Indian Government’s Move To Form Animation, Gaming Promotion Squad Seen As Impetus To Strong Esports Growth

While presenting the Union Budget 2022 earlier this month, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam announced plans to set up an Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC) promotion task force. This aim is to “recommend ways to realize” the ability to create jobs and “build domestic capacity” for fulfilling the growing demand in India as well as around the globe. Stakeholders have welcomed the move and are looking forward to seeing the government’s participation in growing the AVGC sector. Sitharaman, in her over one-and-a-half hour budget speech, underlined that the sector has an immense potential to employ youth in the country.

Roby John, the CEO of the Pune-based game development company SuperGaming, said that the announcement was a stamp of legitimacy for the gaming industry in the country: “Video games, unlike software, are the intersection of disciplines — art, design, tech, and commerce, and should be treated differently,” said John. However, he did mention that, while the AVGC promotion task force is a step in the right direction, it would be interesting to see how the planned development would be executed to do justice to the medium of video games.

Gaming is already considered a choice for job seekers in the country. A survey conducted by HP India last year, to which 1,500 people aged between 15–40 years responded, showed that over 90% of respondents considered gaming as a viable career path.

Gamers and gaming-focused content creators in the country are seeing the government’s plan of a promotion task force as a sign of a potential expansion of their audience. Additionally, institutions offering non-formal courses for animation and gaming consider that the government’s plan to promote AVGC makes the future promising for existing and new students.

Gaming in India is growing exponentially, with recent reports projecting that the gaming market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 30% to reach $7 billion. Another report suggests that the Indian gaming user base will grow from 433 million to 657 million by the 2025 financial year.

(All information was provided by Gadgets 360)