Filipino game development companies continue to show resiliency amid the economic crisis rocking the industry.

During the recent Games Conventions Asia 2009, a group of Filipino developers showed what they can do for foreign companies looking to do some outsource stuff.

Paul Gadi, a member of GDAP, joined a plenary discussion with other developers on developing for the Apple iPhone.

In a short interview back in Manila, Gabby Dizon, the President of the Game Development Association of the Philippines (GDAP) said their group met with several other Asian gaming organizations to discuss various topics involving their industry, primarily the effects of the economic crisis.

Dizon, who also heads his own game development company called Flipside, said GDAP met with members of the Asian Games Association to talk about each others’ experiences and how they could help each other go through this global economic crisis, among other things.

Member countries of this group include Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, New Zealand, Australia and China. A few representatives from the European Game Developers Association were also present.

Dizon said outsourcing is a major topic during the meeting. Outsourcing is a common approach for game developers as it builds international networks and technical capabilities.

But Dizon also said some companies are trying their hand in creating original intellectual property, something that he did when he worked for Filipino game development firm Anino Entertainment.

As the global economic crisis is unfolding, GDAP’s membership is also growing. There are now 13 members. Some of the new members are also going into various aspects of game development, including motion capture and game testing.

“It’s great that we have additional members and this will only continue to grow in the next year,” Dizon said.

As a final note, Dizon stressed that no game studio in the Philippines closed shop even during the crisis. “I’m sure that each company still has challenges ahead but I think overall we will still see growth for the game industry for this year and next.”

– Alexander Villafania

By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

SINGAPORE – The Philippines recently signed in as one of the first member-countries of the Games Exchange Alliance (GXA).

The country is represented by Game Development Association of the Philippines (GDAP) President Gabby Dizon.

The Philippines will be among the 10 countries that will be part of the GXA, which aims to build a network of gaming companies, publishers, and developers across Asia.

The other countries are Singapore, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, and Vietnam.

GXA is an initiative of Singapore’s Infocomm Development Authority. It is also supported by about 36 alliances in the gaming industry.

GDAP is composed of at least 10 video game development firms in the Philippines.

The partnerships were announced by GXA President Aaron Tan during the opening of the Games Convention Asia in Singapore, which runs from September 17 to 2.

THE Philippine video game development industry is expected to be worth $3 million by the end of the year and $7 million by 2010, an industry study conducted for a local game development organization showed.

In 2007, the study said the local game development was worth about $1 million, according to Cesar Tolentino, game development research consultant who presented the study during the Business Process Outsourcing Summit in Crowne Plaza Hotel.

Six outsourcing industries, including game development industry, showcased their services for the offshore market during the event.

Tolentino pointed out that the local game development industry employs about 500 people who now work in at least 10 Philippine-based companies.

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CHRISTOPHER Natsuume, best known as the producer of the hit first-person shooter game Far Cry, is one of the speakers at the Business Process Outsourcing Summit that will be held in the Philippines.

Natsuume, who is now co-founder of casual PC games development firm Boomzap (http://www.boomzap.com), will speak about game development during the summit, which starts December 2.

Natsuume will be one of the first major game development icons invited to the Philippines to talk on game development, according to the Games Development Association of the Philippines (GDAP), which worked on bringing Natsuume to the Philippines.

Game development is considered to be niche markets in the booming Philippine outsourcing industry. The local game development industry in the Philippines, however, remains small. However, GDAP has said that the number of companies and employment opportunities have been growing steadily in the last few years.

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By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.NET

MANILA, Philippines — The Game Development Association of the Philippines (GDAP) is holding costume play (cosplay) competition opened to participants portraying characters from any video game.

Characters can come from games of any gaming platform, including PC, PlayStation or Xbox, Nintendo platforms and handheld gaming devices.

Ranulf Goss, International Game Developers Association (IGDA) Philippine Chapter chairman, said the competition highlights gamers’ endearment to their favorite video game characters.

The cosplay competition is part of GDAP’s Game Craft, which also highlights a series of business sessions and classes for developers and artists during the entire BPO Summit.

For the past three years game development has been one of the latest highlights of the BPO Summit, largely due to a number of outsourced projects that local game development companies have been receiving.

GDAP has been promoting game development as one of the sunshine industries in the Philippines.

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