KUALA LUMPUR: Virtuos Kuala Lumpur chief executive officer Mufizal Mokhtar recently said Malaysia has all the ingredients to become a regional hub for video game development. However, achieving that ambition may come at the expense of the stability offered by outsourced industry work.
In an interview with Nmia Gaming, Mokhtar said outsourcing and co-development have remained the backbone of Malaysia’s games industry over the past five years.
With studios around the world, Virtuos is able to distribute work across multiple locations, allowing projects to progress around the clock. As long as demand for video games remains strong, co-development and outsourced work from major publishers to companies such as Virtuos Malaysia are likely to remain a key part of the industry.
That said, Malaysia possesses the fundamentals to become a regional games development hub. According to Mokhtar, the country has the infrastructure, political stability and investor confidence needed to achieve that goal. Much of that foundation has been built over the years by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC).
Studios such as Ammobox, Passion Republic and Metronomik have demonstrated that Malaysian developers possess both the technical expertise and business acumen to build sustainable studios while producing home-grown titles.
However, larger outfits such as PlayStation Studios Malaysia continue to be confined largely to support work and asset production despite the depth of local talent.
While the ambition of turning Malaysia into a regional games development hub is far from unrealistic, it remains a significant challenge given the current global climate. For now, the resilience shown by the country’s indie developers and mid-sized studios in navigating industry headwinds deserves recognition.
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Splatoon Raiders – A new action RPG looter-shooter set in Nintendo’s Splatoon universe. Players take on the role of an Inkling or Octoling, battling Salmonids alongside Deep Cut while unlocking new gadgets and tools. Exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2.
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