Jakarta – Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Salahudin Uno has called for the development of digital talent to push the growth of the local gaming industry.
According to Uno, this is needed so that local game industry players can end the domination of game developers from abroad and lead the domestic market.
“For me, the next generation of local game developers must be present. We must strengthen the digital ecosystem in Indonesia,” Uno said in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Currently, the economic potential of the gaming industry in Indonesia is up to US$2 billion (Rp31.2 trillion), he noted.
Unfortunately, this huge economic potential is dominated by players from abroad, especially China and the United States.
“Unfortunately, 95 percent of the economic potential is not part of Indonesia’s digital economy,” the minister said.
For this reason, support in the form of developing digital talents, especially for the Indonesian gaming industry, needs to be increased.
The development of digital talents can be carried out through various schemes, starting from competency training collaboration schemes to holding competitions to stimulate the talent of local game developers.
The minister gave the example of one of the programs from the private sector, which is in line with the mission of developing the local gaming industry: the Indie Games Accelerator of Google.
The program supports game development studios that are classified as indie but have high potential to create economic opportunities.
The indie game studios get access to a network of game industry experts for three months to accelerate their gaming business.
“This program is in accordance with the President’s directives so that Indonesian games (industry players) can become hosts in their own country,” Uno said.
The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy has also prepared programs such as a national-level gaming conference, namely Baparekraf Game Prime, which is held regularly every year to support the gaming industry.
Then, there is the Indonesian Creative Local Game Program (GELORA), a collaborative program with the Indonesian Game Association (AGI), which encourages local game developers to create educational games.
Stimulus is also being provided in the form of exclusive cooperation with several e-commerce platforms through the sale of vouchers that sell original game features made by Indonesian developers.
It is hoped that with these steps, Indonesia can bring in digital talent who can develop the local game industry and maximize the potential of the digital economy.
antara/Anang Fadhilah
