TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Ministry of Industry has said it would continue to encourage the development of the local gaming industry by strengthening its value chain and tapping its current potential.

"The effort aims to make the Indonesian gaming industry more competitive globally through a good content industry ecosystem," Director General of Metal, Machinery, Transportation and Electronics Industry (ILMATE) at the Industry Ministry Taufiek Bawazier said at the 'Proud of Games Made in Indonesia' webinar on Tuesday.

The ministry has tried to strengthen the value chain of the content industry by involving several supporting sectors, such as the comics, animation, film, gaming, music, and toy industries, as well as coordinating with related ministries, state-owned enterprises, and private players, he informed.

“Industries based on intellectual property (IP) can collaborate in products and IP development invested by the government and private stakeholders," the director general said in a written statement.

He said he is optimistic that by creating a great content industry ecosystem, the gaming industry, as one of the supporting components of the content industry, will also improve.

"Furthermore, Indonesia has many potentials. There are 52 million Indonesian gamers. Currently, Indonesia is the largest gaming industry market in Southeast Asia and is ranked 17th in the world," Bawazier informed.

The ministry is encouraging domestic game developers to exploit the huge market potential in Indonesia, he said.

"In 2020, our local industry held just 0.4 percent (share) of the domestic gaming market. Thus, there are still lots of business opportunities in the sector for our own game developers," Bawazier pointed out.

He also highlighted a changing trend in gaming devices. In 2016, computers -- desktops and laptops -- still dominated gaming, he said. However, currently, the use of such devices is declining, he noted.

Meanwhile, the number of gamers using smartphones has continued to rise from 29.9 percent in 2017 to 33.5 percent in 2018, he added.

According to data provided by game-focused market research and analytics firm Newzoo, the revenue of the gaming industry in Indonesia increased significantly in 2016-2019. In 2019, Indonesia earned US$1.084 billion from the gaming and eSports industry, the data has shown.

Read: Sports Minister on Fixing Downside of Online Gaming, PUBG

ANTARA