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Tag: gaming industry

  • Dentsu 2023 Media Trends: Industry trends tapping shifting consumer behaviour

    Dentsu 2023 Media Trends: Industry trends tapping shifting consumer behaviour

    Mumbai: dentsu International has compiled and released the insights and projections of all its global media agencies into the comprehensive 2023 Media Trends guide for marketers worldwide for the second year in a row.  

    The analysis released on Thursday covers the top media trends to watch out for in the upcoming year, drawing on experts and professionals from Carat, dentsu X, and iProspect.

    With over 35 pages of commentary, dentsu 2023 Media Trends examines ten industry trends that will shape how brands tap into shifting consumer behaviour and have significant implications for future campaigns and budget allocations. The unique report conveniently groups these key 2023 trends within three overarching categories reflecting the core themes of content, commerce, and community.

    Speaking about the report and the collaboration involved, dentsu International global CEO, media & global clients Peter Huijboom said, “This year we witnessed a very different geopolitical landscape and a new and challenging economic outlook, which has forced brands and people to really stop and re-evaluate many things. Through all this uncertainty, we’ve been able to see the emergence of new consumer behaviours, exciting tech innovation, and the spark of profitable new media opportunities for brands.”

    “As a leading agency network, we pride ourselves on knowing people better than anyone else and understanding what’s next. This couldn’t be made clearer than within this 2023 Media Trends report: our media specialists from around the globe have once again identified those burgeoning societal shifts impacting the industry and brought them into the spotlight,” he added.

    The key predictions for the direction of the media industry into 2023 and beyond mentioned in the new dentsu report are:

    Content:

    2023 will bring changes in the content people consume and how they do it. The speed of the shift to digital platforms shows no signs of slowing down, especially in the video-on-demand and gaming industries. The changes in the general economic landscape will lead consumers to evaluate the number of platforms and associated costs linked to subscriptions. The advance of advertising streams may not only provide an alternative to consumers, but it will also provide brands with an opportunity to attract the attention of consumers and capitalise on advertising streams.

    #1 AVoD eats SVoD – Ad-funded video platform is set to overtake subscription channels with time, as major streaming platforms are adding ad-funded tiers.

    #2 Games everywhere – Gaming is becoming mainstream. Games are becoming increasingly prominent on content sites to drive repeat users.

    #3 Attention brings back the essence of advertising – Interest in attention is growing as brands look beyond metrics of reach and viewability to assess consumer engagement and make more effective decisions.

    Commerce

    Digital commerce continues to evolve, both in importance and in the diversification of sites, apps, and platforms. Consumers are now able to shop at any time from almost anywhere, paving the way for both retail sites and apps to expand their services and offerings to cater to shifting consumer demand and flexibility. The challenge for brands is to engage directly with consumers while at the same time planning and adapting for a cookieless future and respecting data privacy.

    #1 From going shopping to always shopping – consumers can shop anywhere and anytime. As a result, retail sites are evolving into content sites, and commerce sites are changing into media sites.

    #2 Retail media shakes up adland – Retail platforms and sites are turning themselves into advertising platforms and becoming attractive propositions for brands due to retailers’ huge wealth of first-party data.

    #3 The rise of the super apps – Apps are evolving and continue to build ecosystems offering a wide range of services to anticipate and cater for users’ needs.

    #4 No way back for third-party cookies – Brands continue to navigate a cookieless future and advertisers will explore and test the solutions working best for their brands.

    Community

    Digitalised communities are a mainstay by now. They continue to change and reflect both technological and societal changes. Social media platforms are adopting their algorithms to encourage engagement, and within social media, “live” events are spilling over to other platforms, forming new communities. Consumers are now able to join global communities that align with their personal views on sustainability and responsibility. Brands should understand the motivations and formation of online communities to encourage engagement and adaptations to future campaigns to better connect with their chosen audience in the context most befitting the intended message.

    #1 ‘Going Live’ goes a long way – Brands and platforms are increasingly using the ‘go live’ functions to build a community to create interest through live events. Not only to bring consumers together but also to encourage live, active engagement.

    #2 Responsibility takes centre stage – Communities are emerging through a common emphasis on brand responsibility. Platforms are opportunities to share relevant content and increasingly measure the impacts of campaigns.

    #3 Social algorithms give users what they don’t know they want – It is not about who you follow as much as what social media platforms want you to see.

    Each trend is examined in greater depth in the report, which concludes with specific recommendations and takeaways for marketers and brands to incorporate into their plans.

  • GUEST ARTICLE: Top trends shaping the gaming industry

    GUEST ARTICLE: Top trends shaping the gaming industry

    Mumbai: Today’s gamers are accustomed to exploring realism-based 3D environments and interacting with hundreds or thousands of other players in real-time, a far cry from the blocky, unsophisticated sprites that many of us played as children. The infrastructure set up by game creators to make this possible is based on some of the most cutting-edge technology, including super-fast 5G and cloud networking, as well as powerful processors.

    Some major trends in the gaming industry are: 

    1. Cloud gaming

    The majority of the major video game developers now offer their titles through cloud-based subscription services. As long as gamers have smart TVs and small streaming devices, they won’t need to keep purchasing and upgrading pricey, power-hungry hardware and keeping it in their homes. The cloud data centre serves as the hub for everything, and streaming video is the result that is delivered to households.

    Furthermore, the continued adoption of lightning-fast networks like 5G will lead to a time when more people than ever will be able to access this new method of game delivery. All things considered, even though it’s not a given that specialised home gaming systems will vanish from our lives, 2022 is a year when business leaders will increase their investments in their vision of a streaming, cloud-based future.

    2. Virtual reality

    Over the previous five years, VR gaming has rapidly grown in popularity. One of the most thrilling gaming experiences of the coming year is anticipated to be provided by VR. Consumer headsets are becoming more and more accessible because of the declining cost of hardware. Additionally, they benefit from being able to operate both alone and when linked to a gaming PC to take advantage of the latter’s specialised skills to offer even more realistic and visually sophisticated VR experiences. Cloud VR may become a reality soon, further shrinking the size of headsets.

    3. The metaverse

    Millions of gamers now assemble in virtual worlds to participate in every sort of entertainment, and this concept of in-game worlds expanding to include various forms of entertainment will surely have a significant impact on the gaming business and culture in 2022. The largest franchises and games will increasingly reinvent themselves as “platforms,” enabling a considerably wider variety of user experiences. Others will find space in these worlds to participate in networking, conversing, or other sorts of shared interaction.

    The benefit of retaining users on their platforms will be seen by game developers, who can do this by increasing their loyalty as subscribers or by turning them into a captive audience for advertisers of all stripes. 

    4. NFTs and blockchain

    In a rather contentious move, a number of major game developers announced plans to incorporate non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a mechanism for players to win, earn, and trade exclusive in-game items. Some of these initiatives may start to materialise in 2022.

    Not all gamers are on board with the concept, especially because many believe that these tokens are a waste of energy. This is because the complex blockchain algorithms required to run them require a lot of processing power. However, it’s likely to become a reality because game publishers have stated that they believe the convergence of gaming and NFTs has a bright future and that they are willing to pay money to accomplish it.

    The proliferation of ‘play-to-earn’ games that give players cryptocurrency rewards for participating in regular play is another emerging trend.

    5. Esports

    Esports mostly refers to the evolution of video games to incorporate elements more frequently found in professional sports, such as live audiences, tournaments, leagues, sponsorships, and paid athletes. Esports will be included in a significant international multi-sport competition for the first time at the 2022 Asian Games, where they will make their official debut as a competition. Esports experienced a boom in popularity during the covid pandemic, as it did with many other forms of digital entertainment. In 2021, it earned over one billion dollars in revenue for the first time, primarily from media rights and sponsorship, and it is anticipated that it will reach nearly $2 billion in revenue by 2022.

    Furthermore, 73 million viewers watched the League of Legends World Championship final in 2021, a 60 per cent increase over 2020, and it is anticipated that this record will once again be broken in 2022. This proves that video games have indeed developed into spectator sports, and over the upcoming year, we should expect to see both an increase in the number of professional players and a rise in prize money.

    The author of this article is Glued founder Vikram Narula.

  • GUEST ARTICLE: How blockchain and the metaverse are revolutionising esports and boosting fan engagement

    GUEST ARTICLE: How blockchain and the metaverse are revolutionising esports and boosting fan engagement

    Mumbai: The gaming and esports industries, both in India and worldwide, have come a long way since their humble beginnings. From physical world cardboard games to playing Super Mario on 16-bit gaming consoles to the era of PlayStation and XBox to now playing e-games, fantasy, and multiplayer esports battle tournaments on smartphones, gaming has really evolved and become more organised and interactive with time. What is the next stage of evolution for the esports and gaming industries?

    To answer that, the next big growth frontier for the esports domain will be based on the dual wonders of metaverse and blockchain-based gaming, which are bound to transform the industry and take fan engagement to a whole new level. But the questions are how and why? Let’s delve deep to find out.

    The market and the promise

    Blockchain technology is already positively transforming the esports industry as we know it. If there is a time for blockchain-based gaming, then it is now. Today, global investors, brands, media outlets, and consumers are nothing but immensely bullish about the possibility of esports and blockchain-based gaming in the metaverse. As per insider intelligence estimates, the total viewership of esports is expected to grow at a 9 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2019 and 2023. A report by the Federation of Electronic Sports Associations of India (FEAI) predicts that the total size of India’s esports industry will be more than Rs 1,000 crore by 2025. In another latest report published by Finder, India has gained the top spot in terms of the adoption of NFT gaming and play-to-earn games, with 34 per cent of the surveyed reporting having played P2E games, and an additional 11 per cent of them willing to play such games in the near future.

    What do all of these statistics tell us? It tells us that a gaming revolution is on the horizon, and furthermore, esports within the metaverse and blockchain technology’s applications in esports are poised to be big in the coming decade. The concept of metaverse and blockchain, coupled with augmented reality and NFTs, are inter-related, with critics now arguing that blockchain, with its decentralised architecture, can help esports and games thrive both in the real-world as well as in the metaverse, by overcoming the shortcomings of centralised data storage.

    Blockchain – the disruption driver in esports arena

    The biggest advantage of blockchain is its decentralisation, which removes intermediaries and empowers players to be the decision-making authorities while adding real-world value to their virtual assets, including in-game ones. The decentralised structure of blockchain helps to bring all the stakeholders of esports like players, sponsors, media, team managers, and advertisers under one roof, thus enabling easy management and distribution of prize money, media rights, sponsorship, and fan engagement.

    With the rise of blockchain-based esports and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in esports, a new gaming model is emerging based around real asset ownership. And thereby, the new “play-to-earn” model is enabling esports to move away from free-to-play and pay-to-play models. In addition, through blockchain applications, players can get rewarded with cryptocurrencies for playing—which will be another advantage along with the emergence of the ‘metaverse’.

    Furthermore, blockchain addresses two of the industry’s major concerns: security and vulnerability, by making transactions safe, transparent, and fair by providing a decentralised, transparent ledger where no single entity controls the network, making attack or hacking nearly impossible. Also, due to low transactional costs, it is easier to transfer money or any other tokenized asset across the globe, thus democratising the sector and improving accessibility for stakeholders.

    Fan engagement 2.0: blockchain and the metaverse 

    Blockchain gaming can take fan engagement to the next level by placing players and the fans at the heart of everything they do – from the creation of fan-centric ecosystems that will enable greater interaction between fans and teams, improving relationships with sponsors, unlocking new revenue streams and much more! To begin with, fan loyalty solutions can be created through blockchain technology, which provides a frictionless way for sponsors, partners, and fans to utilise loyalty tokens across the ecosystem. Fans can also be rewarded for taking certain actions, such as interacting with the team, making purchases from sponsors, or watching advertisements.

    NFTs, for example, can be viewed as the digital equivalent of trading cards in the future, with entire leagues, teams, and individuals licencing them today. Harnessing NFTs can unlock multiple opportunities for esports fans, who can use NFTs to unlock access to VIP spaces, clubs, and channels hosted by leading esports teams, which will allow fans to get closer to their favourite teams and gain a sense of camaraderie. Teams could also build a virtual version of their stadium in the metaverse and sell NFTs as tickets to fans for tours. Over time, NFTs can additionally become the digital tool for membership, rewards, access, and other aspects of ongoing fandom.

    Also, blockchain technology can be used to create and develop tokenized membership or fan tokens that may be purchased by fans and used to unlock discounts, rewards, exclusive content, etc. It can also unlock ways of interacting with pro teams/orgs wherein fans can use their token to get exclusive content, digital collectibles, merchandise, or behind-the-scenes sessions. Fans can even use their token to gain voting rights for their favourite epsorts teams and players, giving them a greater sense of belonging to their favourite epsorts teams and players. Moreover, given that blockchain-based platforms are extremely secure, flexible, and easy-to-scale, fans can make use of digital wallets to store and redeem tokens with ease, make transactions incredibly fast, and earn their rewards quicker than traditional loyalty platforms.

    On the other hand, esports in the metaverse will evolve to be a close-to-reality experience. What are the ways that the metaverse will make gaming more immersive and boost fan engagement? To start with, we will move from a physical event to an immersive hybrid model where instead of attending a tournament arena to watch the players, one could enter a virtual environment that places one within the play environment itself. Thus, esports tournaments in the metaverse could virtualize the entire experience for fans in a never-seen-before manner.

    In conclusion

    While metaverse is still in its early stages as of today, there is a growing interest in the Indian start-up ecosystem in the adoption of web 3.0 and blockchain in this sector. No wonder we are witnessing a revolution in gaming with blockchain. The intersection of blockchain, metaverse, and esports is certain to make gaming more integrated with our real-world experiences and will also make fan engagement more deeply personal, unique, and innovative. Together, blockchain and esports will create an ecosystem that will work seamlessly and make gaming more immersive, fun, and engaging for players.

    The author of the article is Stan co-founder and CEO Parth Chadha.

  • PokerBaazi.com unveils ‘You Hold the Cards’; onboards Shahid Kapoor

    PokerBaazi.com unveils ‘You Hold the Cards’; onboards Shahid Kapoor

    Mumbai: Online poker platform PokerBaazi.com has launched its new brand campaign ‘You Hold the Cards’ featuring their brand ambassador and Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor.

    With the campaign titled ‘You Hold the Cards’, the brand aims to create awareness about poker as a skill-based sport and establish that in poker, the game is under your control, and one can emerge victorious based on skills, determination, and right strategy.

    As part of the campaign, a brand film has been launched featuring Shahid Kapoor, which showcases him as the protagonist who goes through various unexpected situations that aren’t under his control. However, he continues to focus on his game on the PokerBaazi app and finally comes on top with his true resilience and skills. The film attempts to debunk the myth of luck playing an upper hand in poker while the reality is that skill is the key element to success.

    Speaking on the campaign launch, Baazi Games co-founder and marketing director Varun Ganjoo said, “Poker is a sport, period. Poker is also a lot of fun. We are extremely thrilled with the launch of our campaign “You Hold the Cards” and excited to have Shahid Kapoor as our flagbearer. The idea of this campaign is primarily to create awareness around poker as a skill sport which the brand film captures beautifully. This is a big step forward towards making poker a household game in our country. While our approach is digital-first, the campaign shall be promoted across all possible avenues aligned with our target audience.”

    Shahid Kapoor said, “When I was introduced to the key insight behind the PokerBaazi campaign, ‘Experts are made, not born,’ it resonated with me instantly and got me all excited. Being able to control one’s fate with the right planning, strategy & sheer grit, and eventually emerging victorious is almost identical to our lives. I strongly believe that the campaign will showcase online poker as a sport which is equally fun & thrilling and will win the hearts of the audiences.”

    The campaign designed and conceptualised by Wieden+Kennedy, will go LIVE across channels including social media, OOH, OTT amongst others.

    Commenting on the campaign, Wieden+Kennedy creative directors Amrish Kondurkar and Sunayna Sabharwal said, “Poker is a new space in the world of gaming apps in India and it does come with its baggage of being exclusive for only those who know how to play the game well and therefore makes it a bit limiting. We wanted to treat this campaign as a way to build a personality for the brand which is truly distinct. While the category goes behind the usual areas of winning/making money, we created a space which came from a true-life insight and could make people feel they had a chance. That’s where the tagline, Pokerbaazi, ‘You hold the cards’ came from. To clearly establish that what matters is your skill and not luck.”

    They further added, “We kept the tonality fun with a strong attitude so that a regular person with a smartphone would feel like taking a shot. Whether it’s the film, the music or the print campaign, each touch point goes back to our attempt to make the Pokerbaazi app a must have on their phone.”

    PokerBaazi.com’s announcement of its association with Shahid Kapoor earlier this week comes at a time when the platform recently recorded a billion poker hands being played on its app since its origin in October 2014. The customer-first platform, co-founded by a group of passionate poker lovers, has acquired the top rank in the segment and this campaign, according to the brand, is certainly going to level up poker in India.

  • RummyCircle unveils new TVCs featuring Hrithik Roshan

    RummyCircle unveils new TVCs featuring Hrithik Roshan

    Mumbai: Online skill gaming platform RummyCircle on Monday unveiled two new TVC campaigns featuring Bollywood star and brand ambassador Hrithik Roshan.

    The TVCs highlight the company’s vision to redefine online rummy and skill gaming in India. The new ads are based on overcoming the challenges in life, much like the game of Rummy, in a unique, fun and action-packed manner.

    The brand unveiled both new ads via a high decibel television commercial. The new campaigns demonstrate real-life scenarios where Hrithik is engrossed in the game of rummy and how he overcomes the challenges by being one step ahead. Hrithik will be seen in multimedia campaigns by RummyCircle, spanning across TV, digital and social media platforms.

    One of the ads- “Photoshoot,” as the name suggests, is set in a background where an action scene is shot but the harness snaps. Energetic in his demeanour, Hrithik works up a model with local props to make the shoot happen. Similarly, the other ad “Yacht” showcases how a well-lit background goes dark due to a power cut, but Hrithik finds a way to resume the celebrations in an even more interesting manner. Both the TVCs convey a powerful message that presence of mind paired with the right attitude can help deal with situations logically illustrates ‘Jo hoshiyari se khele, use jeetne se koi rok nahin sakta’ and inspires the audience to stay resilient.

  • Vodafone Idea launches Vi Games in partnership with Nazara Technologies

    Vodafone Idea launches Vi Games in partnership with Nazara Technologies

    Mumbai: Vodafone Idea on Monday announced its foray into mobile gaming with the launch of Vi Games in partnership with Nazara Technologies. This will be the first phase of the company’s entry into the gaming space with subsequent expansion into esports, social gaming, streaming, and cloud gaming.

    Vi Games will be a destination within the Vi App and will offer more than 1200+ mobile games across ten genres to Vi customers in HTML5 and Android format. Vi Games has a massive catalogue of titles to choose from out of which 80 per cent are exclusively available on Vi App. While 27 per cent of the portfolio has free games, at an additional fee, prepaid and postpaid customers can access premium and super-premium games.

    Nazara Technologies have come on board as a technology partner and will support Vi Games by bringing its experience, competency and diversity of titles in mobile gaming. The company operates in 75 countries and has partnered with 50 telecom operators.

    Casual gaming is a Rs 6,000 crore market in India growing at 40 per cent CAGR in the last two years. It is expected to grow by an additional 30 per cent in the coming two years to touch Rs 17,000 crore in value. The majority of gaming consumption in India happens via mobile devices which accounts for 95 per cent of consumption. There are about 400 million casual games in India which is expected to cross 650 million users by 2025. Globally, gaming accounts for 70 per cent of mobile consumer spending.

    “We are seeing a significant uptake of gaming consumption in India with more than 95 per cent of gaming enthusiasts using the mobile device to enjoy a wide variety of content,” said Vodafone Idea chief marketing officer Avneesh Khosla. “Deeper penetration of smartphones and 4G availability has led to meteoric growth and adoption of gaming content making it a popular choice for fun and entertainment.”

    “While GenZ was driving the first wave of adoption in gaming, recent growth is far more encompassing,” said Khosla. “Women account for 43 per cent of gamers in India and 50 per cent of women gamers are above the age of 34. Gaming attracts a diverse mix of cohorts regardless of age, gender and geography.  

    “We see gaming as a major focus area of our digital content strategy and we intend to build a comprehensive play encompassing most facets of gaming with the aim of establishing Vi as a preferred destination for both, casual as well as serious gamers,” he added.

    “Gaming is not only the future of entertainment in India but already a key mode of entertainment for hundreds of millions of Indians playing games on their mobile phones every day,” said Nazara Technologies founder and group MD Nitish Mittersain. “Nazara is delighted to work with Vi to bring our entire portfolio of gaming content, esports and interactive entertainment to their larger user base.”

    The average Indian mobile user consumes an average of 16 Gb of data per month which is 60 per cent higher than the industry average at 9 Gb. Indians now spend one-third of their waking hours on mobile devices and at least three fourth Indians have played one mobile game.

    “In the last two decades, we have seen a dramatic change in the macro factors like penetration of mobile devices and cheap data that have helped make India a global giant in gaming,’ noted Mittersain. “Today gaming is reaching across demographics and there is a lot of opportunity to collaborate.”

  • Witzeal onboards Naveen Goswami as head of innovation

    Witzeal onboards Naveen Goswami as head of innovation

    Mumbai: Witzeal, a new age gaming technology company on Tuesday announced the appointment of Naveen Goswami as head of innovation. With this appointment, Witzeal is determined to strengthen its leadership team and bring about revolutionising change and innovation to the players of Big Cash, thereby providing a remarkable gaming experience to its user base.  

    “Innovation is an imperative module for growth of any company, and we are constantly working towards honing our innovation skill and team,” said Witzeal CEO and founder Ankur Singh. “We are delighted to welcome Naveen on board and look forward to taking Witzeal to greater heights with his expertise and knowledge. His extensive experience in establishing technologies and various teams in different organisations will contribute to the quality of our services and the overall zeal of the team,”

    In this role,Goswami will play a pivotal role in driving new product innovation and development at Witzeal with an aim to bring a qualitative difference to Witzeal’s gaming platform over the years of growth to come. Additionally, he shall be responsible to oversee and implement changes in approaches, methods, products, and processes to enhance competitiveness and improve overall gaming experience, said the statement. 

    The gaming industry in India is growing at an exponential rate and is estimated to reach $3.9 billion by 2025, making it one of the most profitable sectors in the country. Witzeal has and continues to focus on innovation to foster a holistic growth in this sunrise sector and Goswami’s expertise will help the brand to cater to a wider ecosystem, said the company. 

    Goswami is a visionary technology leader and a strategist with over 18 years of experience with proficiency in identifying new revenue enhancement initiatives, designing customer experience journeys. His technical area of expertise is microservices, cloud computing, security, infrastructure automation, auto scaling, virtualisation, disaster recovery, monitoring and management. He has a diverse background in technology, having worked with companies such as ShepHertz, VMware, Digital River, Ericsson, and others on ideation, design, implementation, and deployment of large products on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure to centralise massive volumes of data for analytic purposes and to migrate Data Warehouses to the cloud.

    “In today’s booming online gaming sector, creative use of technology and data can work wonders. I’m excited to be able to put my skills to the test by managing the product Innovation team and securing Big Cash’s and its players’ rapid growth,” stated Naveen Goswami on his new role.

  • The SMC Group inks deal with ESSC to launch operations in India

    Mumbai: The U.K. headquartered entertainment marketing, The SMC Group has announced its operation in India in a strategic partnership with El Sol Strategic Consultants (ESSC), a full-service brand consultancy. Through this venture, The SMC Group aims to unite companies and talent together in India and establish brands via engrossing avenues of sonic marketing, gaming, and e-sports. ESSC’s founder & CEO Elisha Saigal will take on the baton to represent SMC in India.

    The association will enable The SMC Group to lay the groundwork for its initiatives in India whilst also providing ESSC clients access to a global network of artists and global talent from across countries.

    “We are forging an exciting partnership through this unison as SMC India – one that is essential to local industries to create valuable opportunities for brands from across sectors,” said The SMC Group CEO Maurice Hamilton. “With El Sol Strategic Consultants’ strong foundation and network in PR, social media marketing along with influence and celebrity outreach, SMC India will explore modern marketing via gaming, sonic, and e-sports. The workshop with El Sol Strategic Consultants is the first of many initiatives to strengthen our talent and our presence not only locally but also globally and we look forward to what the association has in store for us.”

    Speaking on the partnership, Saigal said, “We are elated to be partnering with the SMC group in a long-term association as SMC India. With the newly-formed SMC India, we are now adding a new vertical to our existing business. Keeping in mind the constantly evolving modern marketing trends, SMC India will introduce Indian brands to exciting facets of sonic, gaming & e-sports marketing and provide brands in India, access to talent from across 16 countries.”
    To kick start its operations in India, an introductory workshop on the latest trends and the various marketing, branding, engagement opportunities that can be leveraged by brands, and agencies through the medium of gaming and e-sports will be hosted on 30 June at 5pm.  

    The two-hour session will be conducted by SMC Gaming directors Nick Smith and Romain Tixier who bring with them a plethora of experience in the global gaming and esports space. 

  • Animation companies upbeat on West Bengal

    Animation companies upbeat on West Bengal

    KOLKATA: The Indian animation and gaming industry in India is worth around $2,477 million with a growth rate of 35 per cent (2009-2013). West Bengal, which showed the least amount of growth some years ago with outsourcing as the main nature of work, is now attracting companies to set up their base here.

     

    The industry has potential for growth, both in terms of size and moving up the value chain, reveals a report on animation, broadcasting and gaming by Deloitte.

     

    Seeing good opportunities, players like Big Animation (an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company), Arena Animation, NiDT and the Zee Institute of Creative Arts (ZICA) have set their sights on Kolkata. 

     

    According to NiDT director Chaitali Ghosh, the animation visual gaming sector, offering an opportunity never realized earlier, is now catching up in Kolkata.

     

    An expert said creativity from West Bengal is overflowing and a trinity should be created among government, industry and academia for the growth of the industry in eastern region.

     

    Webel DQE Animation Academy has placed more than 1100 students in various firms and is working on the animated version of Jungle Book apart from French and German movies. A production facility in Kolkata is also on the charts.

     

    ZICA director Shrey Agarwal informs that the company’s in-house studio in New Alipore is in the pipeline. Additionally, Arena Animation director Ramesh Kumar Ruia says that they has started a graduation course on animation. 

     

    Quoting Economic Survey 2014-15, an expert opined that Kolkata as a creative hub looked promising on the chart. “Seeing that digital advertising and gaming verticals are expected to drive growth on Indian media and entertainment industry in the next few years, West Bengal is likely to play a key role, firstly being a creative center of artists and secondly an important state in the eastern region. India is also emerging as the new favourite of international studios, with 100 per cent FDI permitted in the film sector,” he said.