[October 22, 2006] Developing creative content for global market Tweet (New Straits Times Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) THIS is the second of a series of six articles in conjunction with the Multimedia Development Corporation's (MDeC) 10th anniversary this year. Today's focus is on the creative multimedia industry and shared services outsourcing. DEBORAH LOH writes. Have you ever thought of the traditional wayang kulit performance as being Malaysia's original form of anime? It uses light to project shadows of moving images on a screen and is accompanied by the storyteller's voice and music from the gamelan troupe. It's anime at its simplest! What a long way Malaysia has come. Today, in the digital age, there are more than 1500 Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Malaysia status companies in the creative multimedia industry, providing services and content for global clients. Some of these companies are commissioned by Sony and Nintendo to create games. One local company is involved in the production of Hollywood films, while others are developing Saladin, an animation series on the life of the Muslim Crusades' warrior for the global TV market. There is growing demand for creative multimedia content as technologies are converging and interfacing (such as mobile phones with computers), and as advertisers look for space in new multimedia platforms. The global market value of the creative multimedia/content industry is said to be US$644 billion (RM2.3 trillion). Under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the government has budgeted RM150 million for the industry's development. MDeC, through the MSC Malaysia, aims to be a catalyst for developing this industry in which the key growth areas are expected to be games, 2D and 3D animation, visualisation and documentaries. It has established the Creative Multimedia Cluster (CMC), a unit tasked with attracting world-class content developers and broadcasters to set up shop in MSC Malaysia and facilitate their ventures here. Within the Creative Multimedia Content Initiative, (CMC-I), MDeC has set up a world class facility, the Creative Applications and Development Centre (CADC). Along with its multimedia lab, it aims to make MSC Malaysia a hub for content creation and research and development in creative multimedia. To spur the growth of the industry, MDeC this year launched competitions for content creators with the MSC Malaysia Animation Pitch 2006 and the MSC Malaysia Computer Game Design Competition 2006. Participants submit their proposals and the best ideas win a RM50,000 grant to develop their ideas into fully-playable electronic games or anime productions. An upcoming competition on digital comics/mobile content will be held soon. Malaysia's capabilities in anime design and game creation have caught the attention of the UK-based Codemasters International - Europe's largest independent developer of video games. In a joint venture with local company Vision New Media Sdn Bhd, it launched Codemasters Studios Sdn Bhd in September to create video games for the global market, including for Sony's PlayStation3. By year's end, it would have created 100 local jobs. Developing the creative multimedia and content industry is a new form of wealth creation; shared services and outsourcing (SSO) is another. SSO is the relocation of part of a company's operations to another country where the cost of doing business is lower. However, there is more than just low costs in Malaysia's favour as an SSO destination. For the SSO industry, MSC Malaysia has the "Best of All Worlds". AT Kearney in its 2004 Offshore Location Attractiveness Index placed Malaysia top three in the world, which includes India and China, for its political and economic stability and quality labour force and cost competitive environment. Malaysia has also recently launched a new initiative called Outsourcing Malaysia to promote the country as an SSO destination. ICT investors and foreign players say they are impressed with the government's commitment towards developing the SSO industry. Copyright 2006 The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad. Source: Financial Times Information Limited - Asia Intelligence Wire. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]