As you may have heard, a number of game industry luminaries said their piece about gun violence and games with facts and the upside of the hobby. Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)’s VP of Creative Content & Technologies Hasnul Hadi Samsudin also has a bit to say concerning the recent words from US President Donald Trump blaming video games for violence.

Hasnul told Kakuchopurei.com that while some people are in support of video games doing more good and have nothing to do with real-life violence, there are many within the public who do not.

“It is [MDEC’s] job, as people who know, to be able to communicate with the people who don’t know that this doesn’t happen within the games industry. We’re not promoting people going out to Walmarts killing people. That’s not what you will get from video games. “

(L-R): MDEC Head of Interactive Media Mohan Low, MDEC VP of Creative Content & Technologies Hasnul Hadi Samsudin, and MDEC’s Lead of Programs & Platforms Xiao Wee.

Hasnul also referred to the Vox article stats depicting video game reach in countries and gun violence. “There are already stats stating these countries with high markets for games like China and Korea, and yet you see the same set of countries in another column where the US is the one with all the deaths by gunfire”.

“It’s a gun problem;  it’s plain facts that are in front of you”.

Hasnul also reinforces the fact that people need to understand and communicate, instead of making assumptions concerning the tenuous link between the two. “It’s our role as people to promote the industry; to show that there are positive sides as well as some negative sides that you need to be aware of”.

About MDEC’s Focus On Game Development & Esports

On a related note, Hasnul also clarified a few things regarding MDEC’s focus and balancing of esports and game development. Contrary to popular belief, MDEC has not been focusing too much on esports than on game development. This train of thought process was due to Malaysia’s Budget 2019 declaration of giving a good sum of it to esports and MDEC.

In fact, the recent Level Up press conference was meant to showcase MDEC’s support for the industry with Metronomik’s No Straight Roads update and the launch of Magnus Studio’s Re: Legends (which is in Steam Early Access right now). “A culmination, if you will,” added Hasnul.

“While the games industry here has many failures, its successes do need to be celebrated. [MDEC] is still continuing its plans and programs to grow game development; in fact, it has added on more and amplified it while getting support from the ESM (Esports Malaysia)”.

Level Up KL 2019 will be on 6th to 10th November, with public days happening on 9th and 10th November.