technical Workshop	Nov. 6, 2017	Connexion Conference & Event Centre - CCECNo 7 Jalan Kerinchi Bangsar South City, Wilayah Persekutuan KL
Conference	Nov. 7-8, 2017	Connexion Conference & Event Centre - CCECNo 7 Jalan Kerinchi Bangsar South City, Wilayah Persekutuan KL