Growing incomes and advanced technology are expanding the video game market in Vietnam at a rapid pace, according to a new study released last Thursday by Pearl Research in the US.

The report discusses the gaming industry in Vietnam and India, and argues that local gaming development is on the rise in both countries.

Vietnam and India will have 25 million active gamers by 2014, according the California-based business intelligence and consulting firm specializing in the internet and technology with a special focus on emerging markets.

The current number in the US, where the gaming tradition has spanned several decades, is more than 174 million.

Although the first games only appeared in the country in 2004, Vietnam now has about 50 actively played MMOGs (massively multiplayer online games), both foreign and homegrown. More popular games can attract more than 200,000 users who mostly play at internet cafés, according to the study which, includes interviews with Vietnamese gamers.

The internet cafes that Pearl Research visited in Vietnam were usually crowded with people playing online games.

It associated the developments in gaming to booming internet usage. Vietnam has about 22 million active internet users while India has 44 million.

"Both markets are driven by rising incomes, increasing PC and internet penetration rates, and a large population of youth that are actively seeking out entertainment content," Pearl said in a report.