Presidents of 10 national game associations in the Asia Pacific have signed a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) under the Games Exchange Alliance (GXA), marking the beginning of greater understanding and collaboration in areas such as games development, bill payment services and distribution.

The inaugural Games Convention Asia 2007 was held in Singapore in September.

The GXA, which was initiated by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), is aimed at helping the industry to cross last-mile commercialisation hurdles in order to place game titles in the hands of Asian gamers. This is in line with Singapore’s intention to be a centre for the creation and commercialisation of digital media and entertainment (DME) technologies. The 10 economies which signed the MOI during the recent Games Convention Asia (GCA) 2007 were Singapore, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan and Vietnam.

Speaking at the opening of GCA, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports and Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, said, “We hope to provide game service providers, publishers, content developers and solution providers with market access to over 13 key Asian markets, including China, India, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Australia and beyond.”

Worldwide, the games industry is estimated to be worth about US$48.9 billion, with the Asia Pacific region contributing about 40 percent. Singapore intends to be a global node for this high-growth industry, providing core services for storing, trading and distributing digital assets.

Dr Balakrishnan pointed out that we have more than 1 million square feet of data centre space available here for content players and service providers to host their operations, and 28 Tbps of submarine cable capacity connecting Singapore to more than 100 countries. By 2012, Singapore will also have in place a national next-generation broadband network that will provide end-to-end users with broadband capacity of 1 Gbps or more.

The Asia Pacific video games market is expected reach US$17 billion by 2010.

The Singapore pavilion at GCA 2007, which was led by IDA, featured companies such as data centre operator Webvisions, as well as games developers Camelot Hobbies, eFlyte Asia Pacific, 7 Cans, NexGen Studio, xMediaLabs, M2B Games, P2P and Redeye Studio.

Speaking at the official opening of GCA 2007, Mr Wolfgang Marzin, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Leipzig Trade Fair, said, "Singapore is the gateway to the booming Asia Pacific market, and opens up exciting new opportunities for the global games industry.” Announcements made at event included the partnership of Singapore-based games developer Mikoishi and Nexon Mobile from Korea. The two companies have teamed up to serve StreamIron: The Fallen to Korean mobile gamers from November 2007.

Another Singapore company, 10Tacle Studios Asia, sealed a deal with MTV Asia ( www.mtvasia.com ) to brand and market an online entertainment channel that will combine online gaming, an immersive 3D virtual world, social networking and digital content. The online MTV entertainment channel is scheduled to roll out progressively in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, with additional countries to follow within the next six months.

10Tacle was also part of a five-member Singapore contingent to the Games Convention in Leipzig, Europe, earlier this year. IDA and GXA had set up a Singapore Games Industry business reception lounge and meeting room at the Business Convention Centre to provide a more business-focused meeting environment at the event. The other participating companies for the Europe show included VSNL International, Control Freaks, New Era Interactive and the Singapore Gamers’ Association.

Besides GCA 2007, September also saw the staging of the National Infocomm Competition's (NIC) Singapore Games Creation Challenge (SGCC). Speaking at the event, Mr Leong Keng Thai, IDA’s Deputy Chief Executive and Director-General (Telecoms), described gaming as “a serious business”. According to Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the Asia Pacific video games market is expected to grow to US$17 billion by 2010.

“Realising its potential, Singapore is gearing up to nurture a talented pool of infocomm professionals such as game developers, network designers, software programmers, solutions architects and project managers to help us realise this vision,” he said. “Indeed a career in digital games is something worth planning for and considering. Imagine getting paid to play games!”

On the research and development (R&D) front, the Singapore Government has committed half a billion Singapore dollars to fund R&D in Interactive Digital Media (IDM) over the next five years. Dr Balakrishnan said with this programme, Singapore hopes to achieve a value-added contribution of S$10 billion to its economy, and to create 10,000 new jobs.

One of the initiatives under this programme is the GAMBIT game lab, a joint initiative with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. GAMBIT stands for Gamers, Aesthetics, Mechanics, Business, Innovation, and Technology. “We will continue to invest in these partnerships with world-class institutions in order to strengthen Singapore's position as a nexus in the East and the West IDM research,” he said.