RM92.5 billion in revenue, RM12.1 billion in experts, RM85.7 billion in investments attracted and 11,000 high-value jobs created. These are the numbers generated by Malaysia’s digital creative industry to date.
The Digital Ministry has attributed these impressive numbers to strategic development in high growth segments of digital content, with a focus in animation and digital games. The ministry has also pointed out that collaborations with global players in the industry has led to stronger talent pipelines, strengthened production capabilities and even accelerated development of original intellectual property.
Any Malaysian who had visited the cinemas in the last couple of months would have seen trailers of homegrown animated movies or at least the animated safety briefing that is often played before a movie.
While the country has seen rising growth in the animation sector, similar results are not reflected in the gaming sector.
“For art roles, we see healthy applicant numbers and strong portfolios. For technical roles however, especially gameplay engineers, tools engineers and rendering specialists, the candidate pool is much smaller, and far fewer are immediately production-ready,” says Hasnul Hadi Samsudin, Head of Sony Interactive Entertainment PlayStation Studios Malaysia.
The lack of talent to fill in roles has put a limit to how much core systems work can be owned locally, resulting in longer ramp-up times or reliance on external support.
He adds on by saying that this is not a question of capability, rather a question of exposure and repetition. “You only become good at large-scale systems by working on large-scale systems repeatedly, and Malaysia is still building that experience base.”
What are some of the hardest roles to fill? Hasnul says that roles that stay open for long are those open for gameplay engineers, rendering engineers, tools and pipeline engineers, and specialised technical artists.
“Most gaps stem from limited exposure to AAA (Triple-A games) realities, optimisation, performance trade-offs, debugging at scale, and working within massive, shared codebases.
“Another common issue is over-generalisation. AAA development rewards depth, not trying to do everything. These gaps are normal for a growing industry and not a reflection of talent industry,” he tells Disruptr.
Talent shortages however can lead to bigger challenges. They introduce friction and risk. According to Hasnul, limited engineering depth slows decision-making and increases rework. Gaps in live-ops also reduce responsiveness and experimentation while weak technical direction compounds inefficiencies over time.
Echoing similar sentiments, Kaveh Wong, Founder of Curine Ventures and Co-Founder of Xsolla Curine Academy says Malaysia has a visible gap in core technical roles compared with more established global game-dev hubs such as the US, Canada, Japan and South Korea.
The shortage in technical-talent in return directly limits the ability to own and scale original IP. Without enough gameplay programmers, systems engineers and backend developers, studios struggle to build and maintain the core technology that underpins successful games.
“This makes it harder to sustain long development cycles, iterate after launch, and operate live-service products profitably over time,” Wong says.
Additionally, he points out that the lack of technical depth has pushed many studios toward outsourcing and service-based work, which delivers steady revenue but thinner margins and limited upside.
Original IP, by contrast, requires strong engineering ownership to manage engines, monetisation systems and live operations. These are areas where value compounds over years rather than months.
This would also challenge scaling at a global level where studios will not be able to demonstrate consistent execution capacity.
“In short, without closing the technical-talent gap, Malaysia risks remaining a trusted production partner rather than evolving into a globally competitive creator and owner of digital IP,” Wong tells Disruptr.
Malaysia is not far, but it is uneven
Hasnul calls for the need to move from syllabus-driven training to studio-driven training. Technical capabilities, he says, require longer-form projects, real constraints, mentorship from people who have shipped, and evaluation based on problem-solving rather than output alone.
“Fundamentals matter most. Problem-solving, systems thinking, communication and the ability to explain why something works are prioritised over familiarity with specific tools or engines. Short programmes can spark interest, but deep technical skills take time and repetition,” Hasnul says.
So what does a fully balanced studio talent mix actually look like?
“A balanced studio has strong engineering depth, specialised technical artists, experienced technical leadership, UX and user research capabilities and live-ops support.
“Malaysia is not far, but it is uneven. Visual talent is strong. The biggest gap remains senior technical and systems leadership, which takes time to build,” Hasnul says.
What can we expect in the months to come
On a more positive outlook, Wong shares that Malaysia’s creative-tech landscape is likely to look more diversified and strategically poised for global impact, driven by several key developments.
Initiatives like the US$100 million China-Malaysia Gaming and Digital Content Fund will help shift the ecosystem from service-based work towards original IP creation. With capital aimed specifically at studios and creative ventures, there will be more breathing room to take risks on longer development cycles and scalable products.
Locally, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation has been putting lot of effort promoting Malaysia on an international basis as well as supporting local startups in all areas of the digital ecosystem. We definitely need continuous government support to ensure strong vibrancy in this eco system.
He is also hopeful that with national competitions and industry-linked training including Malaysia’s emerging IP-creation competition will help identify and develop creative and technical talent earlier and more systematically.
Other areas that will help lead the way would be new global partnerships, creative-tech being positioned as an export pillar and higher ecosystem-wide professionalism and standards.
On a longer-term vision, Wong hopes for more effort to create capital structures that support multi-year IP development and technical hiring, with milestone-based funding tied to shipping capability, not just pitch decks.
He further stressed the need to move national KPIs from “number of programmes and MoUs” to metrics like production-ready engineers produced per year, time-to-productivity, and retention after 6-12 months.
How does Xsolla Curine Academy hope to resolve these challenges?
Xsolla Curine Academy designs its curriculum by working backwards from real studio
roles, rather than starting from academic subjects. They begin by identifying what studios
actually need — specific roles such as gameplay programmers, technical artists,
backend or live-ops support — and then structure training around those requirements.
The curriculum is project-based and studio-aligned, with students working in team
environments that mirror real pipelines: production planning, iteration, version control,
debugging, and delivery under time constraints. Tools and engines used are current
industry standards, and feedback loops are continuous rather than end-of-term.
Internships are not treated as a separate outcome at the end of the programme.
They are designed into the curriculum from the start, with industry partners involved early
so expectations, skill levels, and readiness are aligned well before placement. This
approach reduces mismatch, shortens onboarding time, and allows internships to
function as a natural extension of training rather than a standalone requirement. XCA
keeps close ties with HR and technical leads to ensure what we do are align with industry
standards.