Can 1312 Interactive Be The Global Launchpad For Indian Game Developers?

As India goes full-on in gaming, it stays the course to be the world’s largest market for online games. The rapidly evolving gaming landscape in the country is shaped by the sheer volume of mobile gamers and app downloads.

India had about 591 Mn active gamers with 23 Mn added in FY24 alone. In terms of app downloads, it was the largest market around the world in 2024, with 8.5 Bn downloads. 

The gaming frenzy has fostered a $3.8 Bn industry, which claimed a 30% slice of India’s $12.5 Bn new media market in 2024, averaging 20% annual growth rate to reach $9.2 Bn in the next five years, according to an Inc42 estimate. To power this growth, Indian gamers are more invested than ever, clocking an average of 13 hours a week, indicating a 30% surge over the last year. 

Lumikai pegged the growth rate at 23% till FY29. Although real money gaming dominated, accounting for $2.4 Bn in revenue, midcore and hardcore gaming is expected to average a 44% growth rate until FY29, it said.

While classics like Contra, Counter-Strike, Mario, Road Rash, and Need for Speed still enjoy a nostalgic fanbase, the spotlight has long shifted to mobile hits like Subway Surfers, Fruit Ninja, Candy Crush, and Battlegrounds Mobile India, as the country of 1.45 Bn people saw smartphone penetration surpass 1 Bn in 2023, according to an Inc42 assessment of the world’s third largest startup ecosystem. 

Snags and glitches, however, continue to rattle the gaming ecosystem in India. The hurdles are steeper when it comes to the PC and console gaming space. From inadequate infrastructure to poor funding – the segment grapples with challenges as it tries to scale even amid lack of institutional support. The industry remains largely focused on free-to-play mobile games.

The narrative needs to change. Deepak Gurijala and Raviteja Mantena were driven by this thought when they set up 1312 Interactive in Hyderabad last year as a publishing studio dedicated to premium PC and console titles.

Finding The Missing Link

Gurijala’s entrepreneurial journey in the gaming industry goes back a decade when he founded Street Lamp Games. He has since developed more than 150 games, primarily in the hyper-casual category, with three being premium titles. Since 2017, he has collaborated with over 35 publishers worldwide, launching games with industry giants like Crazy Labs and Cheetah Mobile.

Mantena, on the other hand, is seasoned for 15 years. He started as a game designer, initially working on mobile games before transitioning to PC and console titles. He was with Pole To Win, a publicly traded Japanese company where he served as vice-president of product for the past five to six years. The firm specialises in game development services, particularly for AAA PC and console games. It gave Mantena the opportunity to contribute to major titles like Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, and Spider-Man.

Gurijala and Mantena met each other at the India Game Developer Conference (IGDC), where Mantena facilitated investor and publisher connections, while Gurijala handled awards and other responsibilities. As game designers, they frequently exchanged ideas and soon recognized a glaring gap – India lacked dedicated support for the PC and console gaming market.

“Back in 2019, only 10-15 PC games were being developed in India, compared to 200-300 mobile games. However, after COVID, the market has undergone a massive shift. In just the past year, more than 200 PC games were developed in India, as seen in the IGDC submissions. This shift signals the potential for AAA game development in India over the next 10-15 years,” Mantena said.

Despite this momentum, many high-quality Indian-made PC and console games struggle to gain traction globally because of gaps in publishing, marketing, and production standards. That’s where they positioned their brainchild 1312 Interactive. It aims to bridge these gaps and help local developers take their games to the global stage.

“We are part of many initiatives happening in India and actively support the ecosystem through platforms like IGDC, STPI, and JEDI. Over the past two to two-and-a-half years, we observed a significant shift in the Indian game development ecosystem. The industry was transitioning from mobile to PC gaming, and in early 2024, we saw some incredible games emerging from India,” he added.

With initiatives like IHP and Xbox gaining momentum, the quality of games being developed in India scaled new heights, yet there was a glaring gap with no one actively supporting these developers, he added.

Selecting And Positioning The Games

For its first cohort, 1312 Interactive is concentrating on games being developed in India, with the vision of identifying high-quality titles and launching them on a global scale. For example, its first game, Winds of Arcana, is targeting markets in Europe, China, and the US.

Its second game, Palm Sugar, will primarily focus on Asian regions like Japan and Korea, while also later on expanding to Europe and the Americas. The third game, Souls of Bomber Guys, will have a global launch across all major markets.

From the second or third cohort onwards, the game publisher looks beyond India to regions like Southeast Asia, South America, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). India will always remain a priority, with locally developed high-quality games receiving preference for publishing and global expansion, according to the founders.

While selecting the games, the publishing studio is focussed on specific genres that have the potential to reach a much larger audience. Some of the key genres it is targeting include Metroidvania, action-adventure, adventure puzzle, and narrative puzzle games as it identified these categories as areas of interest and actively searched for promising game ideas.

When we initially announced this internally through IDC, we received a list of games that appealed to us. We carried out a thorough selection process to choose those that best fit our vision.

“Our selection criteria were based on identifying games that we believe have strong potential in the global market, especially since this is our first cohort. We also went through an extensive review process with our partners based in Spain and London, spending 30-45 days conducting a complete market analysis of these games. This helped us assess their viability and performance potential on a global scale,” Manteja said.

A key criterion for the selection was that the games needed to be at least 80% complete. Rather than working with early stage projects still in the Game Design Document (GDD) or conceptual phase, 1312 Interactive focussed on studios and developers who were preparing for release, with games that were well-developed and close to being market-ready.

From Development To Distribution: The Full-Stack Publishing Model

The gaming studio carries out a thorough analysis of each game to assess its current state and identify areas that require fine-tuning and polishing. Once these refinements are mapped out, it provides end-to-end quality assurance (QA), covering functionality, compliance, compatibility, and live testing. Gurijala’s team, based in Hyderabad, offers hands-on assistance to developers in game designing, art, production, and audio.

Beyond development support, 1312 Interactive also conducts in-depth market research to zero in on the most promising market for the game. Based on this analysis, the team handles localisation and culturalisation. While gaming localisation is about translating the game’s text and audio into the ethnic language, culturalisation refers to adapting the game’s visuals, story, and content to fit the cultural norms and preferences of a specific audience. This process ensures flexibility to maintain high standards across markets.

Once a game is ready for release, the studio manages its distribution and marketing. This includes traditional and digital marketing through influencer collaborations, PR campaigns, events and social media promotions. Everything – from launch strategy to sustained engagement – is taken care of by 1312 Interactive.

The company follows a traditional publishing model, but the specifics of each deal vary, depending on the studio and the game. “We aim to be more flexible and developer-friendly compared to many established publishers, ensuring a mutually beneficial partnership,” Mantena said.

As part of its publishing agreements, 1312 Interactive provides financial support to developers in the form of a minimum guarantee – an upfront investment to help them complete their game. In exchange, the publisher secures the IP rights for a defined period.

The revenue-sharing structure is designed to balance risk and reward. Initially, the publisher recoups its investment from game sales, after which revenue is split equally between the developer and 1312 Interactive. However, as the game achieves higher sales milestones, the revenue share shifts increasingly in favour of the developer. For example, if a game surpasses $10 Mn in revenue, the developer’s share can go up to 70%, with 1312 Interactive retaining 30%.

Along The Course

1312 Interactive recently closed its pre-seed funding round from gaming industry leaders like Akshat Rathee, Gautam Virk, Rajat Ojha and Sridhar Muppidi.

The publisher plans to use the funds for the three selected studios and their games. Around 90% of their funds will be used for minimum guarantee amounts for these games and marketing efforts. The rest will be spent on team expansion, including hiring a community manager and building a QA team, to support these projects.

While their focus for 2024 is on successfully launching and scaling their first three games, 1312 Interactive aims to publish six to seven games per year across multiple platforms like Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, GOG, and Epic Games Store going forward.

[Edited By Kumar Chatterjee]