Nine India-based developers and publishers have formed the Indian Game Publishers and Developers Association (IGPDA).
Its aim is to foster “the creation of original made-in-India IP, bringing Indian stories into gaming, skill-building across the animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVGC) value chain, and enabling India to produce globally competitive AAA titles.”
The industry body has been structured to bring primary members (game developers, studios, publishers, and platforms) and partners (tools and tech providers, academia and training institutions, investors and “ecosystem enablers”) together to collaborate on game development.
The IGPDA’s founding members include:
- Nazara Technologies
- Gametion
- nCore Games
- Reliance Games
- SuperGaming
- Tara Gaming
- Underdogs
- Aeos Games
- Dot9 Games
“The IGPDA will provide the platform that helps to unify the voice of the gaming industry and articulate its interests,” said nCore Games president Kaval Bombra.
“By advocating for our industry across the regulatory, investment, and operational landscape, we will ensure that India’s vibrant gaming sector continues to expand its presence responsibly and sustainably, both here and across the world.”
Tara Gaming co-founder and author Amish Tripathi added: “Video gaming is the biggest creative industry; it’s bigger than movies, books, music, and theatre combined – India gets very little of the pie.
“Much of our gaming industry presently is mobile-game-dominated, which has a large number of users but not enough revenue. The market is also dominated by Chinese games. But with our own games, based on our own culture, we could actually bring revenue to the country and also export our culture. IGPDA will supercharge this effort to make India a gaming superpower.”
The IGPDA has already proposed a state partnership with the Maharashtra government, in which it aims to “work with the [government] to make Mumbai the global games hub by attracting gaming companies to the state through policy support.”
“Our focus has been to drive strategic investments, foster global partnerships, and accelerate transformative infrastructure and technology initiatives in Maharashtra under the leadership of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis,” said Kaustubh Dhavse, chief advisor of Investments and Strategy to the chief minister of Maharashtra.
“We welcome this proactive initiative from the Indian games industry.”
The formation of the IGPDA comes after India’s Online Gaming Bill was passed as a proper legal act.
As IGN India reports, the bill will ensure that traditional video games and esports are separated from real money games, betting, and gambling apps and platforms.
The Online Gaming Bill “seeks to ban platforms that offer online betting, gambling, lottery, card games with money stakes, and fantasy sports with cash rewards.”
