Hong Kong electronic game companies must make better use of the growing global trend of outsourcing games production to enhance their competitiveness, according to a recently-completed 12-month study by the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) on the development of the electronic game industry in eight countries and regions.

A total of 46 game publishers, game developers and game outsourcing companies from Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, UK, US, Canada, and Iceland were interviewed on their business practices in the first international study of its kind. Dr Lawrence Cheung, Principal Consultant (IT Industry Development) of HKPC, said the study findings had significant bearing on the future development of the local electronic game industry.

"According to our study, outsourcing game development to external vendors has become a global trend. Companies in Hong Kong must actively fight for these business opportunities and learn on-the-job the best practices in game development of other companies," he said.

"The study also finds that pre-production is important as it sets up the direction and details for subsequent development stages of a game project. Hence, investing more time and presenting good documentation in this stage would ensure a more effective and efficient production in terms of time and cost."

Based on the study findings, HKPC would soon publish a guide on good business process practice for the sector, Dr Cheung added.

Sponsored by the HKSAR Government's Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, the study examined in detail the internal operations, organization, work models, corporate culture and human resource allocation of the global electronic game companies through a survey and focus group discussions. The workforce of the interviewed companies ranged from two to 2,000.

For enquiries about the Study, please contact Ms Jenny Lai at (852) 2788 5823 or email: jennylai@hkpc.org.