Date:17/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/17/stories/2008111750910200.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Gaming gets Indian flavour

Staff Reporter

Sony sees potential in the console market

Bangalore: Move over, virtual heroes and foreign soldiers. We will soon have Hanuman, gilli danda and kabaddi, as the Indian console gaming market gets set for locally developed games. Indian console gaming enthusiasts, who have been trying their skills manoeuvring on the alien land of Greece in the God of War or tried their hand at Uncharted Territories, can feel more at home with Sony Computer Entertainment all ready to launch eight games on Indian themes, four of which will be out by early 2009 and the remaining between 2009-end and early 2010.

“So far, 100 per cent of the console games are imported,” said Sony Computer Entertainment’s Country Manager Atindriya Bose. “Though India has a strong IT infrastructure and animation talent pool, we have not seen any Indian-developed games for the console market.”

Most of the current work pertained to outsourcing, he said, adding, “Roughly, out of the 150-odd animation and gaming firms, an estimated 20 to 30 of them are involved in the outsourcing component for the console gaming segment.” “India perhaps is the biggest untapped gaming market in the world. There is immense competition in this area and the gaming market is estimated to comprise a huge US$ 43 billion worldwide. India has talent, infrastructure and an excellent market for gaming,” he said.

Gaming enthusiasts have been coming in huge numbers to check out an ongoing fair at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium here. The event, to showcase the available potential of the market, has been planned across three cities in the country, beginning with Mumbai, then Bangalore and finally Delhi. Sony hopes to give its market an experience of a lifetime with the latest releases, innovative décor including a setup of about 100 consoles and several plasma screens with ingenious lights and sound.

Sony and Electronic Arts (EA) hope to break the perception of gamers being loners, with a plethora of games on the PS2, PS3 and PSP consoles involving family and friends. The event was bifurcated into various zones. Later, Sony also plans to organise the Fifa Interactive World Cup 2008 where the winner will be sent to Berlin to participate in the internationals.