"We clearly have the talent."

“很明顯我們也擁有聰明才智。”

China's video game industry has had some huge, global hits in the past few years with games like Black Myth: Wukong and Genshin Impact. But we have yet to see equivalent success from games made in India - which has a similarly-sized population of around 1.4 billion people, along with the fifth largest economy on the planet. In fact, it's rare to see an Indian game become a big hit outside the country's own borders.

過去幾年，中國的視頻游戲產(chǎn)業(yè)憑借《黑神話：悟空》和《原神》等游戲在全球范圍內(nèi)取得了巨大的成功。然而，盡管印度擁有與中國相近的約14億人口規(guī)模，以及全球第五大經(jīng)濟(jì)體的地位，卻未能看到同等成功的本土游戲出現(xiàn)。事實上，印度游戲在除本國以外地區(qū)成為大熱門的情況極為罕見。

"Eighteen percent of the world lives here, how can we not be represented in one of the primary entertainment mediums?" asks Shalin Shodhan, director of the Gujarat-based indie studio Masala Games. "That's a mind-boggling thing, if you really think about it. We have so many stories to tell. There's so much interesting stuff, both in ancient and modern India, that could be showcased."

“世界上有18%的人口生活在這里，我們怎么能不在主要娛樂媒介之一中有所斬獲？”總部位于古吉拉特邦的獨立工作室Masala Games的總監(jiān)沙林·肖丹問道，“如果你認(rèn)真思考一下，這真的令人難以置信。我們有如此多的故事可以講述。無論是古代還是現(xiàn)代的印度，都有許多有趣的內(nèi)容值得展示?！?/b>

Narinder Kapur, a senior analyst at Niko Partners, notes that India-based developers have seen some domestic success, particularly on mobile. Smartphones are the dominant gaming devices in India, with around 94 percent of Indian gamers playing primarily on mobile, according to Niko Partners’ 2024 survey. "One of the most popular games in India is called Ludo King, and it's basically Ludo in app form," says Kapur, but other hits also include the battle royale shooter Underworld Gang Wars from Mayhem Studios in Bengaluru, and the recently released Indus: Battle Royale from SuperGaming, which has put its own spin on the Fortnite formula with an Indo-Futurism aesthetic.

Niko Partners的高級分析師納林德爾·卡普爾指出，印度本土開發(fā)商在國內(nèi)市場上取得了一些成功，特別是在移動端。根據(jù)Niko Partners2024年的調(diào)查，智能手機(jī)是印度最主要的電子游戲設(shè)備，約有94%的印度玩家主要通過手機(jī)進(jìn)行游戲?！坝《茸钍軞g迎的游戲之一是《Ludo King》（魯多王，一款手機(jī)棋盤游戲），它實際上就是將傳統(tǒng)的飛行棋搬到了手機(jī)上，”卡普爾說。其他熱門游戲還包括班加羅爾Mayhem Studios開發(fā)的射擊類大逃殺游戲《Underworld Gang Wars》（地下世界幫派戰(zhàn)爭），以及SuperGaming最近推出的《Indus: Battle Royale》（印度皇室戰(zhàn)爭），該游戲以印式未來主義美學(xué)為特色，對《堡壘之夜》的玩法進(jìn)行了創(chuàng)新。

Niko Partners also reports that there are now around 508 million gamers in India, who spent an estimated $943 million in 2024. The venture-capital firm Lumikai puts the figure even higher, at $3.8 billion. Yet India's games industry still remains comparatively tiny. China, with its similarly-sized population and similarly mobile-dominated market, saw predicted gaming revenues of around $49.8 billion in 2024, according to Niko Partners.

Niko Partners還報告稱，目前印度約有5.08億游戲玩家，在2024年共花費(fèi)了約9.43億美元。風(fēng)險投資公司Lumikai的數(shù)據(jù)更高，估計為38億美元。然而，印度的游戲產(chǎn)業(yè)規(guī)模仍然相對較小。中國作為一個人口規(guī)模相似、同樣以移動設(shè)備為主的市場，據(jù)Niko Partners預(yù)測，其2024年的游戲收入約為498億美元。

Ludo King is one of India's most popular and successful games.

Ludo King是印度最受歡迎且最成功的游戲之一。

Multiple reasons have been put forward to explain why India's games industry lags behind in terms of scale. Kapur notes it could be partly down to years of antagonistic attitudes towards gaming in the country. "For a long time, video games were looked upon as a waste of time and a waste of money, especially back when incomes weren't as high as they are now," he says, adding that parents would question the wisdom of using expensive computers for playing rather than education. "Even after India’s software services industry exploded, the video games industry didn't take off in parallel, because a lot of people who had the requisite talent to go out and develop games would go out into the larger software services industry."

對于為何印度游戲產(chǎn)業(yè)規(guī)模落后，業(yè)界提出了多種原因?？ㄆ諣栔赋觯糠衷蚩赡茉谟诙嗄陙碓搰鴮τ螒蛐袠I(yè)的敵視態(tài)度。“長期以來，視頻游戲被認(rèn)為是在浪費(fèi)時間和金錢，尤其是在收入水平不像現(xiàn)在這么高的時候，”他說，并補(bǔ)充道，家長們常質(zhì)疑使用昂貴電腦玩游戲而非用于教育是否明智?！凹词乖谟《鹊能浖?wù)行業(yè)迅速崛起后，游戲行業(yè)也沒有同步起飛，因為很多有能力開發(fā)游戲的人才選擇了進(jìn)入更大的軟件服務(wù)領(lǐng)域?！?/b>

Beyond that, there are at least two key issues that have stymied the ascent of the Indian games industry: training and funding, with the latter already garnering reports of how investors are failing marginalinsed groups of developers all around the world. "We don't have angel investors or VCs backing us, and platforms like Kickstarter or Indiegogo are not supported in India, so that revenue is not available," says Harish Chengaiah, the founder of Outlier Games in Chennai. Meanwhile, government funding has tended to prioritise essentials like sanitation and clean energy rather than media and entertainment. "So broadly speaking, there's no money anywhere."

除此之外，還有兩個關(guān)鍵問題阻礙了印度游戲產(chǎn)業(yè)的發(fā)展：培訓(xùn)和資金。后者已經(jīng)引發(fā)了關(guān)于投資者如何忽視世界各地邊緣化開發(fā)者群體的報道。“我們沒有天使投資人或風(fēng)險資本支持，像Kickstarter或Indiegogo這樣的平臺在印度也不被支持，因此這些收入來源對我們來說不是可選項，”欽奈Outlier Games的創(chuàng)始人哈里什·程蓋亞表示。與此同時，政府資助往往優(yōu)先考慮衛(wèi)生和清潔能源等基本需求，而不是媒體和娛樂?！八钥傮w而言，在游戲領(lǐng)域哪里都沒有資金。”

In addition, the late blooming of India's games industry means there are relatively few people in the country with enough experience to provide training. Chengaiah, who's now 28, experienced this himself when he enrolled into a game design course after high school, only to drop out following his disappointment at the quality of the teaching. "Unlike the West, the first generation of game developers are still working in industry: we haven't gotten old enough to retire and become lecturers," he says.

此外，印度游戲產(chǎn)業(yè)起步較晚，導(dǎo)致國內(nèi)缺乏擁有足夠經(jīng)驗的人來提供培訓(xùn)。程蓋亞今年28歲，他在高中畢業(yè)后曾報名參加了一個游戲設(shè)計課程，但由于教學(xué)質(zhì)量令他失望而退學(xué)?！芭c西方不同的是，第一代游戲開發(fā)者仍在行業(yè)內(nèi)工作：我們還沒有老到退休并成為講師的地步，”他說。

There are also big skill gaps. "We are very good at art, we are very good at programming, we are very good at QA, but design and narrative development is something that we lack. If you see our education system in India, it's very technically competent, not so much creatively competent."

行業(yè)技能差距也是一個大問題?！拔覀冊诿佬g(shù)、編程和質(zhì)量保證方面非常出色，但在設(shè)計和敘事開發(fā)方面存在不足。如果看看印度的教育體系，就會發(fā)現(xiàn)它技術(shù)能力很強(qiáng)，但創(chuàng)造力方面卻不夠突出?！?/b>

Even though India's market is dominated by mobile, Chengaiah reckons that among the 120 or so members of the Indian game dev founders WhatsApp group he created, around 50 are working on PC and console titles. Outlier Games itself has been periodically developing a third-person PC action-adventure game called Deliverance for around three years, often relying on friends doing pro bono work.

盡管印度市場以移動端為主，但程蓋亞估計，在他創(chuàng)建的一個約有120名成員的印度游戲開發(fā)者創(chuàng)始人WhatsApp群組中，大約有50人正在開發(fā)PC和主機(jī)游戲。Outlier Games本身也一直在開發(fā)一款名為《Deliverance》的第三人稱PC動作冒險游戲，該項目已持續(xù)了大約三年時間，團(tuán)隊經(jīng)常依靠朋友免費(fèi)幫忙完成工作。

Deliverance has been put on the back burner for now due to a lack of funding support.

由于缺乏資金支持，《Deliverance》項目目前已被暫時擱置。

"We don't have an office," Chengaiah says. "I mean, for registration purposes, we do have an office, but nobody works in that. It's all remote, nobody's getting paid. So the way I sustain my teammates is I have a day job in another game company, and I do a lot of consulting and freelance game design, game production work."

“我們沒有辦公室，”程蓋亞說道，“我是說，為了注冊需要，我們確實有一個辦公室，但沒人在那里工作。所有工作都是遠(yuǎn)程完成的，團(tuán)隊成員都沒有報酬。我維持團(tuán)隊的方式是，我自己在另一家游戲公司有一份全職工作，同時我還做了大量的咨詢和自由職業(yè)的游戲設(shè)計與制作工作?！?/b>

The hope is that if they find a publisher, people can start earning salaries. But PC and console publishers are as rare as hens' teeth in India. The only one Chengaiah knows of is 1312 Interactive, which was formed recently by a friend. Outlier Games was aiming for a $1 million USD budget for Deliverance, "which, by Western standards, is actually not that much for a third-person action-adventure game." He reckons a similar title would cost perhaps $5-6 million USD if it was made outside India. Even so, given current market conditions, the publishers he has approached are only willing to put up a maximum of $300,000 USD - so Chengaiah has made the difficult decision to put Deliverance on the back burner and start again with a smaller, narrative-driven title.

他們的希望是，如果能找到發(fā)行商，團(tuán)隊成員就可以開始領(lǐng)取薪水。但在印度，PC和主機(jī)游戲的發(fā)行商非常稀少。程蓋亞所知道的唯一一家是最近由一位朋友創(chuàng)立的1312 Interactive。Outlier Games原計劃為《Deliverance》爭取到100萬美元的預(yù)算，“按照西方標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，這其實不算多，特別是對于一款第三人稱動作冒險游戲。”他認(rèn)為，類似的游戲如果是在印度以外開發(fā)的，可能需要花費(fèi)500萬到600萬美元。即便如此，在當(dāng)前的市場條件下，他接觸過的發(fā)行商最多只愿意提供30萬美元的資金支持——因此程蓋亞做出了艱難的決定，將《Deliverance》項目暫時擱置，轉(zhuǎn)而從頭開始制作一款規(guī)模更小、以敘事驅(qū)動的游戲。

Like Outlier, Shalin Shodhan’s Masala Games is a mostly remote-working company, and it mostly relies on contract work. But Shodhan had the advantage of gaining valuable experience in the US. While he was doing his master’s degree at Carnegie Mellon University in 2003, a recruiter from EA spotted his work on terraforming, and snapped him up to work with Will Wright on the groundbreaking Spore. After spending years at EA, Shodhan left to join Pixar, working as a shading artist on movies such as Toy Story 3 and Inside Out. But when his wife gave birth to twin boys in 2014, they made the momentous decision to move back and raise them in India.

與Outlier類似，沙林·肖丹的Masala Games也是一家主要依靠遠(yuǎn)程工作的公司，并且主要依賴合同工作。不過，肖丹有在美國積累寶貴經(jīng)驗的優(yōu)勢。2003年，他在卡內(nèi)基梅隆大學(xué)攻讀碩士學(xué)位時，EA的一位招聘人員發(fā)現(xiàn)了他的地形改造作品，并將他招入麾下，與Will Wright一起參與了開創(chuàng)性的游戲《孢子》的開發(fā)。在EA工作了多年后，肖丹離開公司加入皮克斯，擔(dān)任電影《玩具總動員3》和《頭腦特工隊》的著色藝術(shù)家。然而，2014年，當(dāng)他的妻子生下一對雙胞胎男孩時，他們做出了重大決定，搬回印度撫養(yǎng)孩子。

"We definitely needed family support," Shodhan says. "So the decision was very big, but also very clear. And in retrospect, actually a really good move, because it freed me to do some of the more entrepreneurial stuff and try some of the more bold things that brings us to where we are, whereas if I'd stayed in the US, I’d still have to work within other companies."

“我們確實需要家庭的支持，”肖丹說，“所以這個決定既重大又明確?；叵肫饋?，這實際上是一個非常好的選擇，因為它讓我能夠做一些更具創(chuàng)業(yè)精神的事情，嘗試一些更大膽的舉動，這才讓我們走到了今天的位置。如果我留在美國，我可能還得繼續(xù)在其他公司工作?！?/b>

Now, after around two years of development, Masala Games' first PC title is due for release on 3rd April 2025, accompanied by an animated movie. Detective Dotson features an aspiring Bollywood star who reluctantly becomes a detective after the death of his father, then sets out to solve a series of cases set in modern India.

現(xiàn)在，經(jīng)過大約兩年的開發(fā)，Masala Games的首款PC游戲定于2025年4月3日發(fā)布，并附帶一部動畫電影?！禗etective Dotson》講述了一位有志成為寶萊塢明星的年輕人，在父親去世后不情愿地成為一名偵探，并著手解決一系列發(fā)生在現(xiàn)代印度的案件。

Detective Dotson arrives on Steam this April.

《Detective Dotson》將于今年四月登陸Steam。

"I don't just want to talk about ancient, epic, magic, fantasy India; I really want to talk about the India that I walk out into, because I feel that it's more interesting than our past," Shodhan says. As such, Detective Dotson offers a pixellated representation of crowded, chaotic, modern Indian life, with elements such as the ubiquitousness of election posters and the constant, casual littering - which Dotson can take exception to by hurling the litter back at the culprit. "Littering is a real problem here," Shodhan says. "This is a personal pet peeve, and something that I wanted to send a message about."

“我不想僅僅談?wù)摴爬稀⑹吩?、魔法、奇幻的印度；我真的很想談?wù)勎易叱黾议T所看到的印度，因為我覺得它比我們的過去更加有趣，”肖丹說。因此，《Detective Dotson》以像素化的形式展現(xiàn)了擁擠、混亂的現(xiàn)代印度生活，其中融入了許多元素，比如無處不在的選舉海報和隨處可見的隨意亂扔垃圾現(xiàn)象——Dotson可以通過將垃圾扔回肇事者身上來表達(dá)不滿?！皝y扔垃圾在這里是個大問題，”肖丹說，“這是我個人非常討厭的事情，我也希望通過這種方式傳達(dá)一個信息。”

Chengaiah enthuses about the huge potential scope for games set in India. "We have about 3000 years’ worth of history to tap into, so that's a lot of material, right?" Then again, he adds that the past few years have seen a few hurried releases of mobile games set in India that have "left a very, very sour taste in the mouth of Indian gamers". He cites titles such as the shooter FAU-G, as well as the just-released Indus. "[Indus] is barely in beta, and then they released it, so it's a very rushed game."

程蓋亞對以印度為背景的游戲潛力充滿熱情?！拔覀冇写蠹s3000年的歷史可以挖掘，所以素材非常豐富，對吧？”不過，他補(bǔ)充說，過去幾年出現(xiàn)了一些匆忙發(fā)布的印度背景手機(jī)游戲，給印度玩家留下了“非常糟糕的印象”。他提到了射擊游戲《FAU-G》，以及剛剛發(fā)布的《Indus》?！啊禝ndus》還處于測試階段，但他們就發(fā)布了，所以是一款非常倉促的游戲。”

The much-hyped card battler Kurukshetra: Ascension, based on the famous epic of the Mahābhārata, has also been a commercial disappointment, he says. "Indians don't play card battlers. You can't just have Mahābhārata and then put it in a genre that no one in India cares about." As a consequence of all this, he thinks that Indian gamers have become wary of India-set games. "They'll be like, 'Ah, no, no, we are not trusting that. Make a good game first, and then come back to us. It doesn't even have to be set in India, make a good game'."

他還提到備受期待的卡牌戰(zhàn)斗游戲《Kurukshetra: Ascension》，這款游戲基于著名的《摩訶婆羅多》史詩，卻在商業(yè)上令人失望?！坝《热瞬煌婵ㄅ茟?zhàn)斗游戲。你不能只是把《摩訶婆羅多》塞進(jìn)一個印度沒人關(guān)心的類型里。”正因為如此，他認(rèn)為印度玩家對以印度為背景的游戲變得謹(jǐn)慎起來?！八麄儠f，‘啊，不要，我們不會再信任這些了。先做出一款好游戲，然后再來找我們。甚至不需要設(shè)定在印度，只要是一款好游戲就行?！?/b>

Nevertheless, a recent report by Lumikai found that 60 percent of Indian gamers want to see more games that represent their local culture and language. Furthermore, all the signs point towards the Indian games industry turning a corner in the near future. The Indian government is implementing a new Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics Extended Reality (AVGC-XR) policy, which should provide funding and training for people working in the games industry.

然而，Lumikai最近的一份報告顯示，60%的印度玩家希望看到更多代表本地文化和語言的游戲。此外，所有跡象都表明，印度游戲行業(yè)即將迎來轉(zhuǎn)機(jī)。印度政府正在實施一項新的動畫、視覺效果、游戲和漫畫擴(kuò)展現(xiàn)實（AVGC-XR）政策，該政策將為游戲行業(yè)從業(yè)者提供資金和支持。

Chengaiah, who has helped to advise on the policy, says it will make it much easier for games companies to set up subsidiaries in India, and it will also help to fix the "chicken and egg problem" of universities failing to provide video-game-related courses as a result of there being so few jobs in the industry. Instead, Chengaiah says, the government, academies and industry will decide together which courses are required, and the government will offer incentives for universities that run the chosen courses.

曾參與政策建議的程蓋亞表示，這項政策將使游戲公司在印度設(shè)立子公司變得更加容易，同時也能解決“雞和蛋問題”，即由于游戲行業(yè)的工作機(jī)會太少，大學(xué)未能提供與視頻游戲相關(guān)的課程。相反，政府、學(xué)術(shù)界和行業(yè)將共同決定哪些課程是必要的，政府還將為開設(shè)這些課程的大學(xué)提供激勵措施。

At the same time, the visa process is being streamlined for foreign nationals who want to come and work in games, with the hope that by attracting experienced professionals from Europe, the US and Japan, "that knowledge will trickle down in our industry," Chengaiah says. Perhaps most importantly, the policy is also looking to provide funding for developers in the form of things like prototype grants and production incentives, where a percentage of a game’s production budget is reimbursed by the government.

與此同時，簽證流程正在簡化，以便吸引來自歐洲、美國和日本的外籍專業(yè)人士前來印度工作，程蓋亞說：“這些知識將會滲透到我們的行業(yè)中?！被蛟S最重要的是，該政策還計劃為開發(fā)者提供資金支持，例如原型開發(fā)補(bǔ)助金和生產(chǎn)激勵措施，政府將報銷游戲生產(chǎn)預(yù)算的一部分。

Those are the broad guidelines, but because India operates under a federal system, it's up to each individual state to pick and choose which parts of the policy it intends to implement, and in what way. "Some states have already implemented it," says Chengaiah, adding that his state, Tamil Nadu, will be implementing the policy later in 2025.

這些都是總體指導(dǎo)方針，但由于印度實行聯(lián)邦制，各邦可以自行選擇實施政策的哪些部分，以及如何實施。“有些邦已經(jīng)實施了這項政策，”程蓋亞說，他所在的泰米爾納德邦將于2025年晚些時候?qū)嵤┻@一政策。



The logo for PlayStation's India Hero Project.
The logo for Krafton's India Gaming Incubator project.

PlayStation的印度英雄項目（India Hero Project）。
Krafton的印度游戲孵化器項目（India Gaming Incubator）。

There are industry programs, too. Following on from the success of its China Hero Project, PlayStation launched the India Hero Project in 2023 to support and showcase emerging talent from the region, and the inaugural cohort of five games includes Meteora: The Race Against Space Time, Fishbowl, Mukti, Requital: Gates of Blood, and Suri: The Seventh Note. The second cohort has just been announced, too, though it's shrunk to just two games this year: Bloody Boots and Lokko.

行業(yè)內(nèi)也有相關(guān)的扶持計劃。繼其“中國英雄項目”（China Hero Project）取得成功后，PlayStation于2023年推出了“印度英雄項目”（India Hero Project），以支持和展示該地區(qū)新興的游戲人才。首屆入選的五款游戲包括《Meteora: The Race Against Space Time》、《Fishbowl》、《Mukti》、《Requital: Gates of Blood》和《Suri: The Seventh Note》。第二屆名單也剛剛公布，不過今年縮小到僅兩款游戲：《Bloody Boots》和《Lokko》。

Krafton, the publisher behind PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, also opened registrations for the second cohort of its Krafton India Gaming Incubator last October, where six to ten development teams will receive six to twelve months of mentorship and financial support to make their game. The first cohort comprised four games, and included Sojourn Past, Tale of Honor, Gangster Carnival and Spice Secrets.

《絕地求生》的發(fā)行商Krafton也在去年十月開啟了其“印度游戲孵化器”（Krafton India Gaming Incubator）第二期項目的報名工作。該項目將為六到十個開發(fā)團(tuán)隊提供為期六到十二個月的指導(dǎo)和資金支持，以幫助他們完成自己的游戲。第一期項目包含四款游戲，分別是《Sojourn Past》、《Tale of Honor》、《Gangster Carnival》和《Spice Secrets》

Given all this, Chengaiah thinks we’ll be seeing "a very steady launch of Indian PC and console games" from 2025 onwards, while Lumikai predicts that India’s gaming revenues will skyrocket to $9.2 billion by 2029. And if one Indian game was to break through internationally, it could elevate the whole industry and attract much-needed investment, just like The Witcher did for Poland, for example. "Every country has that one game," Chengaiah says, and similarly, Kapur sees no reason why India won't have its own breakout game: "I think the Indian market at some point will have its Black Myth: Wukong or Genshin Impact moment."

鑒于這些發(fā)展，程蓋亞認(rèn)為從2025年開始，我們將會看到“印度PC和主機(jī)游戲的穩(wěn)定發(fā)布”，而Lumikai預(yù)測到2029年，印度的游戲收入將飆升至92億美元。如果有一款印度游戲能夠像《巫師》（The Witcher）對波蘭的影響一樣，在國際上取得突破，這可能會提升整個行業(yè)并吸引急需的投資。程蓋亞表示：“每個國家都有那么一款代表作。”同樣，卡普也認(rèn)為印度完全有可能擁有自己的爆款游戲：“我認(rèn)為印度市場遲早會迎來屬于自己的《黑神話：悟空》或《原神》時刻?！?/b>

Shodhan thinks it’s high time, too. "I see folks from India, such as myself, who go abroad and are plugged into the culture there, and are doing exceptional things. Why can't the same happen here?" He reckons it’s simply a case of someone being brave enough to venture out and succeed, carving a path for others to follow. "Once that happens, all hell will break loose."

肖丹也認(rèn)為是時候了?！拔铱吹皆S多像我一樣的印度人出國后融入當(dāng)?shù)匚幕⒆龀隽朔欠驳某煽?。為什么同樣的事情不能在印度發(fā)生？”他認(rèn)為，這只是需要有人勇敢地邁出第一步并取得成功，從而為其他人開辟道路。“一旦這種情況發(fā)生，整個行業(yè)將迎來爆發(fā)式增長?！?/b>

"We are already doing a lot of work for these companies all around the world, and we're already providing the quality," he concludes. "We clearly have the talent. It's just a matter of belief and a few foolishly bold investments."

他總結(jié)道：“我們已經(jīng)為世界各地的公司做了大量工作，也已經(jīng)證明了自己的質(zhì)量。我們顯然擁有人才。現(xiàn)在所需要的只是信念，以及一些大膽而冒險的投資。”