Games
Here’s a look at the defining moments, achievements and events that have been part of the journey of Indian gaming from the early 1990s to date.
The Indian gaming community has come a long way.
Gaming journalists Soham Rane and Rishi Alwani list the moments that shaped Indian gaming with thoughts from Ritesh ‘RiTz’ Shah, Tejas ‘Ace’ Sawant, Sameer Desai, Moin ‘No_Chanc3’ Ejaz, Nimish Raut, Abhijeet ‘Ghatak’ Andhare, Ketan ‘K18’ Patel and Rushindra Sinha.
01
Rakesh Dugar establishes Maze Marketing in 1991 to import video games
“Gaming was dubbed as the 'king of toys' in the country. At that time, with a price bracket of Rs 3,500 in 1991, it was so high for most [consumers] that retailers were afraid to keep it on the shelves. Stores would tell us that it would not sell. So we offered it on a consignment basis,” Dugar had told Gadgets 360.
02
Change of import laws in 1993 allows Maze Marketing to distribute SEGA Games and manufacture cartridges
“We were the first in the country to provide cartridges in a big way [and] then we thought, 'if the manufacturing is there [in India] it would be sustainable'. We associated with Columbus (hardware distribution partner) to manufacture the product in India. We opened a factory in Gandhinagar also,” Dugar told Gadgets 360.
03
India’s first gaming cafe opens in Bengaluru in 1996
Through the 1990s and early 2000s, cyber cafes were the hubs of Indian gaming. The first gaming cafe in India was Cafe Coffee Day that opened on Brigade Road in 1996.
04
Rajesh Rao sets up India’s first gaming studio named Dhruva Interactive (March 1997)
Engineering student Rajesh Rao founded Dhruva Interactive, a multimedia company that would service Intel and later become a gaming studio. Speaking to Wall Street Journal, Rao said, “When we started in 1997, we wanted to make games for the Indian market, but very soon we realized that we were many years too early for that objective, so we had to look around to see how we were going to keep ourselves going. So we went and reached out to western companies, we built some amount of expertise, and put that on offer and that's how we ended up starting our journey as a services company.”
05
Maze Marketing launches the Mitashi console in 1999, India’s first gaming console
Mitashi was India’s first homegrown console. But it was quite a challenge for Dugar. “We sold 1,85,000 cartridges in this country in two months at Rs 225 a cartridge. I put my whole stake into a cricket game; Rs 3.5 crore for development as well as the raw material. I used my total capital on one product. The margin was okay but later the product gave me a lot,” Dugar told Gadgets 360.
06
Indiagames launches India’s first 3D game: Yoddha (2000)
India’s gaming market was initially dominated by knockoffs of 8-bit and 16-bit consoles from Sony and SEGA. Indiagames’ Vishal Gondal decided to give the country its first 3D game. Speaking to Gadgets 360, Gondal said, “I don't remember any other 3D game made in India, and not just made but also distributed, we have a Rs 499 price point (…) I think we did sell – if I'm not mistaken – about 10,000 copies.”
07
Sony launches PlayStation 2 in February 2003
Almost three years after its initial launch in Japan, Sony officially launched the PlayStation 2 in India. While the console was available in the grey market before, the official launch made 3D gaming on CDs a widespread phenomenon in India.
08
Indian WarCraft pro reaches World Cyber Games Finals in 2003
WarCraft was the biggest gaming title in India in the early 2000s. In 2003, Indian gamer Nickunj Bansal made it to the main stage of WCG for WarCraft, going up to Round 4. This was the first time an Indian made it to the finals of an international competition.
09
Microsoft launches Xbox 360 in India in 2006
The launch of the Xbox 360 console in India slowed down the demand of games on pirated CDs. At the time, Indians had also been purchasing handheld consoles (PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS) from other countries; the arrival of the Xbox 360 brought an end to this trend.
10
ATE Gaming goes to Italy to compete in WCG 2006
ATE Gaming became the first Indian team to make it to an international esports event when they qualified for the Counter-Strike 1.6 tournament at the 2006 World Cyber Games. “ATE Gaming was the evolution for esports teams in India. My teammates and I became the first paid-to-play gamers in India in 2007. We set an example at an early stage that you can make money by playing video games professionally, which was completely unbelievable back in those days,” reminisces Ritesh ‘RiTz’ Shah.
11
Ubisoft acquires part of Gameloft to establish Ubisoft Pune in 2008
Known for uber-popular titles Assassin’s Creed and Prince of Persia, Ubisoft set up base in India when they acquired a team of 35 that were originally part of Gameloft, a mobile game developer. This paved the way for the expansion of the Indian gaming market.
12
Reuben ‘Bbreak17’ Pereira ranks in the world’s top 5 FIFA players in 2008
Bbreak17 became the first Indian to bag a silver medal at an international esport event when he finished second in WCG’s FIFA tournament. He also climbed into the world top 5 for the title, the first for an Indian.
13
Indian Gaming Carnival marks the darkest moment in Indian gaming history (2012)
Promised as the biggest gaming festival in India with the largest prize pool ever seen, the Indian Gaming Carnival proved a massive disappointment. Aside from several mismanagement problems, most cheques from the organizers were not honoured – including those given to reputed international teams like Moscow 5 – meaning the prize pool was an empty promise never fulfilled and the entire event a sham.
14
Team Wolf becomes the first Indian team to make it to a CS:GO Major in August 2014
India actually had an exclusive CS:GO qualifier that sent winners straight to a Major, and Team Wolf won to reach the ESL One Cologne Major. “It was a life-changing experience for me. I learnt that esports has no limits. The respect towards players I saw in other countries convinced me to pursue this as a profession and get better every day,” says their in-game leader Tejas ‘Ace’ Sawant.
15
Indian Games Expo, the first consumer-led gaming expo, takes off in 2015
Buoyed by the success of Comic-Con in India, Sameer Desai founded Indian Games Expo dedicated to gaming. “Between 2010 and 2015, gaming in India was primarily on console and PC. It was an expensive hobby and so many people in India had no access to gaming. The idea was to bring every major gaming brand – hardware and software – under one roof to give Indian consumers the opportunity to try gaming out first-hand. The hope was they would leave IGX as gamers,” says Desai.
16
Entity Gaming becomes India’s first investor-supported esports organisation
Founded by Neerav Rukhana in September 2016, Entity Gaming has been one of the most successful esports organizations in South Asia and has fielded almost every top PC athlete in India. They also nurtured one of India's top PUBG Mobile squads that later merged with the internationally-renowned Team SoloMid. Entity Gaming was the first Indian esports organization to receive funding from investors, now a staple practice in the mobile esports industry.
17
Beyond Infinity reaches the farthest point of any Indian Dota 2 team at The International
Several athletes took up Dota 2 professionally in the 2010s with the hope of making it to The International, the biggest esports competition of all-time. In 2016, Beyond Infinity became the most successful Indian team in the competition when they came second in TI6’s Open Southeast Asia Qualifiers. “I think it was a big achievement for Indian Dota since nobody was ever this close to qualify for something like this,” says the team’s hard support Moin ‘No_Chanc3’ Ejaz.
18
Raji: An Ancient Epic enters production in January 2017
No other game in India’s video game development history had as much critical acclaim and international following as Nodding Heads’s Raji: An Ancient Epic. The indie game entered production in 2017 and released in October 2020 to international praise.
19
India wins a bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Games
Tirth Mehta represented India at the 2018 Asian Games where esports was a demonstration sport for the first time ever. Tirth competed in the card game Hearthstone and won a bronze medal. “The third-place finish gave me the confidence that the preparation and practice pays off and that I can compete at prestigious events,” says Tirth.
20
DreamHack enters India in December 2018
DreamHack is one of the world’s leading gaming organisers with a legacy spanning almost three decades and reputed round-the-year events like DreamHack Atlanta and DreamHack Winters. Indians fans were treated to an on-ground event for the first time with DreamHack Mumbai in 2018.
21
Fnatic becomes the first international organisation to set up in India (October 2019)
PUBG Mobile became the most popular title in India by miles and the international community took note. Fnatic became the first international organisation to set up an Indian department. “We understood that mobile esports was the future and India was going to top the charts. [With the establishment of Fnatic in India] the country got exposure to how international organizations function, especially about how players grow into a brand,” says former Fnatic country lead Nimish Raut.
22
Entity Gaming marks the highest finish at an international LAN event for an Indian esports team (December 2019)
Entity Gaming convincingly won the PMCO Fall Split: South Asia qualifier and finished fifth at the Global Finals. “PMCO's fifth place gave us (India) a much-needed boost. While we personally were disappointed in our performance since we aimed for nothing less than first place, we are still glad that we could bring international attention to our growing Indian industry," says then-captain Abhijeet ‘Ghatak’ Andhare.
23
PUBG Mobile is banned in India (September 2020)
By far the most popular gaming title in India, PUBG Mobile was banned in 2020, leaving the Indian gaming industry stunned. “Everything evolved very fast with the release of PUBG Mobile. But after the ban, quite a few had to call it quits while some stuck around. We shifted around to other games and our personal popularity alongside our willingness to try new games helped boom the overall gaming scene,” says popular caster and content creator Ketan ‘K18’ Patel.
24
Ludo King becomes first Indian mobile game to cross 100 million downloads (2020)
Based on the popular board game, Gametion Technologies’ Ludo King took off after the ban of PUBG Mobile with Indians needing a casual game to pass the time while staying at home.
25
India gets a Valorant Conquerors Championship qualifier allowing Indian teams to compete on the world’s biggest esports stage (2021)
Valorant released in 2020 and has already attained the highest viewership for any PC title in Indian esports. Recognizing the talent in India, a local qualifier was organized for Valorant Conquerors Championship. Velocity Gaming and Global Esports became the first Indian teams to participate in the Valorant Conquerors Championship via the qualifier.
