Indonesia's Gim Market Reaches Rp34 Trillion, But Local Developers' Contribution is Still Minimal

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Creative Economy revealed that the contribution of the local game industry to the national economy is still relatively small even though Indonesia is one of the largest game markets in the world.

Director of the Ministry of Creative Economy's Game, Luat Sihombing, stated that research conducted by the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) and the Ministry of Communication and Digital revealed that the current market valuation of Indonesian games has reached more than 2 billion US dollars or around Rp. 34 trillion per year.

He added that around 0.17-0.34 percent of games from local indie developers compete in the national game market, and only 2.5 percent of the national market value is enjoyed by local developers.

"If we talk about market revenue, its value is currently more than 2 billion dollars in one year. But if we take local products, their contribution is around 0.17 to 0.34 percent of GDP," said Luat in a Media Briefing for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Industry and Coda on Thursday, June 25.

According to him, this figure shows the still large growth space that can be utilized by the domestic game industry, especially by strengthening the local developer ecosystem.

Meanwhile, the Deputy for Digital Creativity and Technology of the Ministry of Craft, Muhammad Neil El Himam, admitted that the government still faces challenges in calculating the economic contribution of digital products, including games, to national export value.

He explained that until now the export calculation method used is still more focused on physical goods that pass through ports or air cargo. As a result, digital product transactions have not been recorded optimally.

"Digital products like this game cannot be counted to the maximum. Because so far what has been recorded is goods that pass through the port or air cargo," he said.

To overcome this problem, the Ministry of Industry together with the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) and Bank Indonesia are exploring new mechanisms so that digital products can be included in the calculation of the national economy more accurately.

Neil assessed that this step was important so that the contribution of the gaming industry and other digital sectors to the Indonesian economy could be seen more clearly, as well as become the basis for the formulation of future digital economy development policies.