It has been announced that there will be a Digital Content Ecosystem (DICE) policy to drive Malaysia’s leadership in digital content production in the region. DICE seeks to drive quality and expansion of animation and production, applied creative and immersive technologies streams in Malaysia’s digital content ecosystem. Of course, the strategy is in harmony with other national policies that Malaysia is embarking on such as NFCP and 5G adoption.
That being said, here’s a detailed look at what DICE’s objectives are, along with the 4 key pillars it will focus on.
DICE’s objectives
• Attract anchor game and animation studios to bridge and accelerate expansion of the games and animation sector.
• Raise local industry capabilities. Stimulate local industry capabilities towards creating global IPs by growing local studios to develop world-class games, animation and digital content IP and services.
• Facilitate access to world-class technology, infrastructure and market distribution platforms to overcome challenges posed by costly toolsets and market environments.
• Develop a sustainable funding ecosystem. Aligning partners towards a sustainable digital content financing ecosystem by establishing co-production funds to seed IP development.
• Leverage esports as a catalyst to digital content growth, targeting youth and communities to participate in the digital content ecosystem
The 4 key pillars DICE will focus on:
• Strengthening human capital through skills, exposure and access to the digital content ecosystem;
• Strengthening the industry’s value chain through quality, competitive and world-class digital content;
• Drive the commercialisation of intellectual property (IP) to improve the quality and output of digital content;
• Drive the Nation’s ecosystem to global standards, making Malaysia as the regional hub for digital content production
As mentioned above, DICE will seek to drive growth of the digital content economy through its exports and talent development. MDEC will look at potential collaborations between public and private sector, government, industry and academia to further the Nation’s ambitions in this sector.
The strategy is anticipated to spur a competitive, commercially successful industry supported by a cohesive ecosystem of talent, business, government and legislation, providing opportunities for long-term ecosystem growth.
As digital content catalyse the use of both technical and technological skills combined with art, creativity and design thinking, the uplift of digital content can be used as a leading policy initiative with spillover impact into other sectors of the economy.
It looks like exciting times are ahead, a period that could define Malaysia’s standing in the world of tomorrow.
