The Philippines is looking at getting a piece of the billion dollar game development industry as it participates for the first time at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.

According to the DTI, the country’s share in the global game market is projected to reach more than $7 million by the end of 2010. This signifies a 30-percent growth from 2009.

Last year, local game development companies saw the boom for games developed for iPhone and leading consoles and gaming platforms. To cope with the increase in demand for game development and game development services, local companies are expanding and hiring more employees.

There are now over 30 game development and game development services companies in the Philippines, employing more than 600 full time employees, mostly programmers and artists.

DTI noted that the Philippines, with significantly lower cost compared to US and Japan, became the favorite outsourcing hub of most game publishers.

Most game development projects outsourced in the country are end-to-end game development projects, concept art design, character generation and design, in-game animation, game testing and quality control, and game community support.

Local companies are also looking forward to an increase in demand for development of virtual worlds, social networking functionality, and massive multiplayer games. Read more...

By Ma. Elisa P. Osorio (www.philstar.com)