Your local culture is awesome, but it doesn’t need to be in every game.

A topic once limited to larger heavy industries is already relevant to the games industry. When the private sector can’t spur progress, government initiative is often required to get things started. As expensive and time consuming as game development has grown, in some ways it is a perfect fit for government help. While the potential benefits are innumerable, the downside is that developers are often forced to balance the drive for international success with the competing desire to add strong local flavors so that their projects appeal to local officials.

Same story, different industry

The role of government involvement in any industry is something we’ve seen play out in countless debates since the days of the Greek empire and Zhou Dynasty. More recently, Ha-joon Chang argued eloquently in his book Bad Samaritans that it was the protective, nurturing actions of governments in his home of Korea and throughout East Asia, that allowed the region’s economies to accelerate their paths toward development.

(See: Finally, a Korean dev had delivered that debt simulator Asia needs to play)

Looking toward Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and now mainland China as example, it is easy to see that government involvement done right can lead to both the production of great products and increased prosperity for the citizens of the countries involved. Taking risks that the private sector would not be able to afford, subsidizing developmental costs, and implementing protective tariffs are some of the tools at their disposal.

Games

Over the past two years, I’ve spent a lot of time in Malaysia and become acquainted with some really great initiatives in place locally to foster the creative industry in the country. The Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) offers amazing incentives for individuals or companies wanting to do business locally in IT, and through its initiative, the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), many projects that would not have otherwise been possible are receiving funding.

All this despite government officials across the globe having always had an uneasy relationship with games, whether it be concerns over violence, game addiction, interference with studies, subversive elements, or any other valid (but often disproven) concern. It should come as no surprise that Dark Souls wasn’t funded with taxpayer dollars.

(See: Korea’s “Shutdown Policy” is getting… shutdown.)

Not to say that governments aren’t more adventurous than we give them credit for. For instance, Velocibox developer Shawn Beck worked on a 2D hack-and-slash game that received funding through MDeC’s annual IPCC grant, which lets developers pitch their idea and, upon its approval, receive generous stipends to allow for the idea’s commercial development.

Translating success

Malaysia in particular has had a lot of success in developing its animation industry, and the country punches well above its weight in this area, with numerous studios dotting the West Malaysian landscape. Many of these have worked on high quality international titles.

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