Gone are the days when us gamers swooned at the live streams and pictures from global gaming conventions like E3, held in Los Angeles every year, and GAMESCON, held in Koln (Germany) every year. We bet, there’s gazillions of gaming fanatics in India who wished that our country had its own mega gaming convention. I mean, why shouldn’t it? It’s India, the country that has nothing and anything and everything. For a country widely considered and even stereotyped as “IT Freaks”, a good gaming convention was severely lacking.
There have been several attempts to organise and host a gaming convention and exhibition, like last year’s IGX, but none really blossomed into the events that people were hoping for. Whatever the reasons might be, there was a need for a bigger apex body to interfere and take charge. This is where CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) came in, and announced The Indian Gaming Show 2017, backed by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology.
CII is a large apex body, with big time government and corporate backing. CII has the experience and the stature to host big events. Most of its events, mostly targeted towards industrialists and businessmen, attract high seated personalities, Chief Ministers, Ministers of the Cabinet etc. With CII entering into the gaming foray, The Indian Gaming Show could be what the country has been waiting for, finally.
Video gaming as an industry was never taken seriously by the corporates or by the government. With CII in the picture, I think its finally time we let go of that notion once and for all. Just the mere fact that CII is organising The Indian Gaming Show signifies that gaming is no longer an industry meant to be sidelined. According to NASSCOM, India is home to over 70 million gamers across mobile, console and PC platforms. That number is more than the entire population of many countries.
Video gaming as an industry was never taken seriously by the corporates or by the government. With CII in the picture, I think its finally time we let go of that notion once and for all.
2016 was a revolutionary year for video gaming in India. It witnessed big time tournaments with mega cash prizes, and a fast growth rate never experienced in the country before. According to CII, a total of INR 75 Lacs was distributed as prize money in 2016. The year also saw ESL, an eSports tournament take place successfully in the country. ESL alone had a prize pool of INR 42 Lacs. It is only about time that the video gaming industry is taken seriously in the country. There was also the Dew Arena, an event iLLGaming exclusively covered. Dew Arena hosted nationwide tournaments for Counter Strike: GO, Dota 2 and FIFA, and had a hefty prize pool for the winners.
The Indian Gaming Show 2017
The event will take place from February 2nd to 5th in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. This is the same location that hosts Asia’s largest automobile convention, Auto Expo. This 4-day expo will showcase the latest games and technologies, the latest trends in eSports and VR, and yes, there’s always Cosplay, obviously.
The event will host delegations from Japan, a lead partner for this event. The Republic of Korea, USA, UK, Poland and Germany will bring in their own delegations.
iLLGaming is Official Coverage Partner for the event, and we will be present on all days covering every corner. Stay tuned for interviews, live streams and much more!
