Video games convention wants to nurture growth in Asia

By Alexander Villafania INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippines -- A video game convention scheduled this month hopes to encourage growth of the video game industry in Asia, its organizer said. "We would like to see the competitiveness of video game industry in Asia-Pacific to the level similar to the ones in Europe, Japan and the US. We believe competition would bring positive results to the industry, where everyone would strive to make the best game and provide the best game services," said Leipziger Messe International (LMI) Asia Managing Director Joerg Zeissig about the upcoming Game Convention Asia (GCA), the Asian adaptation of a major European video game conference. LMI is organizing the GCA. Zeissig said Asia Pacific needed a platform for the industry to grow, which resulted in the creation of the GCA. However, he said that the GCA will not become a copycat of the European Game Convention. “We would like to see the competitiveness of video game industry in Asia-Pacific to the level similar to the ones in Europe, Japan and the US [and] have GCA [become] the arena where all gaming companies will gather [to] showcase their products and services," he said in a reply to questions from hackenslash. GCA is set to happen on September 18 to 20, 2008 in Singapore's Suntec Exhibition and Convention Centre. This would be a follow-up to the first GCA event also held in Singapore last year. Zeissig also acknowledged that Asia's video game industry is far different from the European and American market since it is the online multiplayer games that dominate the Asian region. This obvious difference makes it more challenging for developers to create games that target this specific market. He added that the LMI aims to "inspire" young gaming companies and publishers from Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. LMI recently set up an office in Singapore in preparation for the upcoming event, as well as to push through with other projects in the region. Zeissig said that speakers for the event would include Nexon CEO Joonmo Kwon, Crytek founder Cevat Yerli and renowned video game designer Peter Molyneux. Electronic Arts and Maxsoft Online will showcase new products. Replay Interactive will show off new games from developers THQ and KOEI.