Promising future for creative content industry
When Bill Gates, one of the world's richest man ,said earlier in the year "be nice to geeks as they may be your boss one day", he was right.
Geeks, a term used to describe peculiar computer experts or enthusiasts, are largely the brains behind the country's lucrative RM9.8 billion creative content industry which is expected to grow by more than 20 per cent this year.
"This is not just a fun business but its a serious business and its far bigger than the information technology industry with a net global worth of US$2 trillion (RM6.12 trillion)," said Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, the chief executive for Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC).
He said creative content is more than just about animations, gaming and interactive comic books, adding that many in the industry can actually dabble and branch out into special effects tailor-made for movies, digital content for mobiles and also visual effects.
Badlisham said the revenue recorded for the second quarter of last year was at RM2.4 billion which was a 100 per cent rise from the revenue recorded for the first quarter, totalling RM1.14 billion.
He expects this year to be bullish with more series and new content being created as there are new grants and loans that have been offered by MDeC to firms needing a leg up in the business.
"We are looking for something new and fresh and something suitable for the export market," he said.
Exports for the creative content industry last year totalled RM114.48 million which included the famous Upin and Ipin animation series and the latest animation series Saladin, a co-production between MDeC and Al Jazeera children's channel.
Alan Chan, a Malaysian now based in the US, said that the creative content industry changed his life, with him now having a promising career in the movie industry in Hollywood.
Born in Kuala Lumpur, Chan started out in the industry when he first wrote his video game as a teenager which gave him his first break and went on to write reviews on games for the New Straits Times in the early 90s.
"It took 15 years to get a geek like me to be where I am today," said Chan, whose visual effects works include for big productions such as Titanic and the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
Chan said the future for the content industry in Malaysia is very bright as there are a lot of raw talent that could be nurtured and brought to the global arena.
With this in mind, Chan along with his brother and business partners, have decided to set up a college which will focus on visual effects and animation studies.
"We are still working out the details for the college and hope to have it up this year," he added.
Doma is the second school that will focus on animations and gaming studies after Help International College University announced a similar plan to team up with Hollywood experts to produce a department focusing mainly on animations and gaming studies by April.
The industry looks so promising that even international gaming companies that have set base here are planning to hire more Malaysians and have outlined big expansion plans for this year.
"We are hiring as we want to grow the Malaysian outfit by 40 per cent in 2011 and if you are interested in a career in the gaming industry, then write to us and the best part is we will train you for free for three months and pay you at the same time," said Codemasters Studios Sdn Bhd Malaysia technical art trainer Ivon Andrew McCall Smith during a talk at the MSC Malaysia Kreatif Digital Content Conference.
Codemasters is a gaming company from the UK and its local outfit hires more Malaysians than foreigners as game developers.
Jason Manley, an American, who is the founder of www.theartdepartment.org and has worked in the creative industry for the past 11 years for companies like Blizzard, Sony and Nintendo to name a few, has plans to open up a branch office in Malaysia after China and its headquarters in the US.
"We definitely have those plans in mind," he said at the digital content conference in Putrajaya recently.
Geeks, a term used to describe peculiar computer experts or enthusiasts, are largely the brains behind the country's lucrative RM9.8 billion creative content industry which is expected to grow by more than 20 per cent this year.
He said creative content is more than just about animations, gaming and interactive comic books, adding that many in the industry can actually dabble and branch out into special effects tailor-made for movies, digital content for mobiles and also visual effects.
Badlisham said the revenue recorded for the second quarter of last year was at RM2.4 billion which was a 100 per cent rise from the revenue recorded for the first quarter, totalling RM1.14 billion.
He expects this year to be bullish with more series and new content being created as there are new grants and loans that have been offered by MDeC to firms needing a leg up in the business.
"We are looking for something new and fresh and something suitable for the export market," he said.
Exports for the creative content industry last year totalled RM114.48 million which included the famous Upin and Ipin animation series and the latest animation series Saladin, a co-production between MDeC and Al Jazeera children's channel.
Alan Chan, a Malaysian now based in the US, said that the creative content industry changed his life, with him now having a promising career in the movie industry in Hollywood.
Born in Kuala Lumpur, Chan started out in the industry when he first wrote his video game as a teenager which gave him his first break and went on to write reviews on games for the New Straits Times in the early 90s.
"It took 15 years to get a geek like me to be where I am today," said Chan, whose visual effects works include for big productions such as Titanic and the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
Chan said the future for the content industry in Malaysia is very bright as there are a lot of raw talent that could be nurtured and brought to the global arena.
With this in mind, Chan along with his brother and business partners, have decided to set up a college which will focus on visual effects and animation studies.
"We are still working out the details for the college and hope to have it up this year," he added.
Doma is the second school that will focus on animations and gaming studies after Help International College University announced a similar plan to team up with Hollywood experts to produce a department focusing mainly on animations and gaming studies by April.
The industry looks so promising that even international gaming companies that have set base here are planning to hire more Malaysians and have outlined big expansion plans for this year.
"We are hiring as we want to grow the Malaysian outfit by 40 per cent in 2011 and if you are interested in a career in the gaming industry, then write to us and the best part is we will train you for free for three months and pay you at the same time," said Codemasters Studios Sdn Bhd Malaysia technical art trainer Ivon Andrew McCall Smith during a talk at the MSC Malaysia Kreatif Digital Content Conference.
Codemasters is a gaming company from the UK and its local outfit hires more Malaysians than foreigners as game developers.
Jason Manley, an American, who is the founder of www.theartdepartment.org and has worked in the creative industry for the past 11 years for companies like Blizzard, Sony and Nintendo to name a few, has plans to open up a branch office in Malaysia after China and its headquarters in the US.
"We definitely have those plans in mind," he said at the digital content conference in Putrajaya recently.
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