MANILA, Philippines - Can the Philippines become the next prime destination for animation and gaming-related services?
Industry groups, Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc. (ACPI) and the Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP), certainly think so.
"The country’s animation and gaming sectors carry a large potential for the Philippine information technology and business process management industry. By training our future leaders, they can strive to lead the next generation in building up the Philippines as the next prime destination for animation and gaming-related services,” said ACPI president Grace Dimaranan said in a statement.
Alvin Juban, president of the GDAP, said the Philippines' partnerships with other countries will allow the two sectors to market to potential clients.
Recently, the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority established a partnership with the South Korean government to train Filipino animators and game developers. Under the program, two Filipino animators and two game developers trained in Paju, Gyeonggi province for two months.
"We hope to have our game developers and animators penetrate the global market and take a bigger slice of the global market. Immersing them in a successful and technologically-adept country such as Korea have surely given them the skills and training that they needed,” Juban said.
Research firm MarketsandMarkets said the global animation and gaming market is expected to grow to $242.93 billion by 2016 from $122.2 billion in 2010. India dominates the industry with 40% of the estimated $1.5 billion global animation and game development market, follwed by South Korea with 15% share and the Philippines with 10% share.
Nelson Udaundo, one of the animators who trained in South Korea, said the Philippine and Korean industries share similarities.
"Both industries practice Western-style animation having had decades of experience in Western production projects as well as setbacks... But we can learn from how the Koreans brought back their industry to life through the creation of original content, which led them to carve out a respectable niche in the global animation suppliers market," he said.
ACPI and GDAP are working closely with IBPAP to lead their respective sectors in conquering the global market. IBPAP consists of 300 industry and support-industry members, including five associations — the ACPI, GDAP, Contact Center Association of the Philippines,Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing Association of the Philippines, and Philippine Software Industry Association.
source: abs-cbnnews.com
