KRAFTON Expands Its Indian Gaming Incubator With Two New Startups

South Korean game developer KRAFTON’s India arm has expanded the first cohort of its KRAFTON India Gaming Incubator (KIGI) with the addition of two new startups.

Gurugram-based Dunali Games and Delhi-based Arjuna Studios have been the latest additions to KIGI’s programme, the company said in a statement.

Dunali Games is currently developing Tale of Honour, a strategy-driven stealth puzzle game for Android, while Arjuna Studios is making headlines with Gangster Carnival, a mobile multiplayer Battle Royale game poised to disrupt the gaming scene.

These two startups join Shura Games and Redimension Games, who entered the programme earlier this year.

The programme was launched with a vision to ensure that new gaming startups can achieve some level of success and produce higher-quality products that can compete on a global scale.

“As we are all aware, the gaming industry in India boasts a large user base and numerous downloads, yet the quality of games emerging from the country remains subpar. This programme aims to enhance the overall gaming ecosystem by providing incubated teams with financial support, mentorship, access to tools, and guidance,” Anuj Sahani, head of Krafton Incubator Program, told Inc42 earlier in an interview.

Krafton is open to all kinds of games for the incubation programme. However, it won’t consider real money gaming or any games associated with betting or gambling, Sahani said.

KRAFTON’s India head Sean Hyunil Sohn recently said that the company plans to establish a research and development (R&D) facility in India by 2026.

Sohn said that the R&D unit will focus on developing games “suited to Indian culture”. While noting that the details are yet to be finalised, he said that Bengaluru and Pune were the top runners for the location of the proposed facility.

Last year, KRAFTON committed to investing $150 Mn (over the next two to three years) in India towards Indian gaming and entertainment startups.

KRAFTON also relaunched “BGMI” in India last year. After PUBG Mobile got banned in India in 2020, KRAFTON cut ties with Tencent to relaunch the game as “BGMI (BattleGrounds Mobile India)”. However, the Indian government banned the game again in July 2022, citing issues with Indian users’ data before it made a comeback last year.