India still playing the waiting game
The computer gaming industry worldwide is a vibrant multibillion-dollar affair and growing at a rapid pace. India’s small-change in comparison. what’s keeping Indian computer users from coming out to play and why our software developers aren’t scoring high in the gaming ring
The 80s witnessed the Reagan vs. Brezhnev Cold War, the 90s were dominated by Bush Sr vs. Saddam, while 2001 saw Dubya pitted against a certain bin Laden. Many hope that in 2002 the real battle would not be fought across continents, but only across consoles and monitors with joysticks and mouse replacing Stingers and Howitzers as the missiles.
The computer gaming industry, estimated at $8.6 billion worldwide in 2001, looks set to come of age in 2002 and grow up to $28.3 billion by 2004-05. However, in India, gaming is currently emerging as an industry variously estimated at between only Rs 20 crore and Rs 40 crore.
Though DOS-based games like Pacman and Carmen were popular during the 80s, the gaming industry per se started in India only around 1995, coinciding with the launch of multimedia PCs.
Up to now the entire industry has been a mere mish-mash of pirated games and sundry amateurish indigenous efforts at creating local offerings. But why did gaming take so long to emerge as an industry in India?
The main reason is the cultural mindset, feels Jayant Sharma, CEO, Milestone Entertainment, one of the pioneering games vendors in the country.
For a lot of people in India, ‘computer games’ and gaming are still restricted to furtive sessions of Solitaire or FreeCell on the office computer, a finger hovering nervously over the ‘close program’ button.
There is also a basic mindset that gaming is a waste of time and meant only for children. Internationally, though, games are something of a social sport, with online role-playing games that have massive subscriber bases, gaming tournaments and professional gamers’ leagues.
Gaming software is emerging as one of the fastest growing components of the entertainment industry worldwide and it is high time India too cashes in on the opportunity by developing it as a new segment of its software industry.
India’s software industry has annual exports of around $6 billion and nearly 20 percent of the global market share in customized software. However, the country is nowhere when it comes to games development. India is not even on the radar screen today.
It is estimated that close to 150 million people regularly play computer games worldwide and around 215 million games were sold in 2001 alone.
This means that every home in the US had more than two games. Therefore, Sharma feels there is a huge opportunity waiting for India to tap in the gaming industry.
The computer gaming industry worldwide is a vibrant multibillion-dollar affair and growing at a rapid pace. India’s small-change in comparison. what’s keeping Indian computer users from coming out to play and why our software developers aren’t scoring high in the gaming ring
The 80s witnessed the Reagan vs. Brezhnev Cold War, the 90s were dominated by Bush Sr vs. Saddam, while 2001 saw Dubya pitted against a certain bin Laden. Many hope that in 2002 the real battle would not be fought across continents, but only across consoles and monitors with joysticks and mouse replacing Stingers and Howitzers as the missiles.
The computer gaming industry, estimated at $8.6 billion worldwide in 2001, looks set to come of age in 2002 and grow up to $28.3 billion by 2004-05. However, in India, gaming is currently emerging as an industry variously estimated at between only Rs 20 crore and Rs 40 crore.
Though DOS-based games like Pacman and Carmen were popular during the 80s, the gaming industry per se started in India only around 1995, coinciding with the launch of multimedia PCs.
Up to now the entire industry has been a mere mish-mash of pirated games and sundry amateurish indigenous efforts at creating local offerings. But why did gaming take so long to emerge as an industry in India?
The main reason is the cultural mindset, feels Jayant Sharma, CEO, Milestone Entertainment, one of the pioneering games vendors in the country.
For a lot of people in India, ‘computer games’ and gaming are still restricted to furtive sessions of Solitaire or FreeCell on the office computer, a finger hovering nervously over the ‘close program’ button.
There is also a basic mindset that gaming is a waste of time and meant only for children. Internationally, though, games are something of a social sport, with online role-playing games that have massive subscriber bases, gaming tournaments and professional gamers’ leagues.
Gaming software is emerging as one of the fastest growing components of the entertainment industry worldwide and it is high time India too cashes in on the opportunity by developing it as a new segment of its software industry.
India’s software industry has annual exports of around $6 billion and nearly 20 percent of the global market share in customized software. However, the country is nowhere when it comes to games development. India is not even on the radar screen today.
It is estimated that close to 150 million people regularly play computer games worldwide and around 215 million games were sold in 2001 alone.
This means that every home in the US had more than two games. Therefore, Sharma feels there is a huge opportunity waiting for India to tap in the gaming industry.