"What is an Indian First-Person Shooter?" SIE Business Head Talks About Future of Indian Gaming

In recent times, huge names from the industry have been coming forward to invest in Indian game developers. In April 2023, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced the India Hero Project incubator Project, which aims to support Indian game developers and nurture emerging talent from India. During their conversation with IGN Japan, Sony Interactive Entertainment's third-party business lead, Hector Fernandez and India Hero Project Project manager, Sujith Sukumaran, discuss their upcoming plans regarding the Indian Hero Project. 

The stakeholders have shown keen interest in the Indian Gaming ecosystem and believe the region has a lot to offer to the world. While talking about their aim, Fernandez says, "We want to help realise an ecosystem and to be a part of that ecosystem so that the Indian creators and developers have the same opportunities that developers have across the world."

Last month, the publisher of Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), Krafton, launched their incubator Project, Krafton India Gaming Incubator. The idea behind Krafton India Gaming Incubator was to foster early-stage Indian startups and help them bring their concepts and ideas to life. 

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Sony PlayStation's India Hero Project Aims To "Showcase the Talent from India" 

PlayStation announced its first-ever incubator Project in China in 2016 under the banner of the China Hero Project. The Chinese iteration of PlayStation's incubator Project was hugely successful with the release of F.I.ST.: Forged In Shadow Torch, Awaken: Astral Blade and Daba: Land of Waterscar. After its success in China, the PlayStation pivoted to India for India Hero Project, upon which Fernandez said:

India really stood out because of the favourable demographics. When you dig a little deeper, and you start to look at the creativity that's coming out in India, obviously in film, television and music, there's all this creativity that's there – but it also extends into video games.

With the help of the India Hero Project, developers will receive all kinds of support, from financial needs to industrial mentorship. Sukumaran says:

We want to showcase the talent from India, offer local advocacy for global backing and their products globally, and bring our global expertise and know-how to give developers the experience to make a console game and make it a commercial success.

As of November 2023, the India Hero Project has received many applications. While talking about the applicants, Fernandez reveals some interesting statistics. He says their team expected more applications for MOBA and multiplayer games, but to his surprise, around 25% of the developers pitched adventure games. Fernandez was amazed to see the concepts from the developers of first-person shooter games and rhetorically asked in excitement, "What does a single-player narrative-driven game that comes out of India look like?"