While the gaming sector has seen considerable growth in the past in various countries, India has always lagged behind as the need for PCs and consoles coupled with the general lack of acceptance of digital mode of entertainment had India under its grip. However, the times have changed for good and it’s better late than never and now the Indian gaming circuit is finally experiencing a steady and upward rise in terms of popularity as well as scopes. Many foreign players of the industry are now tying up with indigenous game developing firms to create games and a new tie-up was witnessed recently.
The recently concluded Mumbai edition of the Dutch-Indian applied gaming road show on 18 April at the J.W. Marriot Sahar provided us with an insight of the Dutch ‘serious gaming’ industry and their plans on collaborating with their Indian counterparts. Albeit, the event was on gaming as a whole, it had a lean towards ‘serious games’ or ‘applied games.’ They are the type of games that act less as a mode of entertainment and provide more of a learning experience by simulating real life experiences into it. They can be typically found in sectors of defence, education, health care and many more.
Speaking at the event from the Dutch side were CEOs, creative directors and founders of Dutch gaming firms.
IJsfontien, creative director, Jan Willem Huisman spoke about the importance and need for more ‘serious games’ as they provide smart solutions to real life situations. The company has in the past created applied games to train bank employees for the Dutch Bank and ABN AMRO. They have also tied up with the Indian gaming giant Dhruva Interactive to create a new company named ‘Ludowise’ that focuses on making eLearning a playful experience with interactive applied games for various sectors.
Interaction & Games Lab from the Amsterdam Creative Industries Network, senior research co-ordinator, Mirjam Vosmeer asserted about the possible impacts of the incorporation of VR into story telling.
Four of the major serious gaming companies from the Netherlands namely, RANJ, IJsfontien, Little Chicken Game Company and Grendel Games have come together under one umbrella to create G4. They are to be credited for games like Underground, Sharkworld, Monsterzoo among others. The organisation is leading the serious gaming industry, not only nationally but even internationally to some extent. With multiple awards like BAFTA award, US legal marketing award, EduMedia Award and many more in their bags already, G4 has made its stronghold in the market.
Speaking about the Dutch-Indian collaboration event to AnimationXpress, NASSCOM Gaming Forum, special interest group- serious games, chairperson, Manisha Mohan said, “It’s not a new initiative. NASSCOM has been planning this for the last one and a half years. In the area of serious gaming, the Dutch are the leaders and we thought it would be beneficial to exchange ideas and views, and learn from the way they collaborate.”
Games in India are still popular as digital mode of entertainment; however the concept of serious gaming has not yet spread. The Dutch – Indian Applied Gaming Road Show with all its editions hopes to educate and inform people about the implications of applied games. As the event continues, they hope to meet more people from the Indian gaming industry, and create a serious gaming ecosystem.
Since these games assist in training purposes in various sectors like education, military, medical care along with others, they might prove really fruitful.
Mohan also added, “The goal is to get help from the government and for that we have to approach them as a core group. We see a scope in terms of government impetus on skill development for something like Swachh Bharat wherein there’s a lot of scope for the games to be useful to help India.”
Although, there have been no plans to approach the government yet, it definitely seems on the line.
The future of serious gaming in India seems like a long run, but a hopeful Mohan commented, “Five years down the line, I would like to see it in many sectors. Currently it is stronger in certain segments like sales training, healthcare but we would like to have more awareness across various verticals like banking and finance and also in terms of education, impacting the villages. It would be an honour to witness the impact of serious games on the lives of those people.”