Hyderabad: The 15th Edition of the India Game Developer Conference (IGDC), which took place from November 2 to 4, witnessed the convergence of over 4,000 gaming enthusiasts from around the world. This annual event featured a bustling expo with offerings from more than 100 gaming companies.
The three-day conference featured over 200 gaming experts hailing from 20 different countries, who conducted around 125 hyperactive sessions comprising panel discussions, talks, and workshops covering various aspects of gaming technology, design, and production. Additionally, the event included round table discussions involving industry leaders, government representatives, academic institutions, and policymakers, facilitated by industry bodies such as Invest India, Start-up India, AIGDF, Primus Partners, and MESC.
IGDC 2023 initiated with the unveiling of the 'Lumikai State of India Gaming Report F723,' a collaborative effort with Google, which projected the Indian gaming market to reach a valuation of $7.5 billion by FY28.
On the second day of the conference, the IGDC Awards 2023 were presented, with the game Sojourn Past by ReDimension Games, a Nagaland-based gaming startup, winning the Upcoming Game of the Year Award, and Indus by SuperGaming receiving the Most Popular Game Award. This edition of the IGDC Awards saw a record number of over 150 game entries.
Bloom, the colourful adventure puzzle from Lucid Labs took home the Mobile Game Of The Year (GOTY). 1971: Indian Naval Front won the PC/Console GOTY award.
Sridhar Muppidi, Director of IGDC, expressed his enthusiasm about the conference's growth, stating, "IGDC today has become one of the top five Game Developer Conferences in the world. Considered South Asia’s biggest developer conference, we have been consistently attracting large-scale international participants who are keen on understanding the Indian gaming market and partnering with Indian developers."
The Investor-Publisher Connect, a flagship networking initiative of IGDC, saw more than 130 applicants participating in over 1800 curated meetings between gaming studios, startups, investors, and publishers, using one-on-one and speed-dating formats.
The BYOG (Build Your Own Game) initiative gained momentum with a record number of over 700 participants submitting 170+ game entries for evaluation by judges.
Day 3 of the conference was dedicated to discussions and talks about the emerging esports sector.
Rajesh Rao, Chairman of IGDC, emphasised the rapid growth of the gaming industry, especially in the Indian market. He pointed out that the Lumikai State of India Gaming Report highlighted the significant participation of women, who make up 41 per cent of the gaming community, and the fact that 66 per cent of gamers come from non-metro regions, indicating the democratisation of gaming experiences across the country.
The conference featured nine parallel sessions, solo talks, workshops, and round tables, covering topics such as AI, Web3, art and design, technology, production, business and product management, applied games, emerging trends, and career opportunities.