Whether it's Candy Crush, GTA, Call of Duty, or even Tetris I have no doubt you have at least one video game saved to your phone, computer, or console. As of 2024, over 508 million Indians are gamers. And while the vast majority of us stick to just mobile games, our slice of PC and console gamers remains undoubtedly significant. Frankly speaking, we’re hard to ignore. Considering that our gaming population outnumbers most nations, our sheer power by numbers suggests that the Indian gaming industry should be a gold mine.

But… it isn’t. There are a lot of reasons this could be: industry concerns that we won’t spend enough money on games, a lack of resources, or talent being outsourced to other countries to name a few. Truth be told, I’m no market expert and I won’t pretend to be. I am, however, an appreciator of video games as an art form and a firm believer in India’s undeniable talent. From IT professionals and developers, to artists and storytellers, we have it all. And while, yes, our video game industry is steadily growing, it should be thriving. 

Though they were conceptualised in their most rudimentary form in the 1950s and 60s, video games as we know them today – playable at home and readily available – were first introduced to the world in 1972, when Atari released a home version of Pong. The game was simple: two players bounce a dot from one side of the screen to the other, mimicking a game of ping pong. Yet, despite its simplicity, Pong changed the world. In the following decades, the concept of the video game evolved far beyond its humble and rudimentary origins. Today, video games let us dive into our wildest fantasies. You can explore hyper-realistic fantasy worlds or commit heinous crimes with no repercussion; live out your Nascar-driving dreams or escape the horrors of modern-day life on an island where everyone wants to be your friend.

Despite this rapid acceleration, India didn’t arrive at its first console game until 2009. Made for the PlayStation 2, Hanuman: Boy Warrior was a 3D action game where players battled evil forces to save the world. And it was, by all accounts, terrible. Its production was rushed and its concept was half-baked at best and offensive at worst. It made no cultural waves, acting as a bleak launch pad for the Indian gaming industry. 

The 2010s, then, had a prominent gaming culture, but one that was dominated by the West. Online and PC games like Call of Duty, GTA V, and Halo made video games a new form of socialisation. In this sea of high-quality and accessible Western PC games, Indians were falling behind. Our attention was focused on the mobile gaming industry, which, while popular, did not result in any critical acclaim.

This brings us to the 2020s, where it seems we are finally hitting a turning point. The past few years have shown a promising rise in Indie Indian gaming studios, each putting their own spin on different genres of video games. These games embrace our culture without tokenifying it, putting Indian talent on the map not just within our community, but globally. 

Of course, our culture is not monolithic, and neither are the games we produce. They vary across genre, space, and time, showing us the diversity that exists within Indian settings. Let's look at Detective Dotson, for instance. Playable on mobile, PC, and Xbox consoles, Detective Dotson is an adventure game and a “love letter to India”. The game was made by Masala Games, a mobile app developer turned major player in the world of Indie gaming. Players solve mysteries as the game’s titular character, an aspiring Bollywood star turned reluctant detective. They adventure through modern-day India and meet a slew of exciting characters in their quest to find answers.

The game’s setting acts as an avenue for Indian representation on a global scale. Masala Games founder Shalin Shodhan told us, “We wanted to build an experience that better reflects the India you and I live in.” The game’s Indian setting played a large role in its creative development as Shodhan states, “Once our cute little gullies took shape we realized that we’re building the most wholesome place ever - home!” 

This idea of representation is especially key in the realm of gaming, where Indians are often captured through a Western, orientalist lens. Take Streetfighter’s Dhalsim, for instance. His name is literally dal. Dal and shim, lentils and beans. The character is a yogi contortionist, who is jacked yet inexplicably emaciated, with protruding limbs to boot. While characters like Dhalsim can be a fun gag, they’re also a reflection of the West’s twisted view of India. We are often cast aside, mocked, or romanticized for exaggerated stereotypes that don’t apply to the majority of our population. We need Indian creators to pave our own paths, creating an image of ourselves that is as complex and diverse as we are; character representation doesn’t have to be overwhelmingly positive, it just has to be honest. That’s where games like Detective Dotson come in, creating room for realistic characters, or in this case, a character that Shodhan says “represents all of us “Ram Bharose” types.”

Representation also acts as a vessel for education. Mukti is a first-person exploration game that aims to educate its players on the harrowing reality of human trafficking in India. Set in a museum, the game takes its players on an immersive journey through an Indian museum, amplifying victims’ experiences. In this case, the setting is key in aiding the audience’s understanding of the dire issue human trafficking poses in India. 

Though none of us are strangers to TV shows, movies, and books being used for educational purposes, video games are an often overlooked learning opportunity. underDOGS Studio, the creators of Mukti, wanted to utilize their game’s interactive platform as a force for good. “Video games are a great way to inspire social change because they let players interact with stories, making issues feel personal and real,” Mukti creator Vaibhav Chavan told us. The player’s active engagement and ability to make decisions is educational without being preachy. In the case of Mukti, underDOGS Studio has “woven a compelling story around trafficking that simply needs to be heard.” 

Diversification of the gaming landscape also just makes things more interesting for all of us, Indian or not. In an industry that is overwhelmingly dominated by the West and East Asian countries, an Indian backdrop is a refreshing diversion from the mould. Suri: The Seventh Note, a 2D Metroidvania (translation: non-linear, exploration-focused adventure game) set in mythical India, does just this. Soon to be available on PC and PS5, the game’s mystical world is tethered to a unifying rhythm, requiring players to move with the music as they traverse diverse biomes and navigate traps. The game uses Indian culture as a jumping-off point rather than directly replicating it, crafting a game experience that is inherently Indian yet entirely its own. 

Tathvamasi Studios, the team behind Suri, aims to “showcase a unique spin on the Indian Aesthetic to the whole world.” Their founder, Glen Martin, told Homegrown he “wanted to have a game where the default fort, tree, dungeon, murals etc looked and felt Indian.”

The game’s reimagination of Ancient India also bleeds into its music, where composer Jitin David created “tracks inspired by Deep/Progressive House and Techno, using Indian instruments and layering folksy melodies on top of them.” Here we see that Suri: The Seventh Note is interesting not just because it’s Indian, but because its Indian creators were able to take our culture and reinvent it. The game’s creative triumph is not just a testament to the beauty of our culture, but also to the power of our developers, storytellers, and artists. 

Video games are the next creative frontier; as an amalgamation of narrative storytelling, music, visual art, and player interaction, gaming as a medium cannot be bound. And while India has taken a backseat for the past few decades, the overwhelming talent, as displayed in this article and beyond, leave me confident that our video game industry will boom in the coming years. I’m just grateful I can be along for the ride. 

Click to learn more about Suri: The Seventh Note, Mukti, and Detective Dotson. 

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