LOCAL computer game companies will now find it easier to spread their wings across Asia, thanks to a new agreement inked between Singapore and the region's leading computer game associations.

The pact signed yesterday between 10 of Asia's national game bodies, including a Singapore group called the Games Exchange Alliance (GXA), aims to promote greater regional collaboration between game-related businesses and pave the way for them to expand beyond their domestic strongholds.

The Australia Games Developers Association, Taipei Computer Association, Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Association and Japan Online Games Association are among the groups that are supporting this pan-Asian effort.

Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, said that 'in this way, we hope to provide games service providers, publishers, content developers and solution providers market access' to over 13 key Asian markets, including China, India, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.

He was speaking at the opening ceremony of Games Convention Asia, a four-day conference and exhibition showcasing the latest offerings from the computer game sector.

'The games industry has grown significantly over the past few years, with the global industry estimated to be worth US$48.9 billion,' said Dr Balakrishnan, who is also Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts.

'This growth is also evident in Asia-Pacific itself, which contributes almost 40 per cent to this figure.'

The GXA was formed by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) in 2004 in early recognition of the computer game sector's economic potential.

It aims to attract foreign companies to use Singapore as the base for publishing their online games by giving them easy access to local partners like data centre operators, Internet service providers, and system integrators.

Last year, the government unveiled a $500 million plan to grow the interactive and digital media industry here.

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