BENGALURU: Karnataka is all set to launch a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in gaming, a one of its kind, state-of-the-art institution housing a complete ecosystem of hardware and software, which will be a platform for innovators and the government, announced Rural Development and Panchayat Raj and IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge on Wednesday.
“We will have the most successful CoE in gaming being run from Karnataka. The state will also host an e-gaming summit and developer conference next year,” he said at the GAFX-2024 (gaming, animation, visual effects) conference in Bengaluru.
The minister said Karnataka and Bengaluru have everything to become the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic (AVGC) capital of India. “The state wants to foster not only innovation but also creation of intellectual property within the sector so that it attracts more people. It is important for the state to maintain the leadership position and we want to be the AVGC and the creative capital for the country as well,” Kharge said.
Promoting the AVGC sector, the minister said it has the potential to create employment across various verticals within the gaming sector. Currently the industry employs close to one lakh people, directly and indirectly. By 2025, it has the potential to go up to 2.5 lakh people, he said. India has close to 1,400 online gaming start-ups and this is steadily growing.
Suggestions from the industry proposed during the panel discussions included introducing upskilling programmes, incubation centres and B2B platforms for diverse opportunities.
The government also announced the AVGC-XR policy 3.0 for Karnataka for the industry focusing on six pillars. It aims to address key areas such as infrastructure advancement, talent development, funding mechanisms and regulatory methods to create a robust ecosystem to foster creativity and sustainability.
Responsible gaming to digital detox
While the government aims to promote the industry’s growth through policy and build an ecosystem in Karnataka, Kharge said the government also wants to be responsible. “We want to create awareness on the ills of the sector, be it generative AI, excessive gaming or deep fakes. We will come out with several initiatives such as awareness campaigns on gaming to protect youngsters and enable positive gaming,” Kharge said.
The government is also looking at launching a ‘digital detox’ initiative with the Gaming Federation of India (GFI) and establishing a framework. The effort will also focus on visiting schools and colleges along with mental health practitioners to spread awareness on these issues.
Gaming capital
Indians downloaded 430 crore gaming applications in India in 2023. While that is a huge figure, Indians also made in-game purchases of Rs 8,370 crore in the same year. India’s online gaming market has a valuation of Rs 1.6 lakh crore. The industry in 2024-2028 is expected to contribute TDS of Rs 6,500 crore to Rs 6,800 crore.