Vietnamese video games and game studios

The most famous Vietnamese video game is Flappy Bird, the simple tap-to-fly mobile game made by solo developer Nguyễn Hà Đông that became a worldwide hit in early 2014. Beyond that one game, Vietnam has a busy industry of mobile studios, big publishers and indie developers, plus a huge player base that fills internet cafes and esports streams.

Here's a friendly overview of the games and companies worth knowing.

Flappy Bird: the one everyone remembers

Flappy Bird was released in 2013 by Nguyễn Hà Đông (often written Dong Nguyen) under the name .GEARS. It didn't take off right away, but in early 2014 it shot to the top of app store charts around the world. Players loved and hated how hard it was.

Then, at the height of its popularity, the creator pulled it from the app stores, saying the attention had become too much. It's still one of the most talked-about stories in mobile gaming, and it put Vietnamese developers on the global map.

Axie Infinity and Sky Mavis

Axie Infinity is a blockchain-based game where players collect, breed and battle creatures called Axies. It was made by Sky Mavis, a studio founded by a team that includes Vietnamese co-founders and is based in Vietnam. The game grew very fast in 2021, especially through the "play-to-earn" model that drew many players in Southeast Asia.

It also showed the risks of that model. In 2022, the game's Ronin network suffered a major hack, and the value of in-game tokens swung sharply. Whatever you think of crypto games, Axie is a big part of the story of Vietnamese games.

Big publishers and companies

• VNG – one of Vietnam's largest tech companies, known for publishing online games in Vietnam and for the Zalo messaging app.
• Gameloft – the French mobile game company has had large studios in Vietnam, which helped train many local developers.
• Amanotes – a Ho Chi Minh City company known for music games like Magic Tiles 3 and Tiles Hop, which have been downloaded by large numbers of players worldwide.

Many smaller Vietnamese studios focus on casual and "hyper-casual" mobile games, simple titles designed to be picked up in seconds. A lot of games you've played on your phone may have been built in Vietnam without you knowing.

Games about Vietnamese history and culture

Some Vietnamese developers have made games rooted in local history. One often cited example is 7554, a first-person shooter from the studio Emobi Games, released around 2011, set during the First Indochina War. Its title refers to the date of the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ's end, May 7, 1954.

Indie developers have also explored folklore, ghost stories and village life, often on PC and Steam. If you like culture-rich games, searching for Vietnamese indie titles is a good rabbit hole.

Internet cafes and esports

For many young Vietnamese, gaming means a quán net (internet cafe), playing multiplayer games with friends. PC titles like League of Legends and mobile games like Arena of Valor (known as Liên Quân Mobile in Vietnam) are hugely popular. Vietnamese teams and streamers compete in regional esports events, and gaming streams draw big audiences on YouTube and Facebook.

Gaming words in Vietnamese

• trò chơi điện tử or game – video game (most people just say "game")
• chơi game – to play games
• quán net – internet cafe
• game thủ – gamer
• nạp tiền – to top up or buy in-game currency

Notice how much English is mixed in. That's typical of tech and youth slang; see Vietnamese words that sound like English.

Where Vietnamese games are heading

Vietnam has a young, tech-savvy population and a growing number of game schools, studios and outsourcing companies. The local scene keeps producing mobile hits, while indie developers experiment with more personal, story-driven games. Animation and games often share talent too, which ties into the wider world of Vietnamese animation and pop culture like Vietnamese comics.

A small cartoon note

Games and cartoons share a lot of craft, from timing jokes to designing characters you can read at a glance. That's also true in short-form animation like Duma Meow, where four cartoon cats have to be recognizable in a single frame.

If you want to see what Vietnamese developers are making right now, search an app store for studios based in Vietnam and try a couple of their newest casual games.