CCCI to develop animation, gaming industries in Cebu with ACPI, GDAP

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY – The Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), Animation Council of the Philippines Inc. (ACPI) and Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP) want to develop the creative entertainment sector in Cebu with the virtual signing on October 5 of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) during the Cebu Creative Entertainment Week (CEW) Animation Day.

 

The agreement intends to formalize the collaboration of CCCI and ACPI to develop the Creative Entertainment industry here, specifically Animation where experts said is headed for a bright future.  Both organizations aim to help Cebu contribute 10 percent to the country’s Creative Entertainment Industry, initially targeting around P500-million for Cebu alone.

 “We hope that the partnerships we have will open countless opportunities for our creatives in making Cebu a creative entertainment hub in the country,” CCCI president Felix Taguiam said.

Taguiam said that the Cebu Chamber will conduct activities that promote the creative entertainment sector as well as create an ecosystem to promote and support the creatives.  It will also help promote Cebu and the Philippines as a premier site for the development, sale, and distribution of animation products in Asia.

ACPI to coordinate with CCCI in providing training and upskilling opportunities to artists, animators and other relevant talents in the animation sector and the council will also facilitate connecting Cebuano players to the International Animation Industry Development Pipeline and assisting in the set up and organization of trade missions.

Brian Rausch, chief executive officer and founder of House Moves noted that there’s a need for a Hollywood level Motion Capture and Virtual Production in Asia.  He said that the House of Moves wants to bring this technology to the Philippines and that he would like to set up a Motion Capture facility in Cebu.

Rausch noted that the Philippines has the creative talent to get this done, adding that the country must grab this opportunity to have this technology brought here. Otherwise, the country will ‘miss the boat.’

Rausch started in Sony, working on several PlayStation2 games such a God of War and SOCOM. The House of Moves is one of the world’s leading Motion Capture and Virtual Production studios, which has done several AAA game titles and Hollywood Blockbusters. Works include Resident Evil 7, Titanic, Marvel's Ant Man, Spiderman: Far from Home, and others.

"The talent and skills that are already in Cebu makes it ready for the next step", noted Marla Rausch, Chief Executive Officer and President of Animation Vertigo.

Established over 10 years ago, Animation Vertigo is a leader in motion capture tracking, editing and animation outsourcing. It provides high quality motion capture data to some of the biggest publishers, developers and animation companies in North America and in Europe.

“It might be baby steps for you, but technology is fast, and we all have to use it. I think this is something that is needed, necessary because we don’t want to be left behind,” Rausch said during the Animation Forum and she stressed that Cebu needs to act now to be able to access the animation market.

“The last thing that we need right now after the devastating pandemic, is to have ourselves hiding behind the door and trying to break down that door. The pandemic brings one big thing. And that is we are all on equal footing. Everybody is trying to get back on its feet. So, let’s not wait,” Rausch added.

However, she noted that it would take people working together to be able to achieve this. It takes studios; it takes students, professionals so we can come together and create this creative hub in the Philippines, Rausch said.

Nestor Palabrica, vice president of Toei Animation Philippines Inc. on the other hand said that his company is considering Cebu as a site for expansion for operation and production.  “We have plans to expand outside of Manila. If that will be materialized, we cannot think of any other place than Cebu, Cebu is teeming with talents,” he added.

Palabrica also talked about how Toei Philippines started as a joint venture between construction company Engineering Equipment Inc. and Toei Animation Co. Ltd of Japan and eventually became the latter’s wholly-owned subsidiary. It is now doing 70 to 80 percent of Toei’s production work.

He explained that local animation companies could also partner with Japanese firms if they find the right partner.  Aside from having passionate people, it’s also important that you can find the right partner.

“I know there are many Japanese studios who would like to have partnership with local studios here. What they just want to be assured of is that their partner would have the quality they require and can perform at the level they expect from us,” Palabrica said,

According to Juan Miguel Del Rosario, President of ACPI and Toon City (Morph Animation Inc.), that the potential of Filipinos as far as the creative industry is concerned is embedded in its DNA to produce world-class artistry.

“I’m very, very proud of that. We at ACPI, are advocating countryside development of animation studios. We want studios to go outside of Manila because we want to say that Manila does not have the monopoly of artistic capability,” Del Rosario pointed out.

He disclosed that Japan is waiting for the Philippines. There has been a study made by them about the potential of the Philippines working for Japanese anime. And there’s none of that in Manila, except for TOEI Philippines.  “Let’s make Cebu the anime capital of Asia,” del Rosario added.

Meanwhile, James Lo, President of Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP), agreed that there’s potential in Cebu and they are here to collaborate with different game developers in Cebu.

Lo also noted that world-class video games are being made in the Philippines. Top level video games such as Gears of War and other AAA titles have their art assets and backgrounds done in the Philippines, he explained.

GDAP also showed that original world class video games are also being developed in the Philippines, several of which are being produced by their members, such as Ranida Games, YangYang Mobile, and Taktyl Studios. These original games have received millions of downloads and fans from across the Philippines and the world.

“GDAP, through its members, can provide mentorship and the association also offers training as well as participation in trade fairs.  We are here to promote companies in Cebu by bringing them to industry events,” Lo said.

Lo bared that the global game development industry generated $174.9 billion in 2020.  Of this amount, $74.8 billion is from Asia Pacific while only $572 million came from the Philippines, representing 0.33 percent of the global market, he added. 

“The industry is here. The opportunity is here. All we have to do is to capitalize on it,” Lo pointed out.

CCCI vice president for Cebu Business Mobilization agreed that it is high time for Cebuano animators to have a safe share in the global market.  “We seek to build not just an ecosystem for our local talents in Cebu, but also to bring about mechanisms in shaping a feasible creative media fund for them to kick-start productions,” he said.

The chamber will facilitate the growth of the Creative Entertainment Industry with video games as an important sector in order to make Cebu a major hub for the video game industry and its allied fields.

It will cover the areas of the Game Development, E-sports Competition, Video Game Service Work, and Video Games IP Development.  GDAP committed to provide training artists, programmers, technicians, and software developers in the video game sector, and setup proper game development learning resources in Cebu.

CCCI initiated various forums on the creative entertainment sector as part of the Cebu Creative Entertainment Week (CEW), an activity of the 2021 Cebu Business Month (CBM) that is an annual activity of CCCI. (Photos: CBM/Robby Alugar)