Vietnam Game Industry Overview in 2024

The document is an industry insight article from Gamota, a Vietnamese game publisher, published in July 2024, presenting an overview of the Vietnamese game industry's prospects and developments for that year. Its central thesis is that Vietnam's game sector is experiencing strong growth and transformation and is well positioned to reach its aspirational goal of a billion-dollar market, though it faces notable structural challenges. The piece is aimed at gaming businesses, indie developers, and foreign companies considering market entry.

Key data points cited include Vietnamese developers achieving 4.2 billion global downloads in 2023, growing at 2.5 times the world average, and the industry comprising roughly 35,000 game developers and about 400 game companies. The article also notes Vietnam's 5th-place ranking in Southeast Asia on the 2023 government AI readiness index. Qualitative trends highlighted include the shift from hyper-casual to hybrid monetization models, growing adoption of AI in game production and user acquisition, expanding university game-design courses, and partnerships between local publishers and international companies such as Roblox and EA. On the policy side, the government declined to impose a special consumption tax on gaming in 2023 and is reportedly exploring tax incentives.

The scope is national, focused on Vietnam's mobile-heavy game market, with a time frame centered on 2023 performance and 2024 outlook. The figures are presented without disclosed methodology or primary sources, and the article is written by a company with commercial interests in the sector, which should be weighed when interpreting its optimistic framing. The article also acknowledges weaknesses, including uneven game quality, shorter game lifecycles than the global average, and heavy dependence on eCPM-based advertising revenue.