According to Le Quang Tu Do, Director General of the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information, the global gaming industry now generates nearly US$200 billion in revenue, surpassing film, publishing and digital content combined. Yet for years, Vietnam failed to seize this opportunity, held back by persistent social prejudice toward gaming.

That narrative, however, may finally be shifting.

On April 2, VNGGames signed a cooperation agreement with University of Information Technology, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City to launch a joint training program focused on game development using Roblox.

For the first time in Vietnam, university students will be able to build and publish games that directly reach a global audience while still in school.

The three-month program, scheduled to begin in September 2026, will enroll 42 students. Its curriculum is designed and delivered by 14 industry experts from VNGGames, ensuring that learning is closely tied to real-world production.

Rather than separating theory from practice, the program places students inside the full lifecycle of a game - from ideation and development to publishing. By the end of the course, each student group will complete its own product, with the opportunity to launch it on Roblox and access a global user base.

Speaking at the event, Le Quang Tu Do emphasized the significance of this shift.

“For a long time, Vietnam missed the gaming wave because of social bias,” he said. “Today, with pioneering companies like VNG not only producing games but also investing in structured talent development, that picture is changing. For the first time, students can earn real income from what they are learning - not just domestically, but on a global scale. Thirty years ago, we could not have imagined this.”

From the academic side, Associate Professor Nguyen Tan Tran Minh Khang, Vice Rector of the University of Information Technology, described the collaboration as more than a simple partnership.

It represents a two-way commitment between university and industry to build an ecosystem where students learn through real projects, guided by professionals, with a clear pathway to becoming game creators.

“This model could become a benchmark for aligning education with industry needs in Vietnam’s digital economy,” he said.

For La Xuan Thang, Director of Online Game Publishing at VNGGames, the gap facing Vietnam’s workforce is not about knowledge, but experience.

“When students are directly involved in product development, they understand what they are learning for and what the industry actually needs,” he said. “Bringing training onto Roblox allows them to access global markets and develop a commercialization mindset from the start.”

By the end of 2025, Roblox reported more than 144 million daily active users. Its key advantage lies in offering a ready-made cloud infrastructure and a vast user network, enabling independent developers to reach international audiences without heavy investment in servers or marketing.

This accessibility is particularly significant for emerging markets like Vietnam.

According to a report by TopDev, Vietnam’s IT sector is expected to require around 700,000 workers by 2025, while the current supply stands at roughly 500,000 - leaving a shortfall of nearly 200,000.

In that context, new training models that bring classrooms closer to industry are emerging as practical solutions to bridge the gap.

What is changing now is not only the structure of education, but also the perception of gaming itself.

Once seen largely as entertainment or even distraction, game development is increasingly recognized as a legitimate and high-value component of the digital economy. And as that perception evolves, Vietnam may yet find its way back into a global industry it once overlooked.

Thai Khang