40 to 50 million Indians play it every day and some quite obsessively. Age is no barrier, the kid studying the intricacies of the Pythagoras theorem may be mad for Angry Birds, but so is the CEO obsessed with his bottom-line.
Goa is quite taken up with these games. Candy crush, Angry Birds, Temple Run, Farmville and now Pokemon Go are as popular here as it is in the rest of the world. There is also a big presence online of teenagers who are interested in competitive games like Counter Strike, Dota 2, Team Fortress, Call of Duty etc.
Everyone loves to play them but how many enjoy the process of ideating and creating these games. In Goa, the creation of gaming software is not on the list of to do’s for the youth. Many software start-ups focus on the development of apps which they hope will be purchased by an online platform for the millions that will bring them fame and fortune.
The only company in the State that was involved in the creation of games has decided to move on from that space. RZ2 headed by Pradeep Seghal which set up operations around 2007 is now moving on to other aspects of the IT space.
Mr Seghal said “We are getting out. We have scaled down the operations. The monies are just not there. People don’t want to pay the fees required for the creation of a new game. Earlier they would not blink at perhaps a budget of Rs 15 lakh but today they would like you to work within Rs 3 lakh. We can’t compete in such a market.”
“This has in turn led to an increase in the number of freelancers who come up with these games. The norm is for one guy to pitch and he will then out source an aspect of the game if required for a small fee. He then makes a pretty decent sum of money. Companies can never survive on such budgets. And then yes more importantly the times lines have reduced dramatically. They want the game given to them at the earliest,” he added. This in turn creates problems of its own.
According to Mr Seghal the software professionals who create these games are a breed apart. They love the complexity and the pressure of playing and competing online but they buckle if they are told the deadline for the ideation and the completion of the entire projects is just a month away. The skill sets were the same when compared to software professionals in a large IT corporate. It is in the application of the skills that make these guys exotic, he said.
Prashant Shamanmugam who helps create games says projects usually last 6 month and he had worked on 3 such projects but now with games having moved into the virtual reality space there was absolutely nothing happening in Goa.
Games are now multiplayer, real time and thousands of players could now play online on the same time on the same game. He has now moved to working with another start-up in a different space.
It is also pointing out that developing games does not necessarily mean it will be successful. Rovio of Holland created 51 games before it came up with the mega hit Angry Birds.
Jervis Pereira, director GITIC said “At a college fest, there were a few students with great animation skills which were apparent in the games that were created. The talent and the interest is there and now the expertise has to be developed.”
Sangeeta Naik of Digital Goa had trained school children as young as 9 in the software scratch at a workshop held in rural Goa.
She said “It is important for the kids to realize that such changes are taking place and they can be part of it. There is absolutely nothing in the school curriculum to help them understand these changes. It is not about making these children consumers of this technology but of being able to understand the world that is changing.”
In India 27% of companies in the gaming space had revenues over $1.6 million according to data collected in 2014. 96% of gaming takes place on mobile phones. 61% operate on the free to pay model.
Another point that has to be noted by developers is the limited storage space in budget phones. In addition free Internet bandwidth is not so common in the country. This can create resistance when it comes to completing downloads. Anything under 25MB is ideal given the ground realities.
With the app stores mostly ruled by a few high-end, big-budget games, aiming for the newest and least served consumers may be one of the best bets a small studio can make. Perhaps in the next five years it could be safe to predict that Goan game designers will come up with the next big game that will catch the fancy of the country and perhaps even the world.
