Gaming is a large very large industry and is becoming quite popular in various parts of the world. So we decided to see how the profession is faring in India. In India people generally start playing at a very young age due to the influence of friends or elder siblings in the family. Now many of them just go on ahead and leave gaming due to the pressure of studies and other pursuits, mostly because parents saying that they will have job security if they focus on studies (Mostly it is either Engineer or Doctor. The Asian parent doctrine is well documented).
What parents don’t understand is that gaming isn’t just about playing games. Making a game involves various expertise such as designing, programming and animations among others. And it is now a well known fact that the video game industry competes with Hollywood in terms of money making. However unlike other fields, you need to know how video games work, in order to make good ones. But in an orthodox society people don’t want to take risks and think that anything new or different should only be tried once you get a good college degree. I myself play a lot of games and also watch superhero movies where heavy animations are used and when I see the end credits I notice that there are quite a handful Indians in various departments even if they are not citizens.
Now another problem is the mentality of people in India. For example, I’m an Anime fan. So whenever I watch anime, my dad points out that I’m watching cartoon. I get so irritated I feel like banging my head because I’ve tried to explain him a 1000 times that they are not the same. Thankfully my dad doesn’t think about games in such a way; unfortunately a lot of other parents do. For them video games have been simplified to mindless killing of aliens/zombies/soldiers. Its frowned upon as the idiot box of this generation, while they spend the rest of their evening watching TV.
The other biggest hurdle is the entry point into serious gaming. The grey market is pretty strong in India, meaning you could probably play a shit load of games without ever having to pay for the game itself. However to be considered a serious gamer, and to have a understanding of the gaming culture, its imperative that a person buys his games, either through Steam or on his console; so they can understand how games are priced, and how games can be profitable. Then there is the hardware itself. It costs a fortune in any country to setup a good gaming rig; but for a middle class dominated India with a fix on money saving; spending money on games is considered thrifty. The current gen consoles don’t make it easy either, with both the PS4 and the Xbox One priced in excess on 25K.
With all that said, all is not lost, if you want to be a gamer. India is a young nation, we all know that; and with the advent and penetration of the internet, more people are able to connect with what they really like. In a country whose population rivals that of China and U.S.A., a ton of youngsters are finally realizing their true calling, and even more are brave enough to finally follow them. Collages which offer game focused courses are popping up and are becoming accessible. Mobile gaming for all the flak that it gets is now making games more mainstream. And most importantly people at AFK Gaming, Indian Video Gamer and AsidCast are trying to make Gaming as India focused as possible.
We at IndianNoob would like to contribute, by working on a list of articles, which would focus on how an Indian gamer may carve out a career in India. We would cover topics like being a professional gamer, a game designer, a game dev, and a game tester among others. Over the course of the month, we will look into what makes the most sense if you want to have a career in the Gaming industry.
Join us for the ride, and let us know in the comments, what kind of questions you would like the answers too the most.