The gaming industry in India has undergone a massive evolution because of the mobile revolution.Day three of the India Gaming Summit, 2021 saw speakers talk about ‘Creating the right standard and regulation’ in the gaming industry. Industry leaders emphasised on the need for a light touch regulation initially. “Many times we see gambling and gaming being used interchangeably. What we need is light touch regulation in the industry,” Subi Chaturvedi, chief corporate affairs and policy officer, Zupee, said.
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“The Central Government needs to empower a technical committee to define standards on skill and chance based games. Without that, there will always be a tussle between the Centre and the State,” Aparajita Srivastava, partner, IKGAI LAW, said.
According to Vaibhav Kakkar, partner, Saraf and Partners, there is a need to create awareness and until the industry reaches maturity, there is a need for a self-regulatory framework. “It’s important to keep creating awareness, discussions, and covering stories of average commoners on the transformation attained through gaming so as to change perceptions and to legitimise the business,” he added. Some believed that the guidelines on gaming must be prescribed by the Central Government and the implementation must be left to the State Governments.
Also Read – India Gaming Summit 2021 Day 2 Highlights
Moreover, they also discussed the way forward for the gaming industry in India. “The internet has gone across villages and cities and provides the perfect opportunity to the gaming industry. Availability of devices at accessible rates, last mile bandwidth, training and skill development are some of the things that will boost the industry,” Sanjeev Mehtani, country manager, Government and SMB Sales, Acer India, stated.
Also Read – India Gaming Summit 2021 Day 1 Highlights
The second edition of the India Gaming Summit, organised by financialexpress.com – the business news site from the stable of Indian Express Online Media held between 11-13 August, 2021 saw stakeholders in the online gaming sector discuss topics such as the concepts of content, monetisation, regulations, gamers, advertising, ad fraud in gaming, among others.
Highlights
“Within India, there are 18% female gamers. We are starting to see more representation in games, particularly in the last one year. Representation is particularly important,” Leslie Pirritano, Gamer, and Global Account Manager, AMD, said.
“Games are all about feedback, reward, and journey. If the gamer does not get any visual feedback, or reward, or if the gaming journey is not smooth, they would not be interested,” Vishnu Murthy, Studio Head and Art Director, Gamitronics, said.
“VFX is not about the technicalities, it is about the experience,” Biren Ghose, Country Head, Technicolor, said.
“Irrespective of the category, user experience plays a key role in any game. Game developers often neglect this aspect, and this leads to the game failing despite heavy investment,” JP Reddy, VP, Business Development, BornMonkie, said.
“Design should be at the core of gaming,” Yan Garin, Country Head and Director, Ecole Intuit Lab, said.
“Gaming as a genre is poised for a growth to become bigger than the media and entertainment industry,” Abhiral Bhansali, Product Head- TV, LG Electronics India, said.
“Gaming screen is very important for gamers and streamers so that audiences can not just watch but experience the game. Resolution, dark mode is important when it comes to screen,” Ujjwal Chaurasia (Techno Gamerz), said.
“Research shows that 35% of the gamers are female gamers and India is also mirroring back. It is no longer a male dominated industry and the dynamics are evolving,” SrinivasRao Vishnubhotla, Country Head, Logitech India, said.
“Gaming is evolving with the availability of devices. People start with casual gaming, move up to being an enthusiast, hone their skills and then turn to be professional gamers,” SrinivasRao Vishnubhotla, Country Head, Logitech India, said.
“We will see India moving up the ladder and becoming one of the largest PC gaming markets globally,” Khalid Wani, Director- India, SE Asia, Middle East, Africa, Western Digital India, stated.
“The internet has gone across villages and cities and provides the perfect opportunity to the gaming industry. Availability of devices at accessible rates, last mile bandwidth, training and skill development are some of the things that will boost the industry,” Sanjeev Mehtani, Country Manager, Government and SMB Sales, Acer India, said.
“Within the gaming industry, light touch self regulation is needed initially for games of skill and a little more progressive approach is needed for games of chance,” Rahul Bhattacharya, Co-founder and MD, Microgravity, said.
“There is a need to create awareness and until the industry reaches maturity, there is a need for a self regulatory framework. It's important to keep creating awareness, discussions, and covering the stories of average commoners on the transformation attained through gaming so as to change perceptions and to legitimise the business,” Vaibhav Kakkar, Partner, Saraf and Partners, said, at India Gaming Summit, 2021.
“On the players' side, platforms and businesses could identify a large pool and there could be some regulations put in place on that stage,” Roland Landers, CEO, AIGF, said.
“All esports are games of skills but all games of skills may not be esports. Esports would include an online version of prominent offline sports. It can also have those games which do not have a physical counterpart as well,” Dibyojyoti Mainak, SVP - Legal and Policy, MPL, said.
“It's very important that the industry aligns itself on real money gaming. The Centre could come out with standards of safety for the industry,” Suhaan Mukerji, Partner, PLR Chamber, said.
“The Central government needs to empower a technical committee to define standards on skills and chance based games. Without that, there will always be a tussle between the Centre and the State,” Aparajita Srivastava, Partner, IKGAI LAW, said.
“There is a need to give full protection to game of skills. The guidelines on gaming must be prescribed by the Central government and the implementation must be left to the State Governments,” Avishkar Singhvi, Advocate, Supreme Court, said.
“The circumstances are so different across various states. The best case scenario would be self regulation within the industry,” Niharika Karanjawala, Advocate, Karanjawala & Co, said.
“It is very important to have an objective mathematical criteria that every game needs to meet. It can't be left for the subjective interpretation of every State government,” Aparajita Srivastava, Partner, IKGAI LAW, said.
“Many times we see gambling and gaming being used interchangeably. What we need is light touch regulation in the industry,” Subi Chaturvedi, Chief Corporate Affairs and Policy Officer, Zupee, said.