Ep# 17 | WTF is Gaming in India? | Career, Investment, Entrepreneurship

Data suggest that young folks under the age of 30 are spending a lot more time on social media and gaming and less time on TV and physical sports. In this episode, we have the CEO of Nazara Technologies,Krafton India, and Lila Games, leaders in the Indian gaming space. We also have Animesh Agarwal (8bit Thug), a protagonist of the Indian gaming Industry, turning gaming into a full-time career in India.
Given that gaming for young kids, today is what cricket was for Indians back in the day, we explore how one can prepare to become a part of the gaming industry: By either becoming a gamer, understanding specific skills needed and channels of monetization or by developing and publishing games, knowing how hiring in the gaming industry works and so on. In both of these cases, what remains common is specific skills and knowledge
Given that the industry is still in its nascent stages in India, we compare and contrast the climate of the gaming industry across geographies, break down what physiological aspects and latent human desires which make certain games tick. It could be chasing emotions, status, or making progress along with the opportunities that we are primed to capitalize on based on the current landscape of the gaming industry.

If you're a passionate game developer, or someone who has something cool to offer in the gaming space, here's a chance to get the support you've been looking for:

#NikhilKamath Co-founder of Zerodha, True Beacon and Gruhas

#AnimeshAgarwal l - CEO of 8bit Creatives

#SeanHyunilSohn - CEO of Krafton India

#JosephKim - CEO of Lila Games

#NitishMittersain - CEO of Nazara Technology

Timestamps :
00:00 Introduction
0:40 - Nitish Mittersain Introduction
2:09 - What is Young President's Organisation (YPO)
5:15 - Nitish Mittersain Introduction Continued
7:00 - What do we Really think about listing a company? Pros and Cons
13:50 - Sohn’s Introduction: Life in South Korea
15:40 - Parallels between South Korean and Indian Societies
20:50 - What is an Esports Tournament?
21:35 - How did Sohn become Krafton India CEO?
24:35 - Why did Pubg get banned in India?
26:25 - Is the world becoming more fragmented?
29:40 - Indian Gaming ecosystem - Challenges & Opportunity
38:14 - Who is Joseph Kim? How did he get into Gaming?
42:25 - Animesh Agarwal / 8-Bit Thug Introduction
49:04 - How much do gamers/streamers earn in India?
55:20 - How should a 21 year old build a career in gaming?
58:28 - Where is Youth Spending Most time?
01:04:33 - How to target gaming crowd?
01:18:30 - What are Mid core, Casual, Hyper-casual Games?
01:23:20 - Monetising Game through In App Purchase vs Pay to Play
01:30:10 - What kinds of games succeed in India?
01:38:40 - Is the gaming industry failing?
01:41:40 - What’s working for Real Money Gaming?
01:53:06 - Games which will be relevant in 5 years?
01:57:15 - Building Game on Virtual Reality vs Augmented Reality
02:06:25 - What kinds of games succeed in India? Continued
02:15:42 - What are 5 Skill needed to make a game?
02:25:50 - Why is Gaming Design difficult in India?
02:30:30 - How to use Data Analytics in Gaming
02:32:50 - Advice from Animesh to start gaming
02:37:15 - WTFund

[Kullthegreat]

Joseph Kim is on different level in terms of market understanding and how effortlessly he is translating that info into simple words. Wow what a legend.
Major missed info from him on this pod is what kind of games work in India.

[GameMakersDev]

I gotta say Nikhil is an amazing person. Wonderful, humble, generous, and super charismatic. I (Joseph Kim- writing from my Gamedev YT channel) was and am super humbled to have been invited to such a great show. Just skimming through some of the comments here, I can see Nikhil has a really supportive community, and OMG Thug must be doing something really right to have such a huge and committed audience. Anyway, for some of you who wrote nice things about me... thank you guys. I'm used to doing super niche content for tiny audiences so it's cool to see so many people interested in gaming/gamedev content here.

[DemystifyLifeVerticles]

Joseph Kim has a vision and clarity of thoughts. He correctly mentioned all the nuances of gaming industry and rightly put forward where and what Indians are lacking at. Indeed a true visionary.

Hats off to Nikhil, another master piece ❤

[WILLYGAMINGG]

So very well spoken by Thug ❤ handled the tricky questions like a boss !! 🎉 thanks for representing us always ❤ thug 🚀

[shubhambengale]

As a gaming entrepreneur I agree with most of the points addressed by Joseph Kim. Gaming as a career choice has to be appreciated at an high school level.

[meetxd]

25:10 Nitish showing respect to thug for how he handled one of the dangerous question for BGMI.
Thug 🙇

[vishuthumar]

Day 150 for asking WTF is manufacturing?

[GAAFKAKEEDA]

S8UL GOING AT THE SPEED OF ACTUAL SPACESHIP 🚀

[santhoshs]

The fact that this long form podcast gets strong viewership shows that great content is always timeless. Also super helpful to see more Indians adopting to long form podcasts in the past year.

[IndiaGDC]

So good to see India Game Developer Conference ( IGDC ) being mentioned at 2:05:05 . Glad to see Industry veterans on the podcast.

[saikarthikbrahma]

Waiting for a podcast on Space tech companies in India❤

[shivamuto]

As a fulltime designer and a avid gamer with more than 12k hrs, i can proudly say this was one of the best podcasts for my domains. Thanks Nik! Would love to fill out that application.

[chaitanya]

Gotta give it to him Thug just handled questions like boss… Uplifting the Scene💪🏼🤞🏼❤️

[nikhilniki]

Man i have never seen discussion on such level Joseph talking about lot of things its like a master class for many

[ManishGupta-hvyx]

Joshep Kim the founder of LiLa Games is the only person who started the company in US but soon after shifted to India for making games with Indian origin.
Hatta off to this Mann ❤

[goodsoul]

That Nazara guy speaks so diplomatic answers. Not even a single question was answered to the point.

[backbackup]

I invested in Nazara technologies in October 23 listening the news that Nikhil has invested in it. It has fell big 28% until now. So, just for the comment reader’s here please don’t invest blindly without doing any research of your own, like the mistake i made here.

[rachanamuralinarayanan]

I love how Nikhil's trying to demystify game design down to its essence, not only with engines, platforms, and scripting languages, but also with the larger storyboard, streaming economics and actually generate something that an aspiring enthusiast can take away.

[DirectionGaming]

Joseph really have Very clear Future Vision. 1:17:56 I'm Listening Joseph and already on mission. This thing very few people understand. That future is Indie games.

[hackedmonk]

This podcast is unique and different from usual one's, there's a lot to learn about the gaming industry. Kudos to thug he has worked hard to get to this forum ❤