Comparing the Indonesian Game Industry Today with 10 Years Ago

This year marks the start of a new decade that is likely to bring about more major evolutions. This includes the gaming industry, where if you compare the games that came out in 2010 and 2020, for example, there will be quite a significant difference from the gaming experience to the quality of the graphics on offer. Moments like now also raise our curiosity about how the Indonesian game industry actually stands from the current era to 10 years ago.

The short answer is getting advanced and easy to accept. These two points cover two aspects of the position of the gaming industry in Indonesia as well as people’s views of it. Now let’s start from the progress aspect, and for this one it is more related to the Indie game scene in Indonesia. Actually, not a few local developers have made games since the 2000s, but it wasn’t until the last few years after the 2010s that Indonesian game names started to get more attention at the international level.

We think some of you already know that the early game that started getting extra attention was DreadOut. This horror game by developer Digital Happiness at that time received unexpected extra attention. This is especially after some popular Content Creators like PewDiePie started playing the game in full series on his YouTube channel. Thanks to effective promotions, the name DreadOut has become widely known and brought great success to Digital Happiness, where this series has even been made into a horror film adaptation as well.

However, the challenge of concocting a game like this is not easy, because the DreadOut project can be realized thanks to the support of funds that have been collected from Indiegogo. Rachmad Imron as an official at Digital Happiness admitted that they really need financial support because the game industry in Indonesia is still small and focuses more on social or mobile games.

A similar fact is still true today, where the game industry in Indonesia is still relatively small and still far from being dominated by mobile games. But one of the biggest differences is how there are now many developers who are starting to dare to show off their skills and develop quality Indie games. As you can read in the article that we have summarized HERE, for 2021 alone there are already lots of quality indie games from local developers that look promising.

There are also some games that get high reception in the international realm, for example, like Coffee Talk from Toge Productions which has won various awards and was nominated for the DICE Awards. This also has not been calculated from the quality of the game which is built solidly and invites a lot of praise from critics to gamers. Apart from Coffee Talk, there are many other local games that have brought their own breakthrough, both in terms of the quality offered, the achievements achieved, to how they can market their games effectively and get support from well-known publishers.

Moving on to the next aspect that relates to how the game industry is more accepted in Indonesia. For this one, we think everyone has a different perception, but for us this is more about the views of ordinary people, especially the elderly, on the video game itself. Of course there are still many parents who are annoyed when their children play games too much, but not a few also see it as a good means of entertainment and can even lift their child’s career. We have seen it clearly from the many successful figures who initially took up a career in the gaming world, whether it was creating a YouTube channel to become a Content Creator/Livestreamer or an Esports player.

The negative stigma against it has begun to fade and shows that video games are not just about entertainment. The position of the gaming industry, especially in the field of Esports, has also received extraordinary attention. For example, when Mobile Legends was booming and even held a big tournament attended by big names from the government.

In essence, the point that we are trying to convey is an overview of how the Indonesian game industry has undergone quite drastic changes over the past decade. Whether it’s from the increasingly advanced Indie game scene, to the position of the game industry in the Esports field that has received high recognition. From here it will be very interesting of course to see how the position of this industry in the next 10 years. We hope that there will be developers who can mix games with quality that has touched the AAA standard.

Be sure to stay up to date with other game news on Gamerwk.