The Indian Gaming Industry Under One Roof – NASSCOM GDC
9 years ago Soumalya Chakraborty
Game jams, gaming startups, game developer meet ups, indie releases- a tech news feed constantly bombarded with such updates bears testimony to the burgeoning gaming industry in India. Online forums are choc a bloc with new entrants talking about their first release, gamers discussing mechanics of new titles they are playing and experienced professionals expressing excitement over the rapidly growing market. Suffice to say that events centred around games are receiving tremendous response and developers, artists, designers and gamers are thronging them in large numbers to network, learn and exchange ideas.
Speaking of gaming events in India, the Game Developer Conference organised by NASSCOM stands apart as the premier one. Starting off when the Indian gaming industry was still at a nascent state, the conference was one of the earliest opportunities for professionals to meet and interact with each other as well as with notable names from the profession such as Mark Skaggs from Zynga and Glen Schofield from Sledgehammer Games (a subsidiary of Activision). Gradually, the event gained prominence and is now a must attend for industry professionals and gaming enthusiasts from India and abroad.
The NASSCOM Gaming Forum, which was set up eight years back, boasts of an advisory council with representatives from India’s top gaming companies. It has five active city chapters – Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune and Bangalore – each of which regularly hosts developer meet-ups. This enables the forum to attract the best minds from the industry to come forward and speak at this conference. Apart from presentations and panel discussions, the conference features workshops for budding game developers, designers, artists and entrepreneurs. It also hosts a two-day “Build Your Own Game” session which provides an opportunity to students in the field to form teams, make a game, have it judged by an eminent panel and get rewarded. The experience of making a product and having experts in the field evaluate it would surely provide students with substantial insight to get going on their own startups after completion of courses.
The event, being related to gaming, cannot be a sombre and serious affair right? Well, it’s not! When the time for sessions and debates are over, the participants are treated to musical evenings featuring rock bands and unlimited beer. There are ample opportunities for delegates and attendees to socialise with the organisers arranging post-event meet ups and setting up forums on social media.
With the event attracting industry players and enthusiasts from all over, it’s inevitable that recruiters would look to use it as a platform to identify and connect with the right talent. To facilitate this exchange, NASSCOM provides stall space to companies from India and abroad to showcase their work and get acquainted with candidates who would be interested in the opportunities they have to offer.
This year’s GDC is only a couple of months away and is already shaping up to be a grand event with over 60 speakers, 40 planned sessions, a dedicated day for workshops and other opportunities to network and have fun. If this sounds exciting, head over to the registration page and book your seat TODAY!
