Chennai: What’s in a game one may ask? The dimensions of gaming has changed beyond the realm of imagination and seeing children or even elders playing in the open grounds has become a rare sight nowadays owing to the huge and swanky buildings rising over the vacant grounds, thus shrinking the space for playing outdoor. On the flip side, with the internet becoming affordable, playing virtual games at the comfort of living rooms has become the latest fad among people now.
India has become the second largest smartphone market after China and with the government providing impetus to affordable high-speed Internet, gaming is poised for growth, opine experts. India is one of the world’s top five countries for mobile gaming and giants such as Alibaba, Youzu or Tencent have made a huge investment. Gaming is a $900 million industry, with a potential to go over $1 billion by 2020. Since 2010, the number of gaming studios in India has grown from 25 to over 250, and number is on the rise.
The Indian gaming market is forecast to grow almost entirely driven by growth in mobile gaming revenue, Frost & Sullivan said in a report. The global games market generated revenue of $104.8 billion in 2016, an increase of 12.6 % from 2015. Global revenue is likely to increase to $151.7 billion in 2021. “Growth is expected to be driven from South-East Asia, Middle East and India as these regions have an advantage of optimistic economic outlook, favourable demographics and rising growth in smartphone penetration and Internet,” the report said.
A typical gaming station in the city may appear desolate during the day but revs up towards the evening. School or college vacation time will apparently see these stations bustling with teenagers. And at home, kids connect to internet on the mobile and play the games. If he is a hungry gamer, or has a friend who doesn’t really get all the gaming language, then the two don’t bother to visit an expansive café around but merely connect to the internet and engage themselves in a virtual reality game that may involve two or more players at the same time - and not necessarily (for the players) to be at the same place. Whatsapp is also used to send messages in between. The conversation or action can be seen rolling on the mobile’s display.
“The key demographic is the 15 to 30-year-olds, and we want to please them,” says an Internet café owner who sees more business in gaming rather than browsing.
Globally, gaming is an $18 billion industry, with some gaming tournaments offering an average $1 million as prize money. Though India has great potential, there is no necessary infrastructure here.
Chennai’s Arknemesis, at the Ispahani Centre, Nungambakkam, offers a thrilling experience of gaming. Arknemesis is touted to be the largest gaming lounge in South Asia and accounts for the state-of-the-art gaming lounge and café with equipment from some of the biggest players in the gaming industry: Asus, Corsair, NVIDIA and Sony.
“In most of the games ranging from board games to interactive fiction games artificial intelligence (AI) play a predominant role. The games provide interesting and complex problems, offering creativity and expression,” an expert says and adds that the current gaming industry not only deploys better graphics but also explores the area of virtual gameplay. The two-way relationship of gaming and AI has begun to tread a new road and it can be said that the gaming industry is largely revolutionising the way AI works.
The GTA and action adventure video games apart, games like Granny and FIFA mobile, to name a few hold the audience in sway.
