Gaming Industry Eyes Filipino Animators

MANILA PHILIPPINES - With the rapid growth expected in the global gaming industry, Filipino animators are urged to get into game development.

The global video game market is projected to grow at 16.5 percent annually, Pricewaterhouse Coopers 2005-2009 Global Entertainment Media Outlook indicated.

The market in the United States, Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA), Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and Canada is expected more jump from US $ 25.4 billion in 2004 to US $ 54.6 billion in 2009.

The global game development industry is likewise seen to grow in the next few years.The US game development market is projected to reach roughly US $ 15 billion in 2009 while Canada’s market is seen to grow to US $ 1.3 billion and Latin America, US $ 832 million in the same period.

The Philippines is an attractive location for companies wanting to outsource their work offshore, given the significantly lower cost of development here compared to North America and Europe. Specifically, game development costs in the Philippines is only one-eigth of that in the USA, reported Luis Mañalac, President of a local game development firm LadyLuck Digital.

He cited that a team of 10 people working full time for two years only costs US $ 262,000 here in the Philippines as against to US $ 1.7 million in the United States.

To date, skilled Filipino animators are in demand in post-production facilities or animation studios locally and abroad.

Game developers sub-contract the rendering to the industry’s best talent, such as Holy Cow Animation, as well as to Filipino musical scorers, like Jessie Lucas. Sub-contractors are given credit in every game and paid in advance on royalties.

The Philippine gaming industry hopes to attract at least six percent of the 25,000 animation graduates every year to fill the increasing demand in the animation outsourcing market.

Manalac is a speaker in the Animation Track of the recently concluded e-Services Philippines, an outsourcing conference and exhibition organized by the Department of Trade and Industry.

3/2/06

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