IGX or Indian Games Expo, India’s first consumer centric gaming expo (as the organisers claim) is all set to return for its second installment this October. The organisers revealed the dates on the official website and IGX this year will take place on 15 and 16 October. Entry this year too will be free, with online registrations kicking off in the month of August.
However, there is a change of venue this time around. Though the expo is still very much happening in Mumbai, this year it will be held at the World Trade Centre in Cuffe Parade instead of Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon.
Like last year, IGX will host platforms ranging from PC to mobile. IGX was also host to a number of high profile games which included Mortal Kombat X, WWE 2K16, MAD MAX, Batman: Arkham Knight and Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate among others. This year too it is expected to bring in games like Mafia 3, WWE 2K17, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, PES 2017 and many more. A number of international gaming companies too were part of the last year’s edition and according to NDTV Gadgets report the likes of Sony, Warner Bros, Ubisoft and Bethesda will be making a return this year too.
The focus will be more on making games playable rather than making the expo an e-sports gig. There will be a few gaming tournaments with competitive games but the details of the same haven’t been revealed yet. Sony PlayStation being the primary backer, one would anticipate that they could return this year too whereas we can expect to see the the rival console maker Microsoft this time as it was absent last year.
Cosplay competition is an integral part of the gaming expos and is an experience in itself. It was a big plus for IGX last year but still there is no word from the organisers about it. However, it is safe to say that cosplaying will be one of the highlights of the expo this year too.
IGX not only hosted an array of international titles but also a couple of Indian gaming companies and hardware manufacturers which were part of the first edition. One should expect a number of Indian game development companies to be part of the expo this year as well. Last year, there were only two game developers who had stalls at the expo, Mumbai-based game studios Apar Games and Vanishing Point, who showcased their games Scribbled Arena and Third Eye respectively. Bangalore-based Absentia VR showed off its Tesseract VR headset at the expo which could convert any PC game to a VR experience.
All said and done, there were a few shortcomings and naturally this being the first edition of the expo, people had a few expectations but the brickbats came from a few quarters. There was a slight displeasure among the indie gaming community about the stall prices which they felt were pretty steep and could have had subsidised for the local talent to showcase their games. Not only the Indian game development community, the visitors too had a few criticisms for the organisers regarding the games which were being showcased (most of the games showcased were already available long before the expo), malfunctioning PS4s and long queues which resulted in the chaos at the venue.
The first outing of the expo saw people throng the venue in great numbers and yes, the expo is a step in the right direction with introduction of video games to a lot of non-gamers and an event to look forward to for the gaming fanatics. 2016 being the second edition of IGX, it would be interesting to see what all lessons have the organisers taken from their first edition and whether it will cater to the local talent or be like other Indian pop culture expos where we rarely observe Indian content and artists being promoted.