Gameshastra, India's “biggest game services company” has primarily focused on ports and outsourcing up until this point, but is now expanding into other territories and plans to make and publish many more original games. Whilst its current portfolio is lightweight, the company plans to raise their game over the coming years.
We spoke to Martin Ogden, former director at mobile game developer Player One Sports, and now head of European operations at Gameshastra, about the difficulties of exporting Indian culture, why the digital market has provided the perfect conditions to do so, and the growing importance of mobile gaming.
What attracted you to heading the European arm of Gameshastra?
I was working with Player One Sports before, which is a sports-based casual games publisher, and we were looking to increase our development capability. I came across Gameshastra, and put together a deal – they were providing 85 – 90 per cent of all development for Player One Sports.
I was looking for a bigger challenge – a broader base of digital platform, not just smart phones – and through that process, I sat down with Prakash Ahuja, CO of Gameshastra, and he took me through his ambitions for the company. He wanted to expand into Europe, a prospect which I found exciting, and he offered me the chance to take it on and run with it – it was too good to turn down really.
So having endured the 37 degree heat and too many chicken biryanis, I became very interested in the guys – technically, they are just superb, and the passion that they put into what they do knocked me over.
This is the first time an Indian gaming company has attempted to break into the western market, why is now the right time to do so?
In terms of my previous experience, having gone through the start of mobile games publishing through Java, and the beginning of iPhone, for me the real barrier to the success of digital games, is that it’s the only industry in which all the key partners aren’t pushing the same way.
You had content publishers and developers producing some great quality products, the main route to market for which was the operators who, for whatever reason, saw data content (which is what they called it, rather than entertainment) as a negligible proportion of their revenue – about 10 per cent. So, of course, they were focused on the voice content, we were focused on the ‘data content’, and the handset manufacturers just wanting to shift hardware.
This fragmented the market infinitely, but now with the advance of the iPhone and Android handsets, and even Sony’s PSN minis, and services like XBLA and WiiWare, those barriers and frustrations are finally going, so I think the developers and publishers with a strong line up, and good marketing support, can now reach the consumers, and it’s actually quite a painless experience.
PSP mini D-Cube Planet
Japan's games industry has actively westernised its output over the last few years, in order to capitalise on a global userbase. What challenges will Gameshastra face in expanding its own market?
Well I don’t think that there are any challenges that are insurmountable, it’s just joined-up thinking. I mean, we’ve already got an operation in the US based in New Jersey, now Europe too, and we are starting up a Japanese operation as well. And I guess one of the roles that I will take in overseeing the European operation, is to be a barometer, driving the conceptualisation of projects, looking for products that are a strong fit for the European market place, and co-ordinating that with our US team.
So rather than simply have the ideas coming out of India, which are fantastic in terms of what they do, but yes, slightly removed from the western market place, we’re going to try and close the loop and make sure there’s a real cross-fertilisation of skills. So producers, and key people from our Indian facility, will be spending time with people from our European and US offices.
So this is very much about globalising the company, not just its products?
It’s exactly that – we want to have a roadmap of points in which we’re self-publishing (whilst simultaneously outsourcing) and maximising investments – we don’t want to close off key regions because of the nature of what we’re green lighting and developing.
And what unique aspects can Gameshastra bring to other markets?
Well, certainly from a mindset point of view, it’s the passion that these guys have that we want to channel. In terms of content, and what they’ve been doing so far, there is clearly a sizable western Asian market, and we’re looking at Bollywood-style concepts, and also right now there’s a really special relationship between Europe and Gameshastra working on specific Indian projects.
Specifically, we’re looking to work closely with large European publishers, localising successful western releases into Indian language iterations, and engaging with the domestic Indian market through that route too.