India turning out to be bright spot for game developers

Q12. This is an aphorism on the subject of Video Game design. How do we better know this? “All the best games are easy to learn and difficult to master. They should reward the first quarter and the hundredth” (Image: Reuters)

With the online gaming sector peaking in India, the next step forward is to bring in more content, more innovation and creativity.

Recently, WinZO, a vernacular e-sports gaming platform, announced a $1.5 million fund to support game developers and acquire content for the platform.

"Through this fund, we are looking to partner with gaming studios as well as independent game developers by offering them an infrastructure to develop top quality content and a powerful platform to monetise their games from day one," said Paavan Nanda, co-founder, WinZO.

He added that a sector gets disrupted when the best brains of the world work actively towards unlocking its potential.

However, Saumya Singh, co-founder, WinZo Games, said that "when it comes to talent there is no right amount of backing in India".

"Hence, people don't go beyond making it more than their hobby," she said.

And this is why WinZo is entertaining queries not only from gaming studios and game developers but also of college students who have ideas to build games.

According to Alok Kejriwal, CEO and Co-Founder of Games2win, who also started something similar earlier this year, realised that most gaming startups and their entrepreneurs encounter four major problems that overwhelm and often defeat them.

He pointed out that "most games planned on paper don't come out the same way, in addition to several delays and cost overruns".

"After a game is published, it is not received by the market and consumers in the way the entrepreneurs anticipated. Secondly, making a mobile game successful is very complex today. Game design, analytics, app store optimisation and many other factors take a long time to master. The lack of this knowledge can cripple new game launches. Thirdly, due to lack of funds, the startup has a very short, often incomplete runway to attempt its second and third game, and succeed," he said.

Hence, Kejriwal launched REPLAY Gaming Fund in May this year that is targeted at gaming startups and entrepreneurs.

At the time of the launch, Kejriwal received as many as 28 proposals.

While the funding landscape for the gaming sector is transforming and many big investments are happening in the space, Kejriwal believes that gaming as a vertical does not get easily funded by venture capitalist.

To attract VCs, the game or the platform already has to be a success.

And lack of funding by VCs "leads to a deficit of talent in a business that is otherwise booming globally," said Kejriwal.

In India, there are reportedly 250 gaming companies. This means that there is need of innovative content to cater to the growing user base of online gaming platforms.

This has led to creation of new job opportunities like game art professionals who are in great demand both in India and globally.

Experts feel that with proper support, India has the potential to become an outsourcing hub for international gaming companies which will result in more job opportunities in the country.