Indian Video Games Industry Requests the Government for a Clear Distinction Between Gaming and RMG; Shares Recommendations to Accelerate Growth
This is a critical requirement from the video games industry and IGN India supports this demand.
More than 1.5 years after the first letter and almost a year after the second letter, the Indian video games industry again came together for a new representation letter to the Government of India (GoI). This time, 70 game developers, esports companies, and stakeholders have signed the letter to present recommendations to help boost the industry's growth. The highlight of this effort is to create a clear differentiation between "video games" and "real money games" (RMG) for policy.
The differentiation aims to facilitate fair and just policy formation and support this emerging sector's growth. The industry's formal request was conveyed to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Office of the Minister of Information and Broadcasting (MIB).
Harish Chengaiah, the CEO of Outlier Games and the organiser of this representation, emphasised that the Indian gaming industry, which comprises only "entertainment-oriented digital games" and has nothing to do with putting your money at stake, is now worth USD ($) 942 million. This number is projected to reach a staggering $1.6 billion in the next five years, leading to the Indian gaming industry becoming "the largest entertainment industry in India", overtaking the likes of the Indian film industry.
Chengaiah highlighted the potential of the video games industry "to spearhead India's creative economy and soft power aspirations". He urged the Indian government to adopt "a measured and nuanced approach to video games", which are vastly different from RMG. He concluded by expressing hope for an invitation to discuss the unique circumstances of video games.
Recommendations to Accelerate Growth
The letter includes ten recommendations to help grow the industry and make it "a significant contributor to India's $10 trillion economic goal and a powerhouse for soft power exports." It also hopes that these recommendations will be a "part of the National AVGC-XR policy." Check these out below.
- Breaking the "online games" term into "video games" and "real money games" to ensure accurate and fair policies for these widely different industries.
- Request I&B Ministry to issue notifications to media and restrict them from misrepresenting "video games" if and when they cover "real money games" through video game images.
- Appoint the I&B Ministry as the Notal Agency for video games and make "an AVGC-XR wing" along with a nodal officer to ensure streamlined regulation.
- Consideration to avoid imposing premature regulations on the video games industry.
- Promote the creation of original IP and ownership by supporting structures as a key area of focus.
- Updating to MESC and NSQF mechanisms to support professor of practice while training the trainer models to encourage skilling and vocational training.
- Reform the education system by creating "Standards and Benchmarking Frameworks for Higher Education" in the fields of esports and game development.
- Offer financial assistance to video gaming conference organizers so they can "facilitate Indian delegations and pavilion at international video gaming events" to access the global market.
- Easing the "customs" process around "crucial proprietary development hardware" for video games and rationalising the import duties.
- Rationalising the GST to move video games to 12% bracket from the current 18% as part of corporate tax holidays.
Interested readers can check a detailed explanation of all these ten recommendations along with all the developers, stakeholders, and esports companies in the 10-page letter below. This is the letter that the consortium shared with GoI through PMO and MIB.
Overall, 80 stakeholders signed this letter including ESFI, Dot9 Games, June Gaming (parent company of SuperGaming), GameEon Studios, Niku Games, Playbae Games, Outlier Games, Xigma Games, and ReDimension Games. The list also includes imissmyfriends.studio, Destroyer Doggo, Masala Games, underDOGs, Mad Mantra Games, Brewed Games, and more.
Why It Should Matter to You, the Gamer and IGN India’s Take
This collaborative effort aims to revolutionise the landscape of Indian gaming and esports industries. In our opinion, if the Government of India manages to create a distinction between gaming and RMG by breaking the "online gaming" term, this will likely transform the Indian gaming space. It is likely to lead to significant growth of the industry along with more Indian games.
IGN India supports this effort with a special focus on the first two recommendations. While we have consistently reported on the efforts from the industry, the request to control the misrepresentation is something that hits close to home for us. Over the years, we have seen the video games industry be represented inaccurately in media coverage. This has led to a growingly negative perception of video games in the society due to the harm caused by companies involved in wagering or betting real money.
Whatever achievements and success the video games industry has achieved in the last decade has largely been inspite of all these challenges.
