Accelerating India’s Skill Gaming Path Interview with Roland Landers, CEO, AIGF

In this conversation with us, Roland Landers, CEO, AIGF, talks about how guided by their online skill gaming charter, AIGF is all in for localised and regional gaming content that people will relate to.

By Amarylisa Gonsalves

hen the online

Wskill gaming industry is just acquiring its mainstream status, the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF), as an apex body, is constantly striving to accelerate and encourage the industry to gain its recognition. With a self-regulatory framework and a designated skill games charter in place, AIGF is dedicated to making the online skill gaming industry reach newer heights.

We connected with Roland Landers, CEO, AIGF to understand how technology is driving the industry’s growth and what it holds in the future. Roland Landers is an accomplished leader in gaming, media and sports domains. He has been a part of AIGF since its inception in 2016. He also shared the need for a self-regulating community that can help accelerate and streamline the growth prospects. Here’s everything Landers had to share. Roland Landers, CEO, AIGF

The objective of the AIGF is to unify the stakeholders of the online skill gaming industry by bringing them on a common platform, establishing processes, and creating awareness about this sunrise sector. AIGF members are guided by its online skill games charter, which is the basis for the self-regulatory community for the industry. I have been associated with the AIGF since May 2016.

We’ve seen this happening in the Indian entertainment content context, that content in a regional language is where growth occurs. This stands true for gaming content as well. Localised and regional content that people will relate to will always be appreciated as the market expands, and that’s where the real growth will take off in Tier 2 and 3 towns. It is relevant because gaming content doesn’t have a language barrier as such, but localisation of the content itself leads to more relatability with the gamers. That is why we are seeking several adoptions from the gamer communities. From a 350 million level today, it is expected to reach 500 million. That is the kind of growth we’re expecting, and that will come from localised content.

There are many best practices that the AIGF has implemented, like the adoption of the self-regulatory online skill games charter for its members that emphasize player protection and responsible gaming, audit processes for compliance to its charter, etc. We seek recognition and endorsement of the AIGF skill games charter as the industry norm. Our charter encapsulates all online skill gaming formats.

5G will empower the entire ecosystem. I feel it will be able to collaborate the physical and virtual gaming better. 5G has the ability to do that. It will also mean high network speed and low latency, which are the core differentiators. Talking about the collaboration of physical and virtual, AR and VR would also come into the picture at a higher adoption level. These will help give a significant impetus to play in the existing gaming industry.

This industry is driven profusely by Mobile Gaming technology. In recent years, innovations such as ML, AI, VR, and AR have intensified. Right now, AR and VR are only accessible to a few, but 5G would help make it accessible, and the bandwidth would widen. This would become reasonably common after 5G penetration. However, it is crucial to keep in mind that there is a lot of hardware and equipment involved. The cost factor has to be considered, but AR and VR would have a significant role in the gaming industry.

We have already seen that shift happen. When we look at the entire evolution of the Indian gaming landscape – the whole software and game development has happened over the years in India. Now developments have been happening in terms of

collaborative efforts, international teams working closely with the Indian game developers, etc. When India’s creative strengths and tech abilities are combined, we can do things on par with global standards. That is true for the gaming industry in terms of game development, and software development etc. Once 5G comes into place, it would boost the Indian gaming and game development industry. So, whether it is from the point of view of developing globally recognised games to exporting tech, it will become a definite possibility.

In VR, you’re transported to a virtual landscape, while AR gives you the real-world experience. So it’s all about the experience. But India is a price-conscious country. The enabling hardware involved in VR is prohibitive because of the high costs involved. In price-sensitive markets, the scope for VR would be limited, but over time there is scope for cost reductions or the opportunity to manufacture hardware locally. But currently, yes, there is a gap.

Even in a self-regulatory framework, a remarkable ecosystem has developed over the last 4-5 years. Each gaming business and the overall skill gaming sector is creating an immense social and economic impact. It has been found that by 2022, there are going to be around 40,000 jobs created by the gaming industry, which is enormous from a job enabler perspective. It is also contributing via direct and indirect taxation. Suppose a structured nodal ministry is used to endorse the self-regulatory framework like the one adopted by the AIGF stakeholders. In that case, this ecosystem will only grow exponentially. If the gaming industry follows the projected growth path, the entire Indian online skill gaming industry will break out between 2021 and 2025.

There is a lack of legal uniformity because of the divergent views on the subject adopted by different states. The nature of the businesses is online and digital, so it needs a central nodal ministry to support the self-regulatory processes to give it solidity. Hence, it has to be looked at from a national level and needs to be kept away from the ambit of the state acts and laws. But because this has not yet happened, there are constraints to the industry’s growth. Uncertainty impacts all stakeholders negatively, including investors, gaming businesses, and gamers, etc.

We’re looking at a more structured environment with some nodal support to the AIGF self-regulatory framework. On the business front, businesses will grow on the expected lines. Also, we will meet the other metrics that were projected for the industry. The taxations will also be cleared by the end of the fiscal year. Things would be on course to grow as per the projections. All this would take shape by the end of FY 2022.