As you might have heard or even experience it yourself, thousands of gamers made their way to PlayStation Experience 2017 South East Asia in KL Live last Saturday. It was certainly a major milestone not only for PlayStation’s presence in our market but also for the video games community since it is the first ever PSX to be held outside of the United States.
Given the pedigree of the event, one might wonder why Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) decided to organize the event on this side of the world instead of bigger markets such as Europe or Japan. As it turns out, the reason was due to market growth in South East Asia.
According to Arata Naito, the Head of Product Management for Sony Interactive Entertainment Singapore, one of the reasons SIE chose to organize PSX in this region was the fact that South East Asia is one of the fastest growing markets for PlayStation throughout the world.
One of the biggest contributors to the rapid growth in the region is none other than Malaysia. Furthermore, he also noted that Malaysia is no longer just the receiving end of the video game industry as there are growing number of talents in Malaysia that are involved in major game developments.
Local companies such as Lemon Sky, Passion Republic, and Streamline Studios have been involved with many AAA game titles including Bioshock Infinite, Bloodborne, Dark Souls III, Final Fantasy XV, Uncharted 4, and many more.
In a way, PlayStation Experience 2017 SEA is a testament to the strength of our market. Of course, this couldn’t be achieved without PlayStation having an official presence and support in Malaysia in the first place. It might be something that the two other console makers (ahem) would want to look at.
