Gaming needs its ‘RRR' moment! Experts on gaming as India's next soft power

India may be one of the largest gaming markets in terms of downloads, but its global influence in game development, esports and storytelling remains underpowered. At the Digital Entertainment Summit (DES) 2025 hosted by Storyboard18, industry leaders Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director, NODWIN Gaming; Sridhar Muppidi, chairperson, GDAI; and Manvendra Shukul, founder, Lakshya Digital engaged in a conversation on 'Gaming as a global cultural soft power for India' with moderator Rajesh Dhuddu, Partner, PwC.

Gaming is far from new to India. Historical games like Chess, Ludo, Snakes and Ladders have their roots in ancient India. But while India is steeped in gaming history, it hasn’t yet made its mark in the $300 billion global gaming economy. "India has the maximum number of game downloads, but only $4 billion in gaming revenue," Rajesh Dhuddu said.

Strong on tech, Weak on games!

Despite housing 15% of the global STEM workforce and a significant share of AI professionals, India lacks depth in game development talent. "Unfortunately, in gaming, we don’t have the similar depth in talent that we seem to have in other areas… because it’s a fusion of creativity as well as engineering,” said Sridhar Muppidi.

Efforts like the proposed International Centre for Transformative Gaming and Esports (ICT) aim to bridge that gap. Manvendra Shukul highlighted that that ICT will combine academic skilling with studio-based learning to produce industry-ready talent.

Additionally, India's participation in esports is mostly as a consumer and competitor on foreign titles like BGMI and PUBG Mobile. But without Indian-origin games on the global circuit, true dominance remains elusive. “Esports is fundamentally you play a video game that other people make,” Akshat Rathee said, urging India to create its own esports-ready IP.

Games like Indus, FAU-G are culturally inspired formats based on chess and mythology are early contenders, but none have yet broken into the global mainstream. “Unless we have a game that everyone in the world plays, we’ll never be the world champion,” he added.

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Learning from Cinema: Regional Power, Global Appeal

India’s journey in cinema offers clues for gaming. The country’s entertainment evolution—from folklore to streaming—has found success in regional storytelling rather than English-dominant narratives. “India will not have English as its language of soft power. It will be multiple languages,” Rathee said, citing the global success of regional hits like RRR and Mirzapur. Gaming will follow the same path.

Experts revealed that one of the most compelling arguments came in favor of government support—not for picking winners, but enabling failure. “The government is in the business of constructive failures, that’s what builds infrastructure,” Rathee said. He urged that government initiatives must support incubators, access to capital and mentorship, accepting that most startups may fail, but each failure builds experience and capacity.

Rather than chase the next global shooting game, India’s greatest contribution to global gaming might come from its spiritual and cultural depth. “The IP we should create is one that defines joy, not folklore or war. A 10-year-old girl, a 25-year-old man, and a 75-year-old grandma should all enjoy the same game—that’s the goal,” Rathee added.

According to Muppidi, this vision champions a game rooted in Indian values, emotions and inclusivity, a game that can become global soft power export in the way anime has for Japan or K-pop for Korea.

India’s gaming story is still in its early chapters. But with the right talent pipeline, narrative strategy and policy interventions, the country has the potential not just to play games but to change the game entirely.

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