Nation Building

Launch of Zapp! E-Games Asia

Addressed by Tan Sri Lim at Limkokwing University, Cyberjaya
15 August 2005

May I begin by thanking the Minister for the constant support he has very kindly extended to this University and the Malaysia Design Innovation Centre. The Minister′s presence at this morning′s event will not only demonstrate Government support for this inaugural effort, but will give a much needed boost to an industry that is struggling to stand on its feet.

To me, this is most heartening as the digital content industry is one that we must succeed in building, because it is one industry we have the resources to succeed well in building.

Today′s forum is a historic first, bringing together for the first time the country′s best creative minds and pioneers of a new and challenging industry.

With this inaugural Zapp! festival in place, we look forward to building an international e–games hub in Cyberjaya. In longer terms, we aim to build a vibrant games content industry that will engage the best of creative minds not only from this country, but the world over.

In our game plan, today′s event is a curtain–raiser for the establishment of MESH, the acronym for Malaysian Electronic Sports Hub right here on this campus.

Come Friday, MESH will play host to some 300 Malaysian e–games participants and 120 international competitors, who will converge for the first ever Zapp! e–games Asia competition. We are confident MESH will grow to become an international interface centre for the best brains in e–games, either to face–off each other in competition or engage in friendly collaboration.

We also see this as the beginning of a vibrant games content creation centre, pooling together not only the most creative in the region, but the most imaginative in the world.

Electronic games may be virtual, but the business of e–games is very real. And it is pure logic that we must not be left out of this fast growing game. The global e–games market was placed at 114 billion ringgit last year, and is growing at a soaring pace.

In 2 years, it is expected to reach at least 200 billion ringgit. I think we are well placed to Zapp a slice of this pie.

The world′s largest and fastest growing e–games countries are all in Asia with the exception of the USA – South Korea, Taiwan, China and Japan. Asia Pacific is already the world′s largest wireless games market with more than 500 million subscribers! And China will be Asia′s biggest e–games country in 2 years overtaking South Korea.

Our share of the global market is now placed at 0.001%. The potential for growth is simply colossal.

We are almost ready to strike. We have the creative capacity; we have a Government who has created a raft of enabling drivers designed to ensure that we arrive at a vibrant content industry.

Most importantly we now have the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation as our striker. I am sure he will provide leadership where leadership is needed.

If anything is missing at all, it is perhaps the essential game plan that will enable us to move ahead all together without any loss of time, and without running out of resources. Going forward, we may have to rearrange a few blocks to ensure there are no stumbling blocks. What is true is that cyber cafes or internet cafes in this country do not enjoy much public support. In fact, they suffer from an acute image problem. Parents see them as places that are dark and undesirable. Many even find their existence questionable.

Perhaps a new generation of e–games or e–sports centres should be encouraged. These centres should be places where parents will be happy to bring their children to for a game or two together.

To be sure, there are many good reasons for playing the games. In essence, e–games are all about science, technology, creativity and innovation.

In advanced countries, e–games are increasingly looked upon as powerful tools for learning and training, from pre–school to tertiary education, and from military training to real–life research simulation.

From the boardroom to the battlefield, e–games are helping to mould a new generation of leaders. According to reports, surgeons who regularly play e–games are found to make 40% fewer mistakes and 30% more efficient than their non–game playing colleagues.

In these countries, e–games are often incorporated into e–learning as a trigger for creative thinking, and to cultivate team spirit as groups pit their creative skills against each other when they are actually seated a hundred miles apart.

In industry, e–games will be a major incentive for those armed with expertise in electronic design, digital construction and creative inclination, to move into content creation.

In lending support to capacity building, this university has recently introduced diploma courses in e–games design.

Next year, a degree programme will be introduced. I believe this will add much needed impetus to the development of an industry that hardly exists.

Soon enough, e–games will hit big time on the mobile phone which has built–in portable convenience. That will push further the boundaries of playing and learning anytime, anywhere.

It is predicted that the “e” for e–games will soon be “e” for everyone. It is estimated that there are over 1 billion e–games buffs in the world today, and counting.

Companies like Nokia will soon introduce online games to be played by groups of up to a hundred people. When that happens even extremely bored housewives need not be desperate anymore.

On that anticipative note, may I thank the Minister once again on everyone′s behalf for his kind presence and personally for the ready support that he has always given me.
May I now invite YB Dato′ Sri Dr Jamaludin Jarjis to deliver his keynote address.