PHILIPPINE GAME

DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY
Vital Statistics

Prepared by
CESAR S. TOLENTINO
08 February 2011
 Outline
 Overview of the Game Development
Industry
 Industry Vital Statistics
 Achievements of the Philippine Game
Development Industry
 Evolution of the Philippine
Game Development Industry
 Philippine Industry Profile
 Started as early as 1992 with
Micronet Software Manila (1992),
a subsidiary of Japan-based
Micronet, followed by Japan Media
Programming-Cebu (JAMP-Cebu,
1997)

 Both companies produced game

content for Japanese publishers

 Homegrown companies started

appearing in 2000
 Philippine Industry Profile
 First organization of game
developers was IGDA
(International Game
Developers Association)
Manila Chapter, established
in 2003 by Buddy Del Rosario
of Spoon Interactive
 IGDA is now focused on interfacing with the
developer community in order to improve the
developer pool, as well as attract and educate
professionals and students about the local game
industry
 Philippine Industry Profile
 First major event intended to
promote the industry to the
community was UGotGame
(UGG) organized by IGDA
Manila Chapter and the
computer organizations of
University of the Philippines, De
La Salle University, Ateneo de
Manila University and Mapua
Institute of Technology

 The first UGotGame was held

September 2004, second in May
2005, latest in September 2007
 Philippine Industry Profile
 To improve the ability of the
industry to represent itself to the
community and to the market, a
formal organization was founded
by the members of IGDA Manila

 GDAP (Game Developers

Association of the Philippines)
was established in 2007 to
represent the industry to
government and other sectors
 The Game Development
Value Chain
DEVELOPERS

PUBLISHERS

DISTRIBUTORS

RETAILERS

GAMERS

Much like a mini-Hollywood !

 Examples of Developers
• Activision (US)
• Bioware (Canada)
• Blizzard (US)
• Bungie (US)
• Codemasters (UK)
• Eidos (UK)
• Foundation 9 Entertainment (US)
 Examples of Publishers
• Atari (France)
• Electronic Arts (US)
• Konami (Japan)
• LucasArts (US)
• Nintendo (Japan)
• Sega (Japan)
• Sony Computer Entertainment
(Japan)
• Ubisoft (France)
 Examples of Distributors (Phil.)
• Level-Up Games
• IP E-Games (IPVG)
• AMP
• Digital Media Exchange, Inc.
 Examples of Retailers
• Netopia and other internet cafes
• Digital distribution
• ABS-CBN Interactive (Phil.)
• Steam and the iPhone App store
(others)
• Traditional retailers
• Datablitz (Phil.)
• Best Buy/Walmart (others)
 The Game Development Process
What was outsourced to the Philippines in 2001 - 2008

PROGRAM
DEV’T

CONCEPT
PROTOTYPE TESTING RELEASE &
DESIGN
MAINTENANCE
ART & MUSIC
DESIGN

What is now outsourced to the Philippines

 Outline
 Overview of the Game Development
Industry
 Industry Vital Statistics
 Achievements of the Philippine Game
Development Industry
 Game Development Companies
 By 4Q of 2010, there were
at least 60 companies
involved in the game
development process

 Of which, 15 are members

of the Game Developers
Association of the
Philippines (GDAP)

 At least 3 more companies

are expected to join GDAP
by first quarter of 2011
 Revenues
 Estimated to
have reached
more than US$ 9
Million in 2010
 Projected to
reach more than
US$ 14 Million by
the end of 2011
 This is an annual
growth rate of
more than 50%
 Markets Served
 More than 90% of
the 2009 estimated
revenues were for
foreign markets

 Of this figure, an increasing share are

game development projects conducted by
in-house subsidiaries (ex., Digital Octane
and Gameloft Philippines)
 There is also an increasing share of
revenues from the domestic market
 Market Share
 Estimated to have
reached about
0.02% share of
the global market
in 2010, which
was valued at
almost US$37
Billion

 Projected to increase to about 0.03% of the

global market in 2011, which will reach nearly
US$ 45 Billion
 Employment
 Employed about 1,200 by the end of
2010, mostly game programmers and
artists
 Projected to employ
GAME DEVELOPMENT
more than 1,600 by the
EMPLOYMENT end of 2011, mostly
from the expansion of
1,000
large players (ex.,
800 640
Gameloft Philippines,
Headcount
Employee

600
CheQ Systems) and the
entry of more local
400
200
startups
0
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009E 2010P
 Skill Requirements
 By the end of 2009, of the
estimated 1,200 employed in
the game development
industry
• More than 1,100 are
programmers and artists, with
• More than 450 having skills in C/C++
• About 250 have skills in Adobe Flash
• About 150 have 3D skills including for
3D Studio Max
• About 70 are programmers with skills in
PHP
• About 70 have skills in Java
• About 70 have skills in Adobe Photoshop
• About 50 have skills for console and
Smartphone programming (SDKs)
 Future Skill Demand
 Of the projected 400 new
positions required in 2011
• About 150 new positions will be needed
for Flash programmers
• More than 80 new positions will be
needed for console and smartphone
programming (SDKs)
• About 80 new positions will be needed
for 3D artists
• More than 50 new positions will be
needed for C/C++ programming
• Other positions will be for voice
recording talent, concept design,
animation, and game level design
 Game Development Projects
 Up to 2008, most of game software
developed in the Philippines are for
the mobile and PDA (portables)
platforms
 2009 saw the emergence of
online/browser-based and console
games (particularly for the
Nintendo Wii and DS)
 2009 also saw a boom in games
developed for the iPhone, a trend
which will continue into 2011
 2010 saw an increase in advergame
production
 2011 will see an increase in
browser-based and online, social
networking-driven games
 Game Development Projects
 A majority of game development projects in the
Philippines are for completely built-up software
products
• Most are outsourced end-to-end game development
projects (from game design to game creation)
• Some are in response to an order by a publisher
• A rare few are sold by the developer thru a publisher

 Other game development projects include

• Game art assets design and creation
• Character generation and design (typically 3D)
• In-game animation and concept art design
• Game testing and quality control
• Game community support
 Outline
 Overview of the Game Development
Industry
 Industry Vital Statistics
 Achievements of the Philippine Game
Development Industry
 Achievements of the Philippine
Game Development Industry
 Micronet Software Manila
(1992), a subsidiary of
Japan-based Micronet,
and Japan Media
Programming-Cebu
(JAMP-Cebu, 1997) were
the two earliest game
development companies,
producing game content
for Japanese publishers
 Achievements of the Philippine
Game Development Industry
 Anito: Defend A Land Enraged,
developed by Anino
Entertainment in 2003, became
the first game to be entirely
developed in the Philippines

 Anito has since won two

awards: Innovation In Audio at
the Independent Games
Festival 2003, and 2003
Gametunnel Role-Playing Game
of the Year
 Achievements of the Philippine
Game Development Industry
 Anino Mobile, Anino
Entertainment’s
subsidiary, won the
‘Best Use of
Connectivity Award’ in
the 2007 International
Mobile Gaming Awards
 Achievements of the Philippine
Game Development Industry
 In 2007, Philippine-
based game
development firm
Pixelstream introduced
a homegrown 3D
graphics engine called
Pixelstream Graphics
Engine (PIXEGE) that
is currently being
offered for licensing to
companies across the
region.
 Achievements of the Philippine
Game Development Industry

 Several Pocket PC games

developed by eSoft
Interactive won
nominations for the 2007
Smartphone Pocket PC
Awards
 Achievements of the Philippine
Game Development Industry
 A game designed by
one of the leading
developers of casual
games, Boomzap
Entertainment,
contained artwork
produced by Philippine
game developer
Flipside Games
 Achievements of the Philippine
Game Development Industry

 In 2007, local developer Vitas Development also

introduced the Philippines’ first homegrown online
game, Bangu-Bang Mania!, an MMO fighting game
 Achievements of the Philippine
Game Development Industry
 2008 saw the launch of
the first Nintendo Wii
game that was co-
developed in the
Philippines by Matahari
Studios (now Kuju Manila)
 Achievements of the Philippine
Game Development Industry
 2010 saw innovations in the industry, with
projects such as advergames and game
applications in non-traditional settings such as in
interactive cinemas (SM Winema)