7 foreign firms show interest in Phl

MANILA, Philippines - Seven firms engaged in game development and publishing are interested in doing business in the Philippines, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.

According to DTI, the firms that conveyed their interest in the country are Blizzard Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Square Enix-Eidos, Microsoft Studios, Activision and 2K.

“Filipino-American game development executives and expatriates in Canada and the United States have also expressed support for the growth and promotion of the Philippine game development industry,” Trade undersecretary Ponciano Manalo, Jr. said.

The firms expressed their interest to explore opportunities in the Philippines during the External Development Summit (XDS) held in Vancouver in Canada last month.

The DTI, in collaboration with the Game Developers Association of the Philippines and Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc., organized a Philippine delegation to participate in the XDS.

During the event, the Philippine participants met with 28 major game developers and publishers, and encouraged them to consider opportunities here.

XDS is the first professionals-only video games industry event mainly focused on external development outsourcing for art, animation and software engineering.

The event, which is targeted at those involved in outsourcing as well as service providers and technology providers, offers a platform to promote cooperative advancement of external development practices for the game industry.

Manalo said the Philippines’ participation in XDS is a timely prelude to the country’s Philippine Game Festival 2014 being held at the SMX Mall of Asia in Pasay City from Oct. 3 to 4.

The event intends to gather game enthusiasts, designers, developers, and other key players.

“Anchored on a robust, thriving and globally competitive content industry, and supported by a technologically-savvy, passionate and creative talent pool, the Philippines is poised to become the leading game development hub and offshore destination in the Asia-Pacific region,” Manalo said.

The Philippines aims to capture 10 percent of the projected $243 billion worth of revenues of the global animation and gaming development market by 2016.

The Philippines currently accounts for only $136 million of the $1.5 billion worth of outsourcing services in the global animation and gaming development market.