Global South could shape future of gaming โ industry expert to RT โ RT Entertainment
The Global Southโs rich culture and history could help shape the future gaming industry, Indonesian gaming executive Ivan Chen has told RT.
The interactive media innovator is CEO and founder of Anantarupa Studios, a pioneering Indonesian developer established in 2011 and known for Lokapala, the countryโs first locally made eSports MOBA game.
Speaking on the sidelines of the โInventing the Future: Plots and Storiesโ forum at the National Center RUSSIA on Saturday, Chen said the West dominates gaming with capital and infrastructure but has largely โexhaustedโ its hero and plot resources, often repeating the same characters across products. Game studios in Asia, the Middle East, and South America, by contrast, hold vast untapped troves of myths and stories.
โOur history and culture is very rich. We have 1,300 ethnic groups โ so we have a lot of stories to begin with,โ he said, noting that Western firms increasingly draw on well-known Asian stories, but โwe still have a lot of stories that havenโt been told.โ
Chen acknowledged funding and infrastructure remain major hurdles for turning the Global Southโs cultural wealth into games but said collaboration with Western counterparts could bridge the gap.
โWe can meet in the middle. We have the stories, and the Western part of the world has the capital and frameworkโฆ We are going to just learn about how they do it and they will create a path for us to tell our story as well,โ he said, stressing, however, that respect for national cultural values in cooperation will be โnon-negotiable.โ
Speaking at a panel on stories in cinema and gaming, Chen said games let nations tell their stories, connect cultures, and drive social impact across other sectors. He predicted the video game market will keep expanding, having already outpaced the film industry fourfold over the past five years.
The โInventing the Future: Plots and Storiesโ forum is an initiative of the National Center RUSSIA and forms part of the II International Symposium โInventing the Future.โ The III symposium will take place in November 2026 and will focus on global cooperation in science, culture, and art.
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