India’s Video game Industry: An appeal to define, support, and incubate
70 Indian Video Game Companies write to the PMO and the MIB
Seventy of the nation’s video game companies have come together and written to the newly formed central government regarding policy and lawmaking in the sector on July 9.
The representation, addressed to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, highlights the need for a two-way split in the category “online games” (as proposed in the Online Gaming Act) into video games and real money games.
The letter also observes that the potential of the country’s nascent game industry to reach revenues worth USD 1.6 billion by 2029 – a number that, if realized, would eclipse the combined revenues of the various Indian film industries.
The representation also makes nine other requests apart from the need for both the unpacking and a more complete understanding of the term “online gaming” – a move that would allow makers of digital games to be decoupled from offerings like Dream11 and Rummy Circle while also ensuring that they aren’t subjected to the punitive 28% taxation slab.
The suggestions are:
1. Break up the term “online games” into distinct categories of “video games” and “real money games” for conducive policymaking
2. Control misrepresentation – I&B Ministry to issue a notification that restricts media from using images of video games in coverage related to real money games
3. Regulatory streamlining – appoint I&B Ministry as the nodal agency for video games and create a dedicated wing for animation, visual effects, gaming and comics and extended reality (AVGC-XR) and appoint a nodal officer
4. Consider not imposing regulations pre-maturely on the video game industry
5. An essential focus on fostering the requisite capabilities and support structures for promoting original IP creation and ownership
6. Bolstering skilling and vocational training with regards to video games as career opportunities by providing support for professors of practice and train the trainer models, and updating the MESC and NSQF mechanisms
7. Reforming education – creating standards and benchmarking frameworks for higher education in game development and esports.
8. Providing access to markets by setting up financial assistance that video gaming conference organizers can access to facilitate India delegations and pavilions at international video gaming events.
9. Rationalising import duties and easing customs process for crucial proprietary development hardware.
10. Move video games from the 18% to 12% GST bracket.
The ten requests made by the game studios aren’t radically different from what other nascent industries have sought from their governments both in India and around the world.
If one were to trace the various support mechanisms provided to the nation’s IT industry in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and even today, it would be clearly apparent that there are many ways in which India’s gaming industry can be fostered and nurtured. The requests for formal education programs in game building, design, and critical game studies seem like a great way to begin the country’s gaming revolution.
It is important that the requests are engaged with, and a proactive initiative is shown by the powers that be. Otherwise, with one of the largest player bases in the world, our gaming industry would be hamstrung and at a distinct disadvantage.
The global gaming industry is worth over USD 180 billion every year, and we are already extremely late to the party.
