From removing hundreds of infringing games and tightening control over payment flows to enhancing the capacity to investigate and prosecute illegal game operations, Vietnam is demonstrating its determination to build a transparent and healthy development environment, protect the legitimate rights and interests of individuals and businesses, and create a foundation for the sustainable development of the gaming industry.
Growth comes with challenges.
According to Decision No. 2486/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister approving the Strategy for the Development of Vietnam's Cultural Industries until 2030, with a vision to 2045, software and entertainment games are identified as one of the 10 key cultural industries.
This is a field with the potential to create products that combine culture, creativity, technology, and intellectual property rights, meeting people's cultural needs while contributing to the goals of international integration and sustainable development.
Based on that strategic direction, the Vietnamese gaming industry is experiencing strong growth. With high growth rates and a large player base, we are increasingly asserting our position on the global gaming industry map.
Market revenue is estimated to reach $1.66 billion in 2025, while the number of players has already exceeded 50 million. From being primarily seen as a form of entertainment, gaming is gradually becoming an economic sector with the potential to generate significant added value.
However, this growth also poses numerous challenges to the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights. According to feedback from businesses in the industry, game copyright infringement remains complex, with increasingly sophisticated methods.
Among these, the emergence of private game servers stands out, where systems are located abroad but still provide cross-border services into Vietnam, directly competing with legitimate products that have been licensed and protected by copyright. Alongside this, the phenomenon of "cloning" and "reskinning" is on the rise, where games are copied, their interfaces modified, and then released under the guise of a new product.
Beyond simply copying content, many other intellectual property violations are also becoming widespread, such as using images and sounds from legitimate games to promote pirated games, exploiting illegal payment channels, or condoning hacking and modding activities that disrupt the game environment.
These violations cause revenue losses for businesses and damage brand reputation as players face risks on unlicensed platforms. More broadly, the outflow of funds from illegal in-game purchases abroad results in revenue losses for the state budget and negatively impacts the confidence of international investors when exploring and investing in the Vietnamese market.
Taking decisive action in handling violations.
Given the complex situation of game copyright infringement, from October 2025 to the present, the Department of Broadcasting, Television and Electronic Information (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) has coordinated with VTC Corporation to intensify the handling of violations in the online gaming sector. As a result, 327 infringing games have been ordered to be removed from the Apple Store and Google Play, a threefold increase compared to the first nine months of 2025. In addition, more than 300 private SRO games have also been blocked.
Initial results show a determination to restore order in the online gaming sector. The focus is no longer on handling individual violations but on controlling the entire system of illegal game operations. According to Mr. Nguyen Hung Cuong, Deputy Director of VTC Intecom (VTC Corporation), control over payment flows for unlicensed games is being strengthened.
He also proposed increasing administrative penalties for game copyright infringement and strengthening criminal prosecution of large-scale networks to enhance deterrence. Above all, users need to resolutely say "no" to pirated games.
Alongside the enforcement measures, the authorities continue to require individuals and organizations to strictly comply with the provisions of the law on intellectual property.
The Copyright Office (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) also recommends that copyright holders be more proactive in protecting their legitimate rights and interests by applying technological solutions to monitor, review, trace, and coordinate with enforcement agencies to promptly detect and handle violations.
Notably, the Copyright Office and the Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention Department (Ministry of Public Security) have upgraded their investigative capabilities from "handling infringing content" to "handling the entire infringing operating system." This allows authorities to trace operators, account networks, advertising revenue streams, and beneficiaries of infringing activities.
Vietnamese Games: Copyright & Identity
In the current context, law enforcement agencies affirm that they will quickly intervene when violations are detected and handle them strictly in the spirit of "no forbidden zones, no exceptions".
International experience also shows that technology is becoming an important tool in the fight against copyright infringement.
Sharing from South Korea, Chung Seung Pil, Head of the Information Technology Department at the Korea Copyright Protection Agency, stated that the country is accelerating the application of artificial intelligence in copyright monitoring and enforcement. In the context of pirated games and infringing content being disseminated at minute-by-minute speeds, traditional step-by-step methods are no longer sufficient to meet practical requirements.
According to Chung Seung Pil, South Korea has developed an AI-powered monitoring system capable of automatically identifying copyright infringements in the digital environment through keywords. This system also assists in assessing the extent of violations, tracing the original source of distribution, and providing data for law enforcement.
Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/van-hoa/la-chan-cho-cong-nghiep-van-hoa-so-235122.html
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