INTERNATIONAL FACTFILE: India

According to the FICCI-KPMG Indian Media and Entertainment Industry Report 2012, the Indian games business was valued at 13bn Rupees ($259m) in 2011 – up 30 per cent.

The market is expected to grow by 38 per cent to 18bn Rupees ($359m) in 2012 and to a staggering 46bn Rupees ($917m) by 2016.

India also has a growing specialist retail sector. Game4U and Games The Shop are two chains that are opening new shops regularly.

In 2011, console gaming was the biggest revenue earner, accounting for 55 per cent of the market. Also, console penetration is at just two per cent of urban TV households, compared to a global average of 13 per cent – highlighting the opportunity for further growth.

Mobile gaming was worth 4.3bn Rupees ($86m) in 2011 – up 55 per cent on 2010. The sector will be worth 17bn Rupees ($340m) by 2016.

The packaged PC games market is plagued by high piracy. The legitimate packaged PC games market is estimated at 381 ($8m) in 2011. This is expected to grow 18 per cent) by 2016.

But there are challenges, says MCV India publisher and Catapult Business Solutions boss Chris Stanton-Jones.

Managing increasing consumer and retail caution, currency devaluation, fewer titles available on PS2 and PSP, selling products that are affordable to consumers whilst maintaining profitability at the same time, are the key challenges,” he says.

But India is still the land of opportunity and over the long-term will grow its games market from its current low-ish base to something more substantial.

Next-gen console formats are starting to come to the fore, whilst good catalogue business is still possible on the older formats.”

MCV India will officially launch just ahead of E3 in Los Angeles and will offer English language, locally-derived content.

THE FACTS
Population: 1,210,193,422
Currency: Indian rupee
GDP (Per Capita): $1,388
Capital City: New Delhi
Languages: Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Urdu, English, Tamil, Sindhi, Punjabi, Nepali, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Meitei Manipuri, Konkani, Kannada, Bhojpuri.

KEY RETAILERS
Games The Shop, Game4U, Landmark, Croma, Planet M, Flipkart.com, Letsbuy.com, Intencity.in, Game4U.com and Nextworld.in.

BEST DISTRIBUTORS
Milestone Interactive, E-Xpress Interactive, Worldwide CD-ROMs and Redington.

TOP DEVELOPERS
Gameshastra, Trine Games, Version2Games, Zynga (Bangalore), Lakshya Digital, Indiagames, Rolecule Games and Gameloft.

PUBLISHERS IN THE REGION
Sony, Microsoft, EA, Capcom, Square Enix, Codemasters and Ubisoft.