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06/10
NVidia: “PCs Set to Surpass Consoles by 2015″
Even though games based on Ghajini and Hanuman have been moderately successful, the Indian gaming industry has been struggling to churn out blockbuster games for consoles and PCs. Outsourcing projects continue to take most Indian developers’ resources. But times are changing, and with the advent of the iPhone (with the iPad around the corner) and social networking games, even small publishers have the confidence to come up with something very exciting.
Over the past 4-5 years PC market has been continuously overshadowed by consoles. A few quick facts by Keita Iida, Director of Global Content Management, nVidia, showed how the PC is back in business and how PCs are set to surpass consoles by 2015 (which is interesting, keeping in mind the much talked about future-proof quality of the Playstation 3 by Sony).
As compared to 2008, PC unit sales saw a rise of 205% in 2009. Lida pointed out that the MMORG games have been doing astonishingly well in Asia with 76.6 percent of the revenue coming from this area and 23.4 percent from rest of the world. India, however, continues to struggle as the low PC penetration is still hampering the growth of PC games industry. Cyber cafes still continue be the thriving place for the Indian gamers with 180,000 cafes spread throughout the country overall. He predicts that 30 percent of the users in these cyber cafes play games, which accounts for one-third of game revenue from the country.
The Indian gaming industry was estimated at million in 2006, 7 million in 2008 and is forecasted to grow at 49% to reach 0 million by 2012, according to a report by Ernst & Young titled ‘The Animation and Gaming Industry in India’.
However, Indian game developers continue to face challenges when it comes to investing their time and money in big games. Many aren’t ready to take risks in a market running rampant with piracy. But iPhone and online games are flourishing in the Indian market. The latter took central stage at the India Game Developer Summit held in Bangalore, where expert speakers discussed how online games can be monetized and converted into a successful venture.
Development costs are high, not counting the risk most developers must take in India’s gaming business. To help solve this problem, Tridip Roy Chowdhury, Director of Products at Adobe Systems, advises developers to take help of aggregators. “Aggregators do promotion and spread your game. They also help by ensuring that your game works across all platforms,” he says. Since the cost incurred to make an online game is relatively low, developers can easily make flash based games and earn a profit. The Zyngas of the world – with their Mafia Wars and Farmville Facebook apps – have already proved that.
As to profiting from their online creations, Chowdhury says that developers should always consider in-game advertisement when it comes to online games as it brings in a good amount of revenue. All a developer has to do is create an online game which is viral enough to spread around quickly and then enter a tie up with companies like Zapak and Miniclip to use social networking platforms like Facebook and MySpace as much as possible.
The keynote session saw Carl Jones, Director of Global Business Development for CryEngine 3, Crytek (creators of Crysis), speak about their CryEngine 3 as well as the upcoming Crysis 2. Jones gave a glimpse of the engine, just to show how far ahead game developing technology has gone when it comes to developing games based on high performance graphics and photo-realistic surroundings. The good news for students learning game design and animation is that CryEngine 3 is now available for universities, free-of-cost. Jones advised companies to work smartly and invest more in tools. “If you are doing something three times a day, then don’t waste your time on it. Make a tool and let your computer do it for you,” he says.
Stages like the Game Developer Summit have become quite important of late, because the Indian gaming industry has now moved beyond the catfights for outsourcing contracts and now has started to work as a cohesive unit. What is exciting to see is that all four verticals – PC, consoles, mobile and online – are growing at the same time. PC and Console game developers just need to take a leap of faith and once the obstacle of producing the first blockbuster is passed, nothing can stop them.
It will be available in a range of different sizes, with the 8GB version costing £149.99 whilst the 16GB version will cost £159.99, there is also an 8GB model with built in GPS which will retail for £159.99.
