Familiar names plot Indian games push

The games industry’s biggest names are currently plotting a path into one of the fastest growing regions in the world of modern gaming.

Key distributors in India include Milestone Interactive (who handlefirst party PlayStation games, EA, Namco Bandai and Capcom), E-Xpress Interactive (Ubisoft, Sega, THQ, Bethesda, Square-Enix, Warner Bros, Take-Two / Rockstar), Worldwide CD-ROMs (Activision, Valve) and Redington (Xbox hardware and software).

Retailers include the specialists Games The Shop (nine stores across India), Game4U (seven stores across India) and large format retailers such as Landmark, Croma and Planet M.

Local market online retailers include Flipkart.com, Letsbuy.com, Intencity.in, Game4U.com and Nextworld.in.

Prominent game developers include Gameshastra, Trine Games, Version2Games, Zynga (Bangalore), Lakshya Digital, Indiagames, Rolocule Games and Gameloft.

The news comes as the first daily news and community resource for trade and consumers across India will go live during the build-up to the world’s biggest games show this summer.

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

Mumbai-based Sameer Desai has been appointed editor. The GQ India columnist and IndianVideoGamer co-founder will work alongside launch publisher Chris Stanton-Jones, who was formerly head of emerging markets for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.

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

"MCV India will launch ahead of E3 and is a long-term commitment to this exciting market," said Intent Media boss and MCV publisher Stuart Dinsey.

"We will have the leading games industry sites in the UK, Pacific, Nordic and India. We offer local content and targeted opportunities for our partners.

"MCV UK hit a staggering half a million readers in March and we look forward to rapid growth in the other regions through the second half of the year."

To find out more about MCV India contact Sameer.Desai@mcvindia.com or Chris.Stanton-Jones@mcvindia.com.

To sign-up for the completely free MCV India News Digest email service, which will launch in conjunction with the main MCV India website, email mcvindia@intentmedia.co.ukwith your name, job title, company name, nature of your company’s business and the country in which you’re based.