Online game publishers yesterday called on the government to include the sector in the “early harvest” list in a proposed trade pact with China to pave the way for launching games across the Strait.
As the population of online players rise, Taiwanese and Chinese game developers have been designing and launching a slew of games that cater to local tastes.
However, Taiwanese vendors hoping to tap into the Chinese market have to launch their games through a domestic distributor in China, and the approval process is “very complicated and takes up a lot of time,” said Albert Liu (劉柏園), CEO of Gamania Digital Entertainment Co (遊戲橘子).
China views online games as a “cultural production” and has set stringent approval criteria to evaluate publishing of such titles from foreign firms.
Gamania, International Games System Co (鈊象電子) and MacroWell OMG Digital Entertainment Co (茂為歐買尬數位科技) were among the key Taiwanese game publishers that were present at a cross-strait gaming forum yesterday to call for government support.
They said that Taiwanese firms would have better leverage if the sector could be included in the early harvest list of a proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China, which the Taiwanese government hopes to sign next month.
Sectors listed under the early harvest list will be the first to enjoy reduced or zero tariffs on exports and imports from both sides.
If the barriers to launch games are removed, more Taiwanese productions would be making forays into China, which could attract the interests of international companies in working with Taiwanese firms to explore the Chinese market, Liu said.
He said this represented a critical juncture in the development of Taiwan’s game publishing industry, and with the govenrment’s help, Taiwanese firms could remain competitive and seize a sizeable share of the Chinese gaming industry, whose market value is forecast to reach US$40 billion in 2012.
In response, Bureau of Foreign Trade deputy director-general Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) said Taiwan could not simply open the door for Chinese firms to publish games here without any constraints.
He said the government has been supportive of developing the gaming industry, but the proposed ECFA still involves long-term negotiations between the two sides and companies shouldn’t pin their hope on concrete results being achieved within a short period of time.
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