The India business of gaming giant Krafton is introducing its first incubation program for Indian startups that is focused on gaming.
The incubator program will enrol six to ten “teams” annually and provide funding support ranging from $50,000 to $150,000, with “exceptional” teams receiving up to $250,000, the company said in a statement. Early-stage startups, students, and independent developers will all be welcome.
On August 10, Krafton announced investments in Indian companies totaling approximately $150 million over the following two to three years. It has already contributed over $140 million to 11 Indian gaming and content-focused businesses, such as Nodwin Gaming, a division of Nazara Technologies, the audiobook portal Pratilipi, the audio platform KukuFM, and the streaming website Loco.
Battle Grounds Mobile India (BGMI), an incredibly popular online mobile game, was created by a South Korean company and finished a three-month review period in August after being prohibited by the government for almost 10 months up to May of this year.
In addition, coaching would be provided by “respected gaming industry executives, game builders, and industry experts from South Korea… as well as from India,” according to Krafton in the release. Additionally, it stated that they will get access to Krafton’s data analytics and market research tools.
Krafton is willing to make additional investments in games developed through the initiative or even to publish them. But we want to be clear that if they choose to, we won’t prevent them from collaborating with any other investors or publishers. We want to draw in top talent and encourage them to think about a future in gaming. Sean Hyunil Sohn, CEO of Krafton India, said in an interview with ET, “We don’t really mean to pluck them up for ourselves… that is not the spirit of the incubator.”
According to Anuj Sahani, Krafton’s India publishing advisor and director of the incubator program, the initiative would be open to makers of games for platforms such as cellphones, PCs, and gaming consoles like the Playstation. Except for games that need real money, all gaming genres will be accepted, he noted.
“Because this is our first year, we are unsure of the quality or volume of applicants for this year’s program. Additionally, there aren’t many instances of foreign developers operating incubators for the game industry in India; the only one is the Sony incubator, but even that is very new, according to Sahani.
Earlier this year, Sony, a Japanese media behemoth, introduced its own incubator program for video games in the nation called the India Hero Project, promising “at least” $100,000 in support.
Over the past few months, there has been an increase in activity in the Indian game production industry. Recently listed gaming and media company Nazara Technologies announced it will open a publishing division in India after raising Rs 510 crore from SBI Mutual fund and co-founder of Zerodha Nikhil Kamath.
