M’sia to be world player in multimedia industry

CANNES: Malaysia plans to develop further its creative multimedia industry which now generates an annual revenue of over US$200mil.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the industry also created over 7,000 high-value-added creative jobs.

He said, to date, the MSC Malaysia creative multimedia content industry comprised about 200 companies that were mainly involved in post-production, animation, game development, e-learning as well as mobile and interactive content.

“We want to catalyse this industry to attain global recognition,” he said at the MIPCOM 2009 exhibition – the world’s audiovisual content market – here Monday.

Najib took a break from his working trip in Paris to fly here and give support to Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Malaysia companies taking part in the five-day event.

He spoke of Malaysia’s growing enthusiasm to become a major player in the media entertainment industry in response to the high-level of demand from the creative multimedia market.

“We believe that Malaysia can be a meaningful and substantive contributor via creating impactful contents for the world,” he said.

Najib said the Government intended to capture the industry’s economic benefits by tapping the large reserves of creative and innovative capabilities of Malaysians.

“The industry’s growth potential is virtually limitless in this digital age,” he noted.

He also touched on the funding for co-production opportunities for animation, games and visual effects development and the e-Content fund for the development of Malaysian IP creation.

“The MSC could finance, develop and produce almost 100 creative projects over the next five to 10 years, creating over 10,000 jobs,” he said, extending his invitation to industry players to look at what Malaysia has to offer.

In fact, firms from MSC Malaysia, with the assistance from Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC), were accelerating development and production deals in North America and Europe.

The first deal would kick off with a production called War of the Worlds: Goliath, a science fiction film set in the 19th century.

Najib, however, said the rise of mobility and the Internet, the downward spiral of DVD revenue and the advent of the global financial crisis had all seemingly created a perfect storm that hit the content industry.

“But all these setbacks should not deter us from exploring fresh opportunities, especially in new areas of the industry.

“After all, if necessity is the mother of invention, perhaps crisis is the mother of innovation,” he added.