The Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry is gearing up to support local game development through a progamme aimed at improving skills and game production capability to compete on the global level.
The "Thai Game Industry to Global" scheme is spearheaded by the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (Depa).
DES Minister Chaiwut Thana- kamanusorn said games are a fundamental part of digital content and an emerging industry.
"The gaming industry has the potential to shape the future of Thailand's digital economy," he said.
The country's digital content market was valued at 42 billion baht in 2021, said Mr Chaiwut.
The local gaming industry showed steady growth, tallying 37 billion baht in value.
New careers and opportunities have emerged in the post-pandemic period and people are scaling up their digital competence to be aligned with skills required for the new emerging careers.
Mr Chaiwut said the game market grew 35% during the pandemic, partly supported by new technologies, such as blockchain and the metaverse.
There are a lot of new careers in the digital content industry, including game developers, animators, character creators and e-sports developers.
Depa president and chief executive Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin said the programme is aimed at supporting Thai game developers and enabling them to hold talks with business partners through business matching and networking.
The scheme is divided into two major activities.
The first is called Game Online Academy in which participants will be able to upskill and reskill via an online platform that features a host of learning programmes, lasting more than 280 hours.
All courses are free with a wide range of lessons and content that are suitable for interested people and gaming enthusiasts across all demographics.
The academy has set a target to incubate and develop more than 50,000 discerning personnel for the gaming industry.
Meanwhile, the game accelerator programme intends to drive game developers to produce fascinating and captivating games that can compete on the global scale.
Participants in the accelerator programme are entitled to take part in a game development workshop, receiving training and advice from accredited experts in the industry.
In addition, they will have the opportunity to meet investors during a demo day and business matching event.
