Gaming professionals and experts from around the world have gathered at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre as the 15th annual India Game Developer Conference (IGDC) began its three-day event. The conference is taking place in Hyderabad from November 02 to November 04, 2023, and Day 1 of the IGDC was quite an informative session while also being a stage for discussions. So, let us look into the highlights!
IGDC 2023 Day 1 Highlights
State of India Gaming Report
The event commenced with the unveiling of the Lumikai State of India Gaming Report FY23 in partnership with Google.
According to the findings, the Indian gaming market is projected to reach a valuation of $7.5 billion by the fiscal year 2028. The report also highlighted various noteworthy insights, indicating substantial growth in the industry over the past few years. This includes:
- Demand for games in India was robust with 15.4 Billion gaming downloads in FY23.
- There are over 568 Million gamers in the country – over 50% of all Indian internet users.
- 140 Million gamers today are paying users, an increase of 17% YoY.
- The report anticipates a robust industry growth rate of 20% CAGR, driven primarily by increasing in-app purchases in casual and mid-core games and growing in-game advertising revenues
- 50% of gamers in the country fall within the age bracket of 18-30 years, with a male-to-female ratio of roughly 60:40.
- The report highlights the increase in the number of gamers from non-metro cities from 57% in FY22 to 66% in FY23.
- 62% of users claim that UPI is their preferred mode of payment for games.
According to the Lumikai report, in 2022-23, the gaming industry saw substantial growth, with the number of gamers surging to 568 million, up from the previous year’s 507 million with 140 million of these gamers being paying users, marking a 17% increase from the previous year. This growth can be attributed to the rise of UPI payment systems and the widespread use of smartphones, leading to increased spending in the gaming sector.
Panel Discussions
Next up, Day 1 of IGDC featured engaging panel discussions such as Analyzing Iconic Games vs Their Competition with Mike Fischer, Mark Stanley, and Dave Yonamine as panelists. Another panel on Investment Scenarios in Indian and Global Gaming provided valuable insights with speakers including Nihansh Bhat, Rohit Naini, Anupriya Sinha Das, Yash Baid, and Tomoharu Urabe.
Other highlights included Vivek Ramachandran’s talk on Building VC-Backable Gaming Businesses in India, discussions on Building from India to the World, and The Status of the Indian Gaming Market. The day ended on a high note with the Women in Games Hi-Tea where women in the industry networked and celebrated each other’s successes.
There were also special sessions by conference partners including Unreal Developer Day, Xbox Discovery Day, Unity Dev, and Google Dev sessions running parallelly.
IGDC 2023 hosts a range of activities to follow
The IGDC this year offers a diverse range of activities, including nine parallel sessions, solo talks, workshops, and round tables. These sessions cover topics like AI, Web3, Art and Design, Technology, Production, Business and Product Management, Applied games for social impact, Emerging trends, and Career opportunities.
In addition, there’s a strong focus on fostering collaboration through Round Tables involving industry representatives, government officials, academia, and policymakers, organized by industry bodies such as Invest India, Start-up India, AIGDF, Primus Partners, MESC, and the Consortium of game developers.
One of the unique highlights of the conference is the Build Your Own Game (BYOG) game jam. Launched in 2010, BYOG is India’s oldest annual game jam, where game developers create games within a limited timeframe based on specific themes. Also scheduled for November 3 is the IGDC Awards will honor game developers and studios across 10 categories, so stay tuned for tomorrow’s highlights!
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