Many local gaming businesses set up in Singapore instead of Vietnam

Nguyen Quang Dong, Director of the Institute for Media Policy Research and Development, Vietnam Digital Media Association told a recent talk entitled “Building legal policies to promote the development of online games in Vietnam” that legal policy often follows market developments, but recently policymakers in Vietnam are creating a legal framework to develop a new field – digital economy.

According to experts, online games, especially mobile games, are among the bright spots in the digital content industry. Dong cited a statistic that, for every 25 mobile games uploaded to app stores, one comes from Vietnam. Of the 10 most played mobile games, about five to six games are from Vietnam.

Duong Vi Khoa, Vice President of the Vietnam E-Sports and Entertainment Association, assessed that the Vietnamese game market is developing rapidly, partly thanks to policies and support from the governing body, such as licencing esports competitions.

Nguyen Thanh Trung, CEO of Sky Mavis, creator of the popular blockchain game Axie Infinity, said that 2021 showed the strong impact of blockchain games on the market and the Vietnamese game brought a breath of fresh air to the world.

He said that Vietnam has a strong capacity in the world blockchain game. But the most remarkable feature is that Vietnamese game businesses have changed their approach, by starting to focus their resources on developing products and introducing them to the world market.

Khoa commented that Vietnam is a country that is appreciated for its games in the region, and many A-class games are in the country. In the past few months, startups have begun to come together to develop and publish video games instead of just outsourcing to major game studios in the world.

With great potential, the game industry, however, still faces barriers, including legal issues. "The legal framework is still not enough to keep up with reality and many Vietnamese businesses have to register in Singapore and pay taxes there instead of in Vietnam. This is a disadvantage," said Dong.

Khoa and Trung mentioned that current policies can cause reverse protection problems, when Vietnamese enterprises must fully comply with regulations to launch their games at home, but other online games are not bound to on the digital platform.

Experts believe that it is necessary to develop a policy system for online games, which can help develop businesses and the game market in Vietnam.

In addition, according to Dong, the "heat" of digital assets in recent years has also created concern as there is no clear legal corridor related to the issuance of digital assets and digital currencies.

Duy Vu