Shahrizar (left) says when it comes to finding the right skills, more often than not, the talents tend to jump on the brain drain bandwagon and work in foreign studios due to prestige and exposure. — Filepic/The Star
COMPETITION in the local gaming industry is surprisingly fierce, ranging from talent acquisition, perks and the technology used.
Kaigan Games chief executive officer Shahrizar Roslan says when it comes to finding the right skills, more often than not, the talents tend to jump on the brain drain bandwagon and work in foreign studios due to prestige and exposure.
“Yes, this is an unfortunate truth. But it is a two-sided coin, it is good for the talent pool who can now apply to and be accepted into some of the largest studios in the world. The work prestige and exposure are great. But it is not so great for local companies. A local studio will end up not even in the top five studios that talents apply to. We end up in the bottom 10 or even lower.
“This is not to say that we pay less or our perks are less. Some-times we pay more than even the international studios. But the name recognition [of international studios] influences this.
“Also, talents that get promoted, get promoted to outside of Malaysia where the higher level of development takes place. So potentially we see these talented people moving out and taking their skills with them.”
As for perks or incentives, Shahrizar says when a studio opens its branch here it benefits more from local resources and mitigates the local disadvantages by utilising their other companies and studios.
“For example, any income made in US dollars is double taxed. Foreign companies support [the local ecosystem by] producing their games here, but the revenue does not make its way into Malaysia. It goes to their home country.
“For trademark registration, foreign companies don’t register their trademarks here. At the end of the day, all the work that developers put into a game accumulates into revenue and the game IP. Both of these do not come back in their whole [value] to our country. As such only a fraction of the total value of a game comes back to us.”
The story is the same for the technology. Shahrizar says foreign companies have direct contact with platform companies and get access to new technology and features even before they are announced.
“The platform companies like Google, Apple, PlayStation and Xbox do not have offices here that deal with game development.
“So for local companies, we have to reach out and find them during trade trips.
“But even then it takes years before we are on equivalent footing to negotiate deals and technology transfer.
“At the same time, there is a cap on funds available for grants and perks here.”
Shahrizar says, while as a Malaysian game developer he is proud to see foreign companies opening studios in the country, local counterparts are facing disadvantages in the competition scene.
“As a whole, we are proud and excited to see foreign companies opening their branches here. I don’t want my comments to sound like I don’t want [foreign] companies coming here.
“But it is a business at the end of the day, and the reason a company opens here is because the benefits outweigh the cost of business.
“Malaysian companies are already starting at a disadvantage in certain aspects just because we are from this region. Our industry and talent pool are nascent and still growing.”
He says when a country takes in foreign investment, its effect on local players must also be considered.
“The assumption many have is that our talents will work in these top tier companies, move to set up their own companies and grow to eventually compete with the companies where they started from.
“However, I would scrutinise this assumption since I haven’t seen many talents who leave these companies becoming entrepreneurs or even applying to join local companies.”
