The former Unacademy partner and chief marketing officer (CMO), Karan Shroff, revealed his new firm, LightFury Games, on LinkedIn. Shroff has partnered with gaming industry veteran Anurag Banarjee, who will act as the company’s co-founder and CPTO, and former Unacademy senior VP-talent and culture Tina Balachandran. The startup will reveal mobile phone games initially and subsequently permeate into other gaming platforms such as consoles.
Karan Shroff, who left the C-suite of edtech behemoth Unacademy over a year ago, has joined the gaming market with the launch of his new firm LightFury Games.
The former CMO and partner of edtech unicorn Unacademy used LinkedIn to announce the opening of his new gaming studio. “I am thrilled to announce my next venture LightFury Games, we will be building high quality cutting edge AAA game titles out of India,” Shroff said in a press release.
Shroff has teamed up with gaming industry veteran Anurag Banerjee, who will act as the company’s co-founder and CPTO, and Tina Balachandran, former senior vice president of talent and culture at Unacademy.
Banerjee has nearly two decades of experience in game development and has worked on a number of high-profile AAA titles, including Assasin’s Creed, Suicide Squad, and Batman’s Arkham Asylum. He had previously worked with Ubisoft, Rocksteady Studios, and Improbable, among other notable game studios.
“Our objective is to create AAA games from India, and we’re already making an impact in the industry with our innovative approach. “At LightFury Games, we’re passionate about pushing boundaries and showcasing India’s incredible talent on a global scale,” Banerjee wrote on LinkedIn.
Shroff told Inc42 that the startup’s goal is to become India’s Tencent, with a concentration on AAA games. It will initially focus on mobile phone games before expanding to other gaming platforms such as consoles. The startup is also anticipated to announce investment soon.
He has over 15 years’ expertise in event management and brand promotion. Shroff was the head of brand marketing for Xiaomi India for four years before to taking over Unacademy’s marketing position from 2019 to 2023.
According to his LinkedIn page, he was on a career hiatus from May 2023 until April 2024. During this time, Shah launched LightFury Games in January 2024, taking on the position of CEO and founder.
The company’s website now states just “Coming Soon.” LightFury’s LinkedIn site identifies them as “Building AAA games out of India.”
The fact that AAA games are defined as those with larger budgets created and released by major video game publishers should be noted. Examples of these games include Red Dead Redemption, The Last of Us, Uncharted, and God of War, among others. However, no well-known AAA games have emerged from India until recently.
The lack of strong AAA games in India contrasts with the country’s growing gaming culture. In recent years, the sector has created unicorns such as Dream11, Games24X7, and MPL. The country has yet to witness a native AAA game.
