National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) is a trade association of Indian Information Technology (IT) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. The NASSCOM Game Developer Conference started in 2009 to address the game developer community in India. The conference serves as a common platform to share best practices and knowledge both from the business and the development perspective in the Indian gaming industry.
I will be attending NASSCOM GDC representing beSUCCESS on November 2nd and 3rd, 2012 in Pune, one of India’s thriving startup-technology hubs. The event promises to be an interesting forum about gaming and I will be reporting on some of the sessions, speakers and the gaming companies at NASSCOM GDC.
The size of the Korean domestic game market in 2011 was estimated to be around 8.8047 trillion won, which is 18.5% increase compared to that of the previous year. Gaming is definitely a space to watch out for in Korea and India.
I caught up with Rajesh Rao, Chair, NASSCOM Gaming Forum to learn more about what to expect from the 2-day forum. Rajesh Rao
is the founder and CEO of Dhruva Interactive one of India’s oldest Games Company. Founded in 1997, Dhruva Interactive develops and publishes games. Dhruva’s Product Division publishes and develops PC/Causal/XNA/XBLA games. Dhruva’s Services Division offers outsourced production services and is among the Top 5 providers of such services in the world. Dhruva is the first company from India to be selected by major game publishers such as Microsoft Game Studios, Electronic Arts, Codemasters and Atari for providing game development services.
Rajesh is also active in promoting and growing the game industry in India. He is on the advisory committees of leading trade bodies such as NASSCOM and FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) for driving the games agenda. Rajesh answers a few questions about the forum, the gaming market in India and India-Korea trade in gaming.
What is the current size of the Indian gaming industry ?
The gaming industry has witnessed a steady growth and promises immense potential for an augmented growth in the future. Some of the major driving factors propelling the industry forward include growth of emerging and start-up gaming companies, rise in wireless usage and a proliferation of game developers. Also, a significant rise in penetration of personal computers and mobile phones has added to this growth. The gaming industry is constantly evolving with the introduction of new technologies, resulting in demand for new innovations from customers.
The Indian gaming industry is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 49% to reach USD 830 million by 2012 which was USD 167 million in 2008. Globally by 2012, the gaming industry would grow at a CAGR of 10.5% to USD 53.6 billion from USD 21 billion in 2008. The NASSCOM IGDA report on casual gaming in India reveals that Casual Gaming is expected to grow significantly at a CAGR of 32% over 2010-15.
Some of the emerging trends that will be discussed at NGDC?
NASSCOM recognizes the gaming industry as a significant user of technology which can further showcase India’s well established credentials in the IT Industry space. Some of the key emerging trends that will be discussed at the NGDC will be on the growth of startup companies with a proliferation in the number of mobile companies. The gaming industry has witnessed a steady growth and most of these emerging gaming start-ups get seed stage /angel funding. Gaming experts at the conference will also discuss the role of MNCs that are increasing investments and growing their studios and are bringing in seasoned international talent.
The NGDC will witness some of the best brains from the gaming fraternity congregate to share concepts, network and showcase their work. In an effort to encourage budding entrepreneurs, game designers and programmers, and producers the NGDC this year shall include some exciting activities. In addition to successful competitions like Build Your Own Game (BYOG), the attendees can participate as an individual developer or a team of up to 5 in the Adobe Game Jam which is an excellent opportunity to show off their coding skills, and win prizes.
India-Korea trade and opportunities in the gaming industry?
Currently, the mass gaming market consumer is still at a nascent stage and short bursts of casual gaming is preferred in India. In terms of Indo-Korean gaming industry, there is immense potential for technology collaboration as Korean developers have a lot of experience in the ‘freemium’ micro-transaction business model which the Indian gaming industry is trying to adopt gradually.
Dhruva : Plans for Korea?
As of now we have no immediate plans; however, we are always open and looking for synergies from various markets across the globe.
beSUCCESS will bring you more updates from NASSCOM GDC, if you are at the forum and want to connect, please mail me at vallabh (at) beSUCCESS (dot) com
Visit the NASSCOM GDC website here: http://ngdc.nasscom.in/index.html
