Big tech companies are laying off thousands of employees, and the online gaming industry in India, which is anticipated to reach $1.9 bn by 2024, could help in lessening the burden.

The online gaming industry presently employs almost 50,000 people as programmers and developers, accounting for 30% of the workforce.

According to a recent report from staffing firm TeamLease Digital, the online gaming industry is anticipated to grow by 20–30% and create one lakh new direct and indirect jobs by the end of FY23. The report highlighted that these anticipated new job opportunities are expected to be available in all domains, which include programming, testing, animation, and design.

As indicated by Soham Thacker, CEO and Founder of Gamerji, the speed of development of this industry would assist with creating more positions, yet may not help the tech folks who have been laid off as of late. It is because, apart from the technical jobs, there are other skill-based jobs like animation, graphics, content creation, game development, professional playing, and so on, which comprise the total pool of occupations in the industry. Manvendra Shukul, CEO and Founder of Lakshya, likewise said that game development requires knowledge as well as competencies in specific game engines or technologies. He said the tech company employees would need “major retraining/reskilling” before they could contribute effectively to a game development project.

However, Roland Landers, CEO of the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF), believes the gaming industry may help decrease the heat of layoffs. “There is a huge demand for highly skilled talent, and the gaming industry can act as a window of opportunity for many who have had to face layoffs recently, especially if they are keen to contribute to a sunrise sector for Digital India.”

THE PAY OFFICE
According to Roland Landers, packages may vary from place to place, and a lot depends on the profits. “For instance, ambiguities in the valuation mechanisms for goods and services tax (GST) from the industry “It could lead to disastrous outcomes and need to be addressed so that we do not end up with an 1100% increase in tax liability,” he said, adding, “This ambiguity in the GST regime can have ripple effects affecting profitability.”

On the other side, Gamerji’s CEO said gaming pays at least as well as or perhaps more in certain positions for specialized talent than conventional IT jobs. “Good content creators or game developers are paid handsomely.” Game development, or the virtual graphics industry, pays the most; not only Indian but also foreign companies outsource their work to professional Indian game development studios. Content creation also pays well for influencers, with brands paying anything from a few thousand to lakhs for ad integrations.

Manvendra Shukul said there is a misconception that the video game industry doesn’t pay enough. “It is one of the best paymasters compared to most sectors.” With the right skills, you can earn more in-game engineering than in a regular IT job in India or abroad. Even in the art and animation field of game development, artists get paid as much or even more than any other regular job of an artist. The same holds true for a game designer’s position. “Other positions in the gaming industry pay the same, if not more, than their equivalents in other industries,” he said.

THE JOB AT HAND
According to Roland Landers, in the gaming industry, there are a lot of roles available across different levels. When asked whether the industry prefers experienced individuals over freshers, Roland Landers believes that talent matters most and experience is secondary.

Soham Thacker expressed that it is truly challenging to track down experienced talent in gaming due to the age of the industry. “Hence, fresh talent with a good interest in learning is preferred,” he added.

Manvendra Shukul believes that with the right basic competencies and skills, the required training for upskilling can be given. “That is why focusing on creating good and industry-relevant training programmes is the need of the hour,” he suggested.

GROWTH STORY
Roland Landers expressed that India’s gaming industry has seen the best adoption in the mobile gaming section. As indicated by him, unlike overseas, India has seen incredible smartphone-based growth, while good gaming PCs or consoles are as yet unaffordable for most gamers. “Mobile gaming is also a sector that is seeing a lot of growth.” “Hopefully, we will see an increase in demand for eSports, PC, and console gaming,” said Roland Landers.

Bhaskar Majumdar, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, told News18 that this industry is prospering with the number of gamers, particularly Gen Z.He believes that with the intersection of Web3, Metaverse, and gamification, more organizations will arise and set out opportunities for young talents. Referring to a report by Niko Partners, Majumdar said that the PC and mobile gaming market in India are projected to reach a total of 396.4 million gamers this year, generating player spending of $704.5 million.

“India is currently the fastest-growing market in the Asia-Pacific region, both in terms of revenue and number of gamers.” “Online gaming will undoubtedly boom and witness massive growth,” he said.

Credit: News 18