Gaming
India’s gaming industry gets its own showcase
MUMBAI: India’s gaming sector is finally getting the spotlight it craves. On 29-30 November, Mumbai will host GamingCon Bharat 2025, the country’s largest gaming festival and industry conference. The Indian Game Publishers and Developers Association (IGPDA), which represents the country’s only video-games-focused industry body, expects over 10,000 gamers, developers, publishers, investors and policymakers to descend on the Nesco Bombay Exhibition Centre.
The event marks a coming-of-age moment for an industry that has long operated in the shadow of its western counterparts. GamingCon Bharat splits into two distinct experiences: a consumer festival showcasing Indian-made titles like Mukti, Age of Bhaarat and Ludo King, alongside esports tournaments featuring FAU-G: Domination and Indus Battle Royale; and the IGPDA India Gaming Conference, a business summit tackling AI, cloud gaming and policy frameworks.
That last bit matters. Following India’s Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, senior government officials and politicians will engage directly with industry leaders. The timing is deliberate. India’s gaming market is booming, but lacks the infrastructure and policy support that turned Montreal and Poland into gaming powerhouses with franchises like Assassin’s Creed and The Witcher.
Industry heavyweights are bullish. Nazara Technologies chief executive and founding member of IGPDA Nitesh Mittersain calls it “the launchpad for India’s next-gaming success stories.” Ncore Game founder Vishal Gondal says it’s “where India’s gaming future begins.” Gametion founder & chief executive Vikash Jaiswal puts it bluntly: “The world has Gamescom, we have GamingCon.”
The festival will feature 100-plus exhibitors across eight fan zones and stages, a cosplay competition, and a developer showcase spotlighting homegrown intellectual property. For an industry desperate to prove it can create culturally relevant games with global appeal, GamingCon Bharat represents both challenge and opportunity. Whether India can translate this ambition into the next breakout hit remains to be seen. But at least now it has a stage to try.
Gaming
IICT signs three MoUs to boost AVGC-XR and esports
Partnerships with Zenfluencers, Yologram and Eruditio at Chennai Gaming Show 2026 strengthen education, XR innovation and nationwide talent outreach.
MUMBAI: IICT has just levelled up the game in a big way. The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies signed three strategic Memorandums of Understanding on 17 April 2026 at the CII Summit FX – India Gaming Show in Chennai, forging alliances with The Zenfluencers, Yologram Style Pvt. Ltd. and Eruditio Consultants to accelerate India’s AVGC-XR ecosystem.
The tie-ups combine IICT’s strengths in education, skilling and research with specialist expertise across esports, immersive technologies and large-scale outreach.
- With The Zenfluencers, IICT will roll out globally benchmarked esports programmes, including joint certification courses, industry workshops, tournaments and masterclasses, creating clear career pathways across the full esports value chain.
- The partnership with Yologram Style Pvt. Ltd. focuses on gaming, immersive storytelling and extended reality (XR), delivering industry-aligned curriculum, faculty mentorship, student showcases and collaborative research in immersive AI and virtual production.
- Collaboration with Eruditio Consultants targets awareness, accessibility and career alignment, with nationwide counsellor training, institutional engagement and structured guidance frameworks to reach students beyond Tier-1 cities.
IICT CEO Vishwas Deoskar said, “As the AVGC-XR sector evolves at a rapid pace, strong collaborations between industry and academia are essential. These partnerships will create meaningful impact across education, innovation and outreach.”
Yologram Style Pvt. Ltd. founder Aditya Mani added, “AI-driven creator worlds are transforming games into engines of culture, commerce and careers. Together we aim to empower a generation to build immersive futures.”
Eruditio Consultants founder Indrajit Ghosh noted, “This is not just about awareness, it is about building a structured ecosystem that connects aspiration with opportunity.”
The Zenfluencers CEO Atharva Gupta said, “This MoU is a big unlock moment for the esports ecosystem in India. We’re building a structured pipeline for talent across the full stack.”
By bringing together academia, industry leaders and ecosystem players, IICT is creating scalable models that blend cutting-edge skills with real-world relevance. In a sector racing toward the future, these three partnerships ensure India’s next generation of creative technologists won’t just keep up, they’ll set the pace.
