India can have a 5 per cent share of the global video gaming sector in the next five years if the segment grows in high double digit, said Rajan Navani, the Founder and CEO of JetSynthesys, a technology company focused on gaming and e-Sports.
Navani, who is also the National President of the Indian Digital Gaming Society, spoke more about the ‘Make-in-India’ potential in this sector, role of 5G and 6G as well as video-game inspired content on streaming platforms.
How do you see India contributing to the global video gaming sector in the next five years?
Today, we are around 2 per cent of the global video gaming sector. I think in the next 5 years, we will grow much faster to around 5 per cent because we have a larger consumer base but as a market and as IP and game development companies, it might take a little longer.
This timeline would also require high double-digit growth for the next 5-10 years. In all our in-app purchases, we are seeing 40 per cent year-on-year growth pretty much as a norm but it’s of a small base. So, monetarily that number is not as significant. Still, there is a lot of game development happening in India as well as back-end development for some large global gaming companies.
Do you feel India has a Make-in-India potential in the gaming sector?
We have created India’s largest game which is a mid-core game through Nautilus Mobile Real Cricket, where we also partnered with Krafton, a large leader. Our goal is to see how we can make such “Make-in-India” games one of the leading games. Traditionally, video games were adopted much later, after the mobile phone trend.
Video gaming is a 50-year-old industry, with consoles and high-speed internet etc. slowly reaching homes. In that light, the capabilities from India to build a game that will dominate the world will require a large access to global talent and deep partnerships.
We are working in a manner that Indian products could be built collaboratively with global partners, where India can build the e-sports part, training top athletes and control the global narrative. India also has a better shot at global leadership in new age areas rather than areas where we have to play catch-up.
How important is 5G for the success of the gaming sector?
Very important. 5G and 6G as well for reducing the latency in multi-player, mid-core and core gaming. Any lag is also disadvantageous to somebody who is not playing. Consistency of bandwidth is very important in all this. When we curate arenas, we have to be very particular about that quality. Mainstreaming that across the country is also a big advantage to enable people to play better and enjoy the experience.
Is the success of the sector dependent on 5G?
No, these are very important levers to strengthen the industry. This is an infrastructural need. Another important lever is generative AI. Video gaming has always been AI. But today with generative AI, your experiences become personalized. A lot can happen through hyper-personalization of the gaming experience.
Immersive technology is another important lever with AR/VR. We’ve seen some examples, but how do we get more of those? Again, with better bandwidth. There’s also cloud gaming.
Recently, platforms have shows that are based on existing games. How do you see such content affecting gaming? Can it bring in more consumers?
There’s a lot of content created, but I don’t know whether the games that will drive that growth. Watching eSports has become a large global trend. To drive engagement, every app, platform is trying to put out some games, so people don’t forget the app and come back for something.
So, gamification and gaming are happening, but pure game development is a very different skill set and capability. There’s a convergence of this industry happening like never before. I wouldn’t be surprised if tomorrow, a platform like Netflix became a larger gaming company by using its subscribers, who are there to play games. But for them, the priority is the viewing experience of good video games.
How do you see the tariff discussion impacting the gaming sector?
I don’t see much impact. In gaming, maybe some hardware could get impacted but I do not expect much impact unless something significant happens on the devices. We’ll know after April 2 if something is going to get impacted, but it’s pretty unpredictable right now, especially from the US.