How to Make Video Games in Vietnam: Ultimate Guide 2024

Low-cost labour and a brief but productive history of making video games in Vietnam has seen the Southeast Asian nation becoming increasingly prominent as a key video gaming making hub.

Making video games in Vietnam for foreign firms and brands, however, is not always easy. From finding the right human resources to finding the right location to ensuring a firm’s intellectual property is protected, there are a myriad of considerations that need to be made.

Understanding the nuances of making video games in Vietnam, including the country’s unique business environment and business practices, can be key to ensuring a high-quality product is delivered on time. With this in mind, this article runs through the key details foreign video game makers looking to do business in Vietnam should know.

Outsourcing video game production in Vietnam

A common means of making video games in Vietnam is through business processing outsourcing–or BPO providers. BPO firms are common in Vietnam and will provide work on a contract basis negotiated ahead of time. Firms can engage BPO services sight unseen, however, for firms that would prefer to meet their contractors in person, there are a few things they should know.

Video game studio visits in Vietnam

Most Vietnamese video game studios will have worked with foreign firms before and likely will not expect any special treatment. That said, there are a few little Vietnam-specific, cultural nuances that can help to build and strengthen relationships. 

The value of connections in Vietnam

Cold-calling Vietnamese businesses is unlikely to yield results. In fact, it’s quite common for phones to go unanswered and for Vietnamese businesses not to respond to emails. Instead, business in Vietnam is generally done through connections. This can be both good and bad. On the one hand, working local connections can result in better deals. On the other, it can result in good developers not being considered because they simply don’t know the right people.

Getting around Vietnam

A solid number of video game makers in Vietnam are located in Vietnam’s biggest cities. Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, for the most part. That said, the central Vietnam city of Danang has also had some success attracting foreign video game makers. Notably, France’s Ubisoft has the bulk of its operations located in the coastal city. These three locations are all relatively easy to access and move between with each having its own international airport.

How to find a video game studio in Vietnam

Business matchmaking services are platforms that connect businesses with potential partners, customers, or investors. These services often specialise in specific industries or regions, allowing businesses to find the most relevant connections. Matchmaking services can be particularly valuable for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that may lack the resources or networks to find suitable partners on their own.

By leveraging matchmaking services, businesses can expand their networks, discover new opportunities, and potentially form strategic alliances. These services can also help businesses to enter new markets, find suppliers or distributors, and secure funding. Matchmaking events, such as trade shows and conferences, are often organised by matchmaking services to facilitate face-to-face interactions between businesses.

Opening a video games studio in Vietnam

Video game studios in Vietnam with foreign ownership are generally established as a limited liability company either as a wholly owned foreign enterprise or a joint venture with a Vietnamese partner. This article provides a broad overview of establishment procedures with a more thorough, detailed technical guide available here: How to Form a Company in Vietnam: Technical Guide 2024

Wholly foreign-owned businesses in Vietnam

A wholly foreign-owned video game studio in Vietnam allows a foreign investor complete control over a company’s operations. It is, however, generally more costly and time-consuming.

Specifically, before they can apply to register a business, foreign entrepreneurs who want to set up a wholly foreign-owned company will need to first apply for an Investment Registration Certificate (IRC) which they do not have to do with a local partner.

An IRC is basically required to ensure that foreign firms are not starting a business in restricted or forbidden business lines.

The conditions for approving an IRC are outlined in the Law on Investment which also states that IRCs should be issued in between 5 to 15 days. In reality, however, it is usually around 30 to 45 days.

Joint venture businesses in Vietnam

With a local partner foreign business persons do not need to file for an Investment Registration Certificate, but rather the Vietnamese partner establishes the company and the foreign investor buys a share. In this sense, working with a local partner can considerably reduce setup costs and application processing times. 

Joint ventures, however, can be risky. A mismatch in work ethics and management styles can cause conflict in the workplace, particularly in cross-cultural settings. For example, whereas in Vietnam it is common to financially penalise staff for arriving late or for using their phone during work hours, in Western countries, this would be unacceptable. Understanding these little nuances of cross-cultural communication, in a joint venture environment, may be crucial to a business’s success.

Visas for foreign video game studio proprietors in Vietnam

Foreign business persons who establish a video game studio in Vietnam are likely to qualify for an investor visa. The length and cost of an investor visa will depend on the value of the investment. There are four categories of investor visas. They are:

Vietnam investor visas

Investor visas in Vietnam are known as DT visas (DT stands for đầu tư which translates to investor). There are four types of investor visas which vary in length depending on the value of the investment.

Investor visas in Vietnam 2023

Source: Vietnam Visas for Doing Business in Vietnam: Quick Read 2024 

Choosing a location for a video game studio in Vietnam

Choosing the right location for a video game studio can be the difference between success and failure. Firms and individuals looking to establish a video game studio in Vietnam should consider a number of factors.

Labour availability

Video game studios generally require large numbers of trained game developers. This can limit the options available in terms of location for foreign game developers. Notably the biggest and most well-known universities are in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. As a result, these two cities command large populations of young coders and graphic designers. That said, Danang has also invested heavily in tech skills though its population on the whole is much smaller at just a few million people as opposed to around 9 million in HCMC and Hanoi.

Commercial real estate rents in Vietnam

Rental costs can be a significant factor in choosing the right location and these will depend on a broad range of factors, however, the following ballpark figures for Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City may be useful as a rough guide as to what to expect.

Average rent, ground/first floor, per-square-metre

Source: CBRE Market Report

Commercial leases in Vietnam

The Law on Real Estate Businesses 2014 regulates leases broadly and this includes commercial leases. A typical lease agreement in Vietnam will have several key features:

• The length of the lease: In Vietnam a commercial lease typically runs for about five years;
• The payment terms: How often rent payments will be made and how. Typically, rent payments are made quarterly, however, they can also sometimes be monthly, every six months, or yearly; and
• The division of responsibilities: who is responsible for what and when between the landlord and the tenant.

These are just the broad strokes but are also the most pivotal components of the agreement. Other aspects of the agreement can generally be negotiated between the landlord and the tenant without too much direction from the Law on Real Estate Businesses.

Video game developer wages in Vietnam

Game developers in Vietnam are generally paid much more than the average worker. Whereas the average wage in Vietnam is around VND 7,500,000 or US$296.62, the employment services website Indeed has the average salary of a game developer in Vietnam at an estimated VND 18.7 million or US$758 per month. That said, Indeed’s information is drawn from a relatively small pool–just three reported salaries.

Employee entitlements and benefits in Vietnam

A standard work week in Vietnam is 48 hours. An employee can work up to 40 hours of overtime in a month not exceeding 200 hours of overtime in a year. There is, however, an exception for some workers in fields like manufacturing whereby they can work up to 300 hours of overtime in one year.

Workers in Vietnam are entitled to 12 days of annual leave a year. There are also six public holidays in Vietnam that vary in length but all up give workers an additional 11 days off. 

Employees in Vietnam are also entitled to social and unemployment insurance. Employers generally need to contribute the equivalent of 21.5 percent of a local employee’s wage to these two social safety nets whereas employees contribute 10.5 per cent. For foreign employees, it is only 20.5 percent and 9.5 percent.

See also: Vietnam’s Labour Law for Foreign Firms in 2024: Quick Read  

Intellectual property protection in Vietnam

Intellectual property protection can be an issue in Vietnam. Knock-off video games often originate from Vietnam where intellectual property laws are not always enforced.

Notably, Vietnam is a signatory to most of the world’s biggest intellectual property agreements, including the Berne Convention on copyright, the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the Madrid Protocol, and the Paris Convention. However, numerous problems exist in enforcing these agreements.

There have also been extensive efforts to crack down on intellectual property infringements in the media field, however, often when one outfit is dismantled another quickly pops up to take its place. As a result, Vietnam basically has a permanent position on the US Trade Representative’s Special 301 Report watchlist which monitors intellectual property protections around the world.

All of that said, a lot of this is part and parcel with doing business in an emerging economy. With this in mind, the risk is not really much worse than in other parts of the world competing for video game-producing business.

It’s also worth mentioning that local firms dealing with foreign brands tend to be mindful of how the misuse of intellectual property can damage their reputation and tend to steer clear.

Regulations for video games in Vietnam

The Personal Data Protection Decree outlines how data collected by digital service providers should be stored and can be used as well as the rights that consumers have to access their personal data and the right to have their data destroyed on request. 

Data localisation is detailed in the Law on Cybersecurity. This law essentially outlines a firm’s obligations with respect to protecting a user’s information. In particular, for foreign firms, it dictates that Vietnamese user data should be stored in Vietnam.

Furthermore, the law also states, in a supporting Decree, that cross-border service providers must establish a local office in Vietnam.

On top of that, video games in Vietnam are also regulated by the Ministry of Information and Communications per Decree 72. This is with respect to the content contained therein, for example, games set in the Vietnam War must follow the Government of Vietnam’s official narrative about the war.

What’s next?

Making video games in Vietnam for foreign firms and brands is not always easy. From finding the right human resources to finding the right location to ensuring a firm’s intellectual property is protected, there are a myriad of considerations that need to be made.

Understanding the nuances of making video games in Vietnam, including the country’s unique business environment and business practices, can be key to ensuring a high-quality product is delivered on time. 

That said, Vietnam’s business environment can change quickly and with this in mind, to keep abreast of what’s happening in Vietnam’s video games industry, foreign video game makers should make sure to subscribe to the-shiv.