Indonesian society willingly spent up to USD 2 billion or around Rp 30 trillion just to play online games in 2021. Unfortunately, a staggering 99.5% of this total expenditure went directly abroad because the online games played were developed outside Indonesia.

"About 99.5% of Indonesians' spending on these games ends up outside the country," said Deputy Coordinator for Tourism and Creative Economy, Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Investment Coordination, Odo RM Manuhutu at Sasono Langen Budoyo, Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, East Jakarta, on Saturday (28/10/2023).

The government aims to have 70% of the money that went abroad return to the country, especially to support the development of locally made online game industries. "Currently, we want a reversal, where 70% of that amount can come back to Indonesia, especially in local games (domestically made) by 2024-2025," said Odo.

To achieve this goal, the government is currently accelerating the development of the domestic gaming ecosystem. One of the steps taken is to design a presidential regulation (Perpres) that will regulate various aspects, including the improvement of human resources quality, market access, hardware and software, as well as competition activities at the local and regional levels.

Odo mentioned that the Perpres would be issued soon. Given that the regulation has been designed since two years ago, it is now awaiting approval from President Joko Widodo. "We hope the Perpres will be issued this November, after two years of discussion, and now it's just waiting for the President's signature," said Odo.

Furthermore, Odo also noted that since 2022, the government has been training 3,000 local talents in game development. By 2024, it is expected that the number of trained local talents will increase to 9,000, with the ability to create games.

"Out of the 9,000, maybe only about 100 will actually create games, and out of those 100, only 2 will be really good, but that's enough," revealed Odo. Therefore, in the next two years, Odo is optimistic that 70% of the money spent by the Indonesian community on games can return to the country.

"The 70% target is expected to be achieved by 2024-2025. As a nation, we need to have ambition because without ambition, life cannot progress," Odo concluded.