Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), the nation’s lead digital economy agency under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia (K-KOMM) returns with Kre8tif! 2022 to empower the digital creative content industry, driving the growth of the nation’s digital economy.
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| (L-R) Ts. Mahadhir Aziz, CEO of MDEC; YBhg. Dato’ Sri Haji Mohammad Bin Mentek, Secretary General of Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia (in orange shirt); and YBrs. Puan Mastura Ahmad Mustafa, Deputy Secretary-General, Strategic Communication and Creative Industry, Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia, posing for a photo together with all the sponsors and partners of Kre8tif! 2022 |
The hybrid event features business matching, elevator pitches, workshops, award ceremonies, conferences, and exhibitions, taking place from 7 to 18 November in Cyberjaya. Since its establishment in 2009, Kre8tif! has served as the definite business networking platform to connect industry players from across Southeast Asia. The conference helps to set them on a path of opportunities, learning, production, and distribution.
Ts. Mahadhir Aziz, CEO of MDEC said, “It is imperative for the creative and animation industry to continue its momentum as the current global animation market size is estimated to be worth US$298.2 million this year and is forecasted to reach US$519.6 million by 2028. The industry has shown tremendous progress due to the growth of streaming platforms worldwide, bringing more opportunities for all studios.
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| (L-R) Gopi Ganesalingam, Senior Vice President of Ecosystem Development at MDEC; Mohan Low, Director of Digital Creative Content at MDEC; Ts. Mahadhir Aziz, CEO of MDEC; Hairulfaizalizwan Ahmad Sofian, CEO of Warnakala; and Raja Jastina Raja Arshad, Vice President of Content at Astro, posing together with Didi from Warnakala after the press conference at Kre8tif! 2022 |
“Cognisant of this trend, MDEC has identified this sector as one of the tech focus areas under the new national strategic initiative, Malaysia Digital, and will be rolling out a number of initiatives to catalyse its growth, with Kre8tif! being one of it.”
In conjunction with Kre8tif!, MDEC will be announcing the findings of the Southeast Asia (SEA) Digital Creative Content Industry Talent Research Report 2022. In supporting industry sustainability and innovation, MDEC interviewed talents from over 150 digital creative studios and institutions of higher learning across the region.
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| Ts. Mahadhir Aziz, CEO of MDEC and YBhg. Dato’ Sri Haji Mohammad Bin Mentek, Secretary General of Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia posing for a photo with Mina, Little Ammar, and Mila from Durioo at Kre8tif! 2022 |
According to the report, the diverse, smaller scale of profitable businesses across Southeast Asia presents a strategic opportunity for consolidation, mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships to grow collectively in the digital economy.
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| YBhg. Dato’ Sri Haji Mohammad Bin Mentek, Secretary General of Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia giving his welcome remarks at Kre8tif! 2022 |
Furthermore, competition for quality talent at all levels has grown and this is exacerbated by the macroeconomic impact of the global pandemic. Southeast Asian studios have projected demand for talent to grow at a +7.59 percent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for the next three years.
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| Ts. Mahadhir Aziz, CEO of MDEC, delivering his opening remarks at Kre8tif! 2022, the definitive business networking platform for the digital content industry in Malaysia and across Southeast Asia |
Director of Digital Creative Content, MDEC, Mohan Low said, “While there are large studios in Southeast Asia, most are small in scale with less than 50 employees working in a production role in the animation and game industry. We observe that there is a valuable opportunity for small studios to be primed for mergers or acquisitions as investors and publishers consolidate economic value and market share capture. Southeast Asia remains a hotbed of studio innovation, great talent pool and a maturing approach towards growth and expansion. Recent examples of such successful mergers and acquisitions include Lemon Sky Studios from Malaysia and Tahoe Games from Indonesia.”
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| Winners of SEA Kre8tif! Awards along with Ts. Mahadhir Aziz, CEO, MDEC (centre) |
In line with Malaysia’s national agenda to produce 200 original pieces of intellectual property (IP) by 2025, Kre8tif! is set to witness the release of several original IPs, namely Batik Girl The Movie by R&D Studios, Didi & Friends The Movie by Warnakala and a movie series for Mechamato by MONSTA. The latter two animation films were funded by MDEC’s Digital Content Grant which supports local creators in digital content IP development and facilitation.
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| Winners
of DigiCon6 ASIA Awards along with Ts. Mahadhir Aziz, CEO, MDEC
(centre) and Datuk Fadzli Abdul Wahit, Chief of Transformation Officer,
MDEC |
This year’s line-up of international industry icons and homegrown star speakers includes Dean Reinhard from EPIC Games, Paul Robinson from Genius Brands International, Lyon Liew from Pixar Animation Studios, Sinan Ismail from Durioo+ and many others.
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| Winners of The Digital Content Creators Challenge (DC3) along with Ts. Mahadhir Aziz, CEO, MDEC (centre) |
Buyers in attendance will include Arait Multimedia, Spin Master, Media Prima TV Networks, Primeworks Studios, Warner Bros Discovery, Inc, Tremendous, Muslim Kids TV, MoonBug Entertainment, MONSTA, Measat Broadcast Network System, Radio Televisyen Malaysia, C-Nuts Limited and others.
