With spending on video games in Vietnam expected to hit US$365 million in 2017, the country is quickly becoming a lucrative market for game makers.
The money is coming out of the pockets of 32.8 million gamers in Vietnam, according to an infographic from the marketing analysis firm Newzoo.
Additionally, Newzoo also found that 45% of local gamers use a variety of platforms to play, including PC or laptops, consoles and mobile phones. Over half of regular players - those who play more than once a month - are under the age of 35, while 23% are women between the ages of 21 and 35.
These figures are similar to those from a report by TechNode, a tech website based in China, which identifies teenage male students, businessmen in their 30s and female office workers in their 20s as Vietnam's main gaming demographics. Moreover, as Hieu Ha Trung, business director of SohaGame, a Vietnamese game producer, shared with the website, the fact that 90% of Vietnam's population comes from the same ethnic group also makes it easy for game makers to create focused content for their audience.
The mobile game market in Vietnam, which is projected to cash in US$148.4 million this year, also has huge potential. "Currently, many Vietnamese enjoy free smartphone games," Noriko Kato, CEO of Fuji Technology, told Nikkei Asian Review. "But the number of Vietnamese gamers who are willing to pay is on the rise."
Despite stagnant mobile gaming growth in 2016, Nikkei reports that many gamers are now moving from their local internet cafes to playing games on their smartphones. This trend is likely to intensify when the country's mobile infrastructure gets upgraded to 4G by the end of year.
However, the main contenders in this segment currently come from China, South Korea and Japan, while Vietnamese developers are only slowly catching up, reports Vietnamnet.
[Photo via GKTA Group]
