THACCA Steering Subcommittee on Game Industry: Promoting the gaming industry as Thailand's soft power

THACCA Steering Subcommittee on Game Industry: Promoting the gaming industry as Thailand’s soft power

Sittichai Theppaitoon

Thailand’s gaming industry has the potential to generate more income, with the growth valuing 38 billion baht per year. The Thai government aims to promote games as one of the national soft power elements to boost the value of the gaming industry itself and enhance other related industries, such as tourism, food and textiles. Accordingly, a subcommittee on games has been established to drive the gaming industry and expand the share of Thai entrepreneurs.

GTCC had the opportunity to interview Sittichai Theppaitoon, Chairman of the Steering Subcommittee on Game Industry, Thailand Creative Culture Agency (THACCA), regarding the current situation of the gaming industry and the government’s plan to drive it forward as a soft power. Sittichai has a wide range of experiences in the gaming industry in Thailand, as he has been a game developer (F2P/MMO/Cross-platform/ Gamification/Metaverse) since 2001. In addition to his current role as the Chairman of the THACCA-Game subcommittee, he is an executive of the game companies GAMEINDY and Debuz, a member of Creative Digital Economy and E-commerce committee, a lecturer and game curriculum supervisor at King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT, also known as “Bangmod”), a government agency advisor, a member of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Trade of Thailand committee, along with many other titles and duties. Sittichai holds a Master's degree in Computer Engineering from Kasetsart University.

When was the Steering Subcommittee on Game Industry, Thailand Creative Culture Agency (THACCA), established and why?

The THACCA Steering Subcommittee on Game Industry was established on 6 October 2023, following the Prime Minister Settha Thavisin government's policy to drive games as one of the soft power areas. Thus the THACCA Steering Subcommittee on Game Industry is responsible for collecting data and proposing guidelines and measures for promoting and developing Thailand’s gaming industry to the National Soft Power Development Committee. The proposed guidelines and measures will be used in formulating national policies and plans for the development of the country's soft power.

The gaming industry in Thailand is worth 38 billion baht per year, calculated from the amount of spending that Thais deposit into games, buying items, and the hiring of people to make the games. This value tends to increase steadily. The Covid-19 period (2020) was considered the peak of the Thai gaming industry, while the value last year was approximately 34 billion baht. However, it was found that the income of Thai game developers was only 200 million baht. Therefore, one of the guidelines and measures proposed to the National Soft Power Development Committee is to increase the proportion of Thai games developed by Thai entrepreneurs in the market.

The second proposed measure is to push Thailand to become the centre of e-sports events in Southeast Asia. Compared to neighbouring countries, Thailand has better facilities to support e-sports. For example, our internet is the fastest in the region and our 5G technology covers every region of the country. Therefore, Thailand's infrastructure is suitable for organising game competitions and, in fact, many e-sports events have been organised in Thailand already. Thai tourism is also an outstanding feature that attracts a lot of visitors.

Another key measure proposed is to integrate games with other soft power areas, such as fashion, tourism, and education, so that they can support each other.

What is the gaming industry like in Thailand’s neighbouring countries?

The gaming industry of our neighbouring countries is quite well established. For example, Vietnam has a unicorn in gaming. The gaming industry direction of both Vietnam and Indonesia is strong, with the main factor of “population” accounting for approximately 90 million and 200 million people, respectively. As for Thailand, our population – 71.8 million people, according to the World Bank – may not increase much, but there is a good trend regardless. The value of Thailand’s gaming industry is ranked in the world’s top 20, based on the data from 2019* and 2023**, and it’s the highest in Southeast Asia. In addition, there have been more foreigners organising international e-sports competitions in Thailand, although with the participation of fewer Thai teams. If we do nothing, we will lose the opportunity to create this value. We should enhance public relations, execute the measures, and integrate with more comprehensive data on e-sports.

What is the potential for Thai youths to support the gaming and e-sports industries?

Looking at the value of Thai children’s spending on playing games, the potential of Thai youths in the gaming industry is very high. Another strength of Thailand, since the Ayutthaya period, is that we adopt all cultures. As we play games from both the West and the East, Thai people most likely have knowledge of designing games in the contexts of both the East and the West.

Because games are a recreational activity that Thai children are enthusiastic about, we have quite a lot of students with potential in this area. Thailand has 18 universities and courses related to e-sports, such as those at Silpakorn University, KMUTT, Thammasat University, Chamber of Commerce, Sripathum University, Rangsit University, and Rajabhat University, to name just a few.

At KMUTT, there is a 4-year programme called Digital Design and Digital Technology (DD & DT), which is an academic curriculum jointly developed by three institutes: Digital Design and Technology Innovation Center (DIDTC), KMUTT, and the DigiPen Institute of Technology USA. It is a dual degree programme, taught in Thailand for two years and then abroad for two years. Upon graduation, students will receive two Bachelor's degrees. They can choose to study at DigiPen Institute of Technology in either the United States or in Singapore, but most of them choose the USA. This collaborative programme allows students to be ready at the international level, expanding their access to global artists and giant companies.

E-sports has expanded from the physical education and sports education curriculum, resulting in increasing numbers of e-sports students and teachers. From my experience as a lecturer, if it's just about coding, there are about 15-20 percent of Thai students at the exceptional level. But when it comes to art and design, we have over 50 percent at the exceptional level. We are world-class in design. After the Covid-19 period, which accelerated work from home, foreign countries started to outsource, hiring Thailand’s younger generation to write programs. Moreover, those who graduated with a gaming degree can work in other careers, and there are about a thousand students studying games and e-sports all over the country. Thailand has a lot of skilled people in this field, but the value of the gaming industry, contributed by Thai companies, is still quite low.

Can you tell us a bit about the ‘Thai Game Craft’ event, explaining both the purpose of the event, and who are the partners involved?

Thai Game Craft is the first international Thai gaming event organised by the government,

under the THACCA Steering Subcommittee on Game industry, to support and promote Thailand’s gaming and e-sports industry to the international market. The event provides an opportunity to the industry stakeholders build networks and participate in business matching between Thai entrepreneurs and foreign investors. This allows Thai entrepreneurs to have a platform to showcase their potential and creativity, as well as new game developers who have integrated Thai culture or stories into their games. In the past, large-scale gaming events were mainly organised by the private sector.

Thai Game Craft 2024 was organised to align with the Bangkok International Digital Culture Festival 2024 (BIDC 2024) by the Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP), Ministry of Commerce. The BIDC has been organised many times to showcase Thailand’s digital content potential, and as a business matching forum that includes games. But because this year the government will focus its support more on the soft power in the gaming sector, we would like to have a gaming exhibition held in parallel with BIDC’s business matching event to better meet gaming needs.

How does Thai Game Craft help drive the soft power policy, and create popularity for “Thainess” on the international stage?

The event showcases the game creations of Thai entrepreneurs, each of whom has incorporated their Thai identity and culture into their games. For example, the ‘Meow on Tour’ game features cats travelling to various important places or tourist attractions in Thailand. Other examples include ‘Dala and the Cursed Forest’, which is a Thai-style magic spell game, and ‘11 Hour’, a ghost game which tells stories about Thai ghosts.

Who were the participants in Thai Game Craft 2024?

From a total of 1,069 participants, 956 were Thais, and 113 were foreigners, with some of the foreigners being entrepreneurs who were exhibitors at the BIDC. Another group comprised entrepreneurs from New Zealand. There were also allies in the gaming industry from Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, and India – to name a few – who are the partners of gaming companies in Thailand.

In the past, most of the Thai gaming events organised in Thailand were from abroad. There were very few presentations of the work of Thai entrepreneurs, even though we have quite a few. Thai Game Craft 2024 was unique in that it gathered the largest number of Thai gaming entrepreneurs ever.

What were the highlights of Thai Game Craft 2024, and the success factors of the event overall?

One of the highlights of Thai Game Craft is the pitching of game entrepreneurs onstage, showing the public how their games are outstanding. There was also space for new game designers showcasing student works, an e-sports competition showcasing the competition between Buriram United and the Talon team, cosplay games inspired by Thai culture, and art toys made by Thai artists (such as Ganesha in various forms). There was also a forum on the government’s measures to support the game industry, education, and teaching in Thailand, while the games that received international awards were presented with these accolades at this event.

The content of the event is hybrid, meaning both Thai and English languages are used, as well as having the host speaking in both languages. The entrepreneurs who presented on stage could use whichever language they were more comfortable with.

The success factors of this event are the cooperation of people from all sectors, because the Thai game industry has had hidden potential for a very long time. And as this event is a stage to showcase both the work of Thai entrepreneurs and the potential of Thai students, Thai media are there to help push it forward as well. Another event partner was Thai Game Software Industry Association (TGA).

Next year, Thai Game Craft will be held again, at around the same time. In addition to Thai Game Craft 2025, which is an international event, there will be a couple more government-run gaming industry events per year (one international and one national), along with private sector events.

It would be fruitful to have co-production between Thai game operators and German companies, and German business organisations can contact the Department of International Trade to enquire about business matching. For participation in Thai Game Craft 2025, please wait for more information next year.

Contact details: Sittichai Theppaitoon Director, National Soft Power Strategy Committee

Chairman, Steering Subcommittee on Game Industry, Thailand Creative Culture Agency (THACCA) bankdebuz@gmail.com https://thacca.go.th/