Partway through her presentation at the Thailand-Canada: Game Industry Partnership, Nikki Assavathorn of Bangkok-based Infinity Levels encounters some technical issues trying to play a video. Luckily a crowd member at the Thailand Department of International Trade Promotion-hosted event has a suggestion: hit Ctrl + 1.
Voila! The video appears, and the presentation can resume.
This instant collaboration between the Thai game developer and Vancouver’s local gaming community at the Shangri-La Hotel typifies what the partnership event is hoping to achieve: building bridges of communication – and ultimately talent – between the two nations.
“It’s very collaborative here, very innovative,” said Assavathorn when asked what she’s noticed about the local scene in Vancouver. “I think it’s a really good example of how the game industry should be progressing.”
Assavathorn is one of many delegates from Thailand looking to soak up some knowledge and potential contacts. Canada has one of the largest video game industries in the world, despite its relatively small population, and British Columbia is second only to Quebec regarding numbers of studios.
Part of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Thailand boasts a gaming industry that has blossomed since starting in 2002 and that is projected to grow to $485 million by 2018. The country’s technology sector as a whole is poised to take off like a rocket ship next year when its massive digital hub opens in Bangkok.
Yan Marchal (right), the CEO and founder of the Bangkok-based Sanuk Games, chats with people from East Side Games and Battlefy
Assavathorn said Thailand can share some of its expertise with Vancouver when it comes to creating lush, lifelike landscapes for video games, noting Infinity Levels’ offering Blades of Revenge recently won an Indie Prize award for Best Mobile Game at the Casual Connect USA event.
“I think it’s in the nature of Thai people that we tend to have a lot of patience, we are very detail oriented, and that goes well when you want to do very polished art. So I hope we can help out in that regard.”
After the event concluded, Nisabudh Virabutr, the Vancouver director of the Thai Trade Centre, noted the positive feedback.
“I think it’s very true, there’s definitely some keen interest from both Thailand’s side and here in Vancouver to collaborate more,” she said. “I think the partnership offers a lot for both sides, especially in Canada expanding trade to an ASEAN nation.”
Yan Marchal, chief executive officer and founder of the Bangkok-based Sanuk Games, said he’s been making trips to North America for the San Francisco-based Game Connection, a business networking event held annually that just wrapped its 2017 edition. This year Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce invited him to come to Vancouver to attend this partnership event, and he said it’s been very “fruitful” so far.
“International collaboration is here – I think this is already the case pretty much everywhere,” he said when talking about how the gaming industry has developed lately. “As well for both the big productions and the smaller games. It’s really a global industry; I would say there is now a global game market, and the only place that is still insulated is China.”
Marchal presented a demo of his new game, a lifelike fishing simulator that is scheduled to be out next year. He said the big video game studios have cornered the market on most of the mainstream professional sports. However, there remains lots of potential when it comes to the gamification of unique hobbies and pastimes.
“There’s still that niche market available when it comes to tackling those smaller sports,” he said.
Ms. Kamolwan Siriwattananan of Software Industry Promotion Agency with Vancouver game developers (Marcin Chady of Digital Scapes Studio Ltd., Brandon Heuser of airG Inc. aka. airGames & Yousuf Mapara of Switchblade Monkeys)
Indie games also need help getting into the market, and this is right up the alley for Magic Box Asia, a mobile game agency that offers a range of services for companies. Chief executive officer Vincent Sethiwan said it handles everything from sourcing and localizing to culturizing and payment methods. He said language translation services are huge if you want to break into a new market, as the Southeast Asian region alone has four main indigenous languages.
“I always remember playing Final Fantasy in Japanese, because I couldn’t wait for the English version to come out,” said Sethiwan. “So this is a big deal for a lot of markets. You just can’t play certain games unless the gameplay is properly translated to the specific market.”
For Tanat Juwiwat, managing director of Yggdrazil, one of the top visual effects, animation, game and virtual reality studios in Bangkok, his company’s break came in the form of a very well-known YouTube star. PewDiePie, an online comedian who regularly plays games on his videos, recently tried out Yggdrazil’s game Home Sweet Home – shrieking his way through a walkthrough. The first-person horror adventure title was a hit, and the video game got millions of views and unparalleled exposure as a result.
“It was great for us,” said Juwiwat. “So many people watched the video and were able to see the game, so it just really helped us out.”
Juwiwat spoke to the audience and attended the event with his visual effects supervisor and head of research and development, Adam Abdularee, noting they’re here in Vancouver currently looking for editing help.
“We’re hoping to outsource some of it, because good editing is hard to find, and we think we can find it here.”
For more information about Thailand’s gaming industry, please go to thaitrade.com.
