LogInSoutheast Asia is a vast region that covers six primary game markets: Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In 2023, the gaming market volume was $5.61B, where 66.4% of gaming revenue came from the mobile segment. This makes SEA the fastest-growing mobile gaming industry in the world.
In some parts of SEA, you find more young freelancing or hobbyist developers, especially those with little prior training. Some of these gradually form teams to become studios. You can see the trend of such studios working to improve their skills to grow and do higher quality work, whether as an indie creator or as a service.
SEA is known more as an outsourcing hub. Apart from the outsourcing model, everyone wants to develop their own IPs. They try to split it, so the core of their business is providing contract work to a lot of big publishers and developers, but at the same time, everybody nurtures this ambition of making something on their own and they keep on working on it on the side. Creating their own IPs is becoming a bigger part of how studios see themselves in the future.
Due to the stability and safety of the SEA region, people can entertain themselves and enjoy games. It also helps technology and accessibility. For example, everyone has a smartphone and internet there. The hardware and software aren’t so expensive in comparison to Europe. It’s 40% cheaper to build a good PC in the SEA region. There are also a lot of options to upgrade Android phones and get more storage due to cheap micro SDs, so people can play more games. Moreover, 5G isn’t absolutely required to play mobile games — 3G or 4G is enough. This all makes a difference in spending power in entertainment and games.
Danielle doesn’t see too many differences in how various SEA countries handle promotions. They tend to split marketing into two ways: global and local. Global marketing is pretty much the same as most other companies: it involves game pitching, so developers just show the usual stuff. Local marketing is used when a game was made specifically by people who live in a certain country like Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, etc. The game is promoted in this territory, and developers demonstrate to people that the product was created by locals which grabs more attention from players and government.
Indie developers should prioritize survival. Monetization strategies emerge after completing a project or at least a prototype. Some studios create games out of sheer passion, while others chase profits post-demo launch.