Hong Kong's electronic-games developers should strengthen their efforts to become more competitive by tapping into the global trend of outsourcing games' productions, the Hong Kong Productivity Council urged yesterday.

The council made the suggestion yesterday after completing a yearlong study on the game publishers, game developers and outsourcing companies of 46 companies located in the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan as well as countries including Canada,Iceland, Japan, United Kingdom and United States.

Most of these companies have been established for a short period of time. Companies had existed an average of 4.6 years in Hong Kong, 4.8 years on the mainland and 9.2 years in other regions.

The study found that the trend of outsourcing game production is growing among well-established companies.

Shanghai Multi-Media Industry Association Secretary General Ming Haoxia said the business of Shanghai companies getting outsourced games' productions increased by 60 percent between 2005 to 2007, when related business was worth between 320 million and 350 million yuan.

He added that about 8,000 employment opportunities were created by the outsourcing of game productions in 2007.

Canadian consultant Jean-Pierre Faucher said the game-production sector has created 11,000 jobs in Canada.

The value of the computer gaming industry reached $30 billion recently, and it is expected to reach $50 billion, said Alain Tascan, vice president and director general of Electronic Arts Montreal.

He expects that the value of the industry in Asia will increase from $8 billion to $14 billion during the same period of time.

Hong Kong Productivity Council Information Technology Development Principal Consultant Lawrence Cheung said companies are interested in outsourcing production to save money.

He estimated that the minimum cost of producing an electronic game will be around $1 million, and each project will last for more than a year.

"Companies are looking for ways to save money and produce faster. Outsourcing is one of the alternatives," he said. "In Canada, there are companies ranging from a few to more than 100 staff members that focus on outsourcing business. They learn the technique of producing an electronic game from the outsourcing business, and then they keep expanding."

Cheung said Hong Kong companies have outstanding management practices to attract overseas companies, and he added that Hong Kong companies should encourage creativity among staff and focus more on the pre-production planning stage.

"Focusing on good documentation in the pre-production stage will ensure effectiveness and efficiency," he said.

(HK Edition 10/07/2008 page2)