In one of the first sessions of day 2 at ABAI Fest and KAVGC Summit 2015, The Awesome Game Studio (TAGS) CEO Rajat Ojha and AIGA’s director corp affairs Hanif Mohammed took a session on the current trends that prevail in the gaming industry.
“One of the most eventful occurrence that can be brought to light is the oncoming of virtual reality in a big way, with even Facebook taking interest in going on to acquire Oculus Rift,” began Rajat. “Other things to watch out in the coming year is a lot more wearable devices and also a lot more e-commerce websites taking interest in acquiring game related IPs or peripherals, like Amazon recently taking over Twitch.”
Rajat also went onto speak about how the indie scene is really on the rise in the country and that is an encouraging sign keeping in mind the kind of exposure that these individuals are getting from their independent outings. “I have recently seen some great work coming out from indie studios and SocioBall & Circulets are some really good games that are out there from Indian developers,” he added.
Rajat also stressed on the importance of the gaming community coming together for a much more successful and growth oriented industry. “GameJams are certainly the spice of the season and I am aware that many have organised such events in the past few years, but then such initiatives need to be supported with a better turnout,” he informed.
Hanif on the other hand spoke on how AIGA as an institute is leaving no stone unturned in getting the best curriculum in place so that the students are better prepared to enter the industry.
“As an education set-up we always reach out to the industry to exactly understand what are their requirements and also ensure that we get in the best faculty to actually not just teach but also share their practical experiences for better understanding of the ecosystem,” he explained.
Taking the conversation further both industry gentlemen touched upon various aspects that are detrimental in succeeding in the gaming space.
“It is very important to keep a check on the funds as that is instrumental in deciding whether the IP being created will be of profitable nature or not. It is also important to market the ventures really well to get that much more visibility and reach. Another important aspect that many developers need to learn is to carry out extensive research and also look at case studies of successful IPs to take the learning from there and take things a notch higher,” they agreed.