The Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) hosted Level UP KL 2015, one of South East Asia’s premier gaming conferences in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Held on 18th and 19th November, Level UP KL 2015 was aimed towards bringing together prominent international and local players in the gaming industry to interact, educate and share knowledge on a wide range of subjects from content development to fundraising to business development and marketing.
The two-day event organised in conjunction with the ASEAN Entrepreneurship Summit attracted over 350 participants from local and international game industry.Michael Mumbauer from Sony Computer Entertainment America, Grayson Chalmers from Blizzard Entertainment, Wan Hazmer from Square Enix, and Tommy Palmer of Candy Crush fame were among few of the prominent speakers present at the event.
Level Up KL 2015 is part of the ongoing efforts led by MDEC to build a world class gaming ecosystem in Malaysia. According to the SEA Game Industry Initiative report 2015 by MDeC, Malaysia is one of the nations to collaboratively work towards a formal alliance called the ASEAN Game Network Connection, dedicated to move the South East Asia game industry landscape to the next level. MDec aims to provide a platform for the local game developers to showcase their work to more international buyers. With MDeC’s support and market access funding, local game developers will be able to bring their games to the global market once the production is completed.
“With initiatives like Level UP KL 2015, we aim to showcase the breadth of talent in Malaysia’s gaming industry. By providing access to a global network of mentors, subject matter experts and infrastructure driven by MDeC, Level Up KL 2015 was envisioned with MDeC‘s goal to position Malaysia as a game development hub in Asia,” said Dato’ Yasmin Mahmood, Chief Executive Officer, MDeC.
“Malaysia has a huge potential to be the game hub in South East Asia, with the majority of game companies (61%) involved in the industry being game developers. As South East Asia is an important region for export, games produced by game companies from within Malaysia would resonate well with other regions due its cultural and language familiarities.”, said Hasnul Hadi Samsudin, Director of Creative Multimedia Division at MDeC.
MDeC said it is committed to drive the games development industry in Malaysia. To establish Malaysia as Asia’s game hub, MDeC partnered with GameFounders in March 2015, the first gaming startup accelerator in Europe in order to bring a regional games accelerator to Malaysia.
“By tapping into GameFounders’ network of mentors, investors and strategic partners, we will raise the bar of the whole Malaysian game ecosystem, creating long-term jobs and boosting valuable skillsets for the country,” Dato’ Yasmin Mahmood added.
Gamefounders was present on the Demo Day of the Level UP KL 2015 event to share their industry knowledge and success stories. Among the successful participants of the acceleration programme include IMGNATION Studios from Brazil, a game start up that focuses on virtual reality that have already secured investment on their game.
“The South East Asian games industry is currently flourishing and projected to grow by 30% in the next five years (2015-2018), driven by the rapid rise in internet access and ownership. This tremendous expansion of the games market provides vast opportunities for everyone involved in the industry”, said GameFounders cofounder and chief executive officer Kadri Ugand.
“We are excited about our collaboration with MDeC. By combining our global network of mentors with the Malaysia’s local talents, we aim to push the industry growth to an exciting new level”, added Kadri Ugand.
