Gaming industry in India, with estimated revenues upwards of $300 million, is expected to gain momentum on the back of growing internet and smart phone penetration.
Apart from driving higher growth, such enabling factors, particularly a faster adoption of 4G mobile services, are expected to help companies give shape to new products deploying augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Nasscom Gaming Forum chairman Rajesh Rao and two senior executives of Unity Technologies highlighted this in an interaction with the media on the sidelines of an event here on Wednesday.
Stating that the industry revenue was estimated in the range of $300-$500 million, which included the hardware and software components, Mr. Rao said over time, the gaming consumers would be willing to pay for access. Seeking to draw a parallel with satellite television channels, he pointed out how households had migrated from the time of free TV to paying several hundred rupees a month for access. Such a shift, Unity’s Director (South Asia/SEA/ANZ) Quentin Staes-Polet said, would change the revenue model of the gaming companies from one dependent on income that they make from advertisements.
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President (Asia Pacific) Hubert Larenaudie sounded upbeat about the gaming market growing faster in India in the backdrop of factors that contributed to better access. The senior executives also expected more people paying for games as in China. Unity Technologies, a leading firm globally in game development software, is witnessing a growing demand for its solutions. Mr. Staes-Polet said last month, 100 million games made with Unity were downloaded in India. The company, he added, has recently started operations in the country by recruiting the best talents to reach out to prospective customers.
The gaming industry leaders are in the city for the four-day Nasscom Game Developer Conference that got under way on Wednesday. The NGDC-2017 has also partnered with Unity Technologies to bring the latter’s developer conference ‘Unite’ to India for the first time. The venue for both the conferences is Hyderabad International Convention Centre and training workshops are scheduled for November 11, a release said.