KRAFTON To Set Up R&D Facility In India By 2026

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

As per PTI, 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. 

“We will continue to launch new games for the Indian market, either sourcing from outside or from India. We will do our best to set up a good quality development team based in India and develop quality games based on Indian culture,” Sohn reportedly said.

While noting that the company has seen “very fast pace of growth on a year-on-year (YoY) basis”, he flagged the lack of top-quality talent supply in the Indian gaming ecosystem.

“A short history of game development might not have enough impact on the general public to understand gaming as a proper, serious professional career. Apart from that, as a developing country with a huge young population, there is a lack of enough informed investments into the basic IT infrastructure for education,” Sohn ,however, reportedly added. 

He also called on the government and Indian enterprises to offer “some educational support” to promote the online gaming ecosystem in the country. 

“There should be some educational support from the government. Maybe I’m superficial in understanding whole issues around education in India, but I feel, through my interaction with young students here, that there is a lack of infrastructure at home, and also in school. Even if they want to learn about coding and game development, they don’t have the hardware to do it,” he added.

It is pertinent to note that the South Korean giant runs the popular battle royale game Battleground Mobile India (BGMI) in India. The country is one of the top three markets for the company in terms of user base.

Since 2021, the company claims to have invested $160 Mn in Indian startups and plans to pump an additional $150 Mn in the homegrown new-age tech companies over the next two to three years. 

It also launched its incubator initiative earlier this year to support game development in India by providing funding, mentorship, and essential resources to developers.