The Indian gaming scene has been on the rise in the past couple of years with mobile games taking over the majority of the market. Battle royale titles like Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) and Free Fire are among the most popular games in India and have helped many gamers carve a niche for themselves in the gaming industry.
Recently, Prime Minister Modi met some of the most influential gamers in the industry and discussed several aspects of gaming in India.
Prime Minister Modi and Gamers discuss Indian Gaming scene and the challenges faced by the gamers
Several well known gamers from the Indian Gaming Community like Naman “Mortal” Mathur, Animesh “Thug” Agarwal, Payal “Payal” Dhare, Tirth Mehta, Mithilesh “MythPat” Patankar, Ganesh “SkRossi” Gangadhar, Anshu “GamerFleet” Bisht met Prime Minister Modi a couple of days ago. All of the gamers who met with the Prime Minister are among the most influential players in their respective gaming titles.
The conversation between Prime Minister Modi and the gamers started with everyone introducing themselves as how they became famous in their respective gaming titles, what inspired them, who inspired them and why they chose gaming as a career.
The conversation moved on to the topic of how a gamer’s day is spent. Thug responded by saying, “In general an esports athlete spends almost 6 to 7 hours a day just practicing. The content creators spend most of their time in a day thinking about creative ideas and then trying to carve a video out of that idea.”
The second main question asked was, how do Indian gamers contribute to the content space in India. Mythpath answered the question by saying, “Today everyone in India has access to mobile phones and internet due to which the content which is being put out for the audience is some of the most unique in the world and has attracted many viewers.”
The third question asked by Prime Minister Modi was, are gamers aware that the Indian gaming space is growing due to cheap internet services to which Thug responded, “Yes everyone is aware about the fact that the cheap internet services has helped in growing the gaming scene as everyone now has access to good quality internet service providers.”
Payal was asked about how many opportunities there are for female gamers in the gaming industry to which she responded, “Parents are scared to send their daughters to work outside and many of them even have restrictions, so for them gaming is a very viable career option. I have also received many messages from female gamers saying that we have started gaming because of you.
The gamers were asked about preconceived notions about gaming being a waste of time. Mythpat responded to the question and said, “There have been instances where a viewer who is a student is continuously watching our videos and their parents have come to us and complained that their child is not studying and wasting his time watching our videos. There also have been instances where someone has used their parent’s credit cards to buy something in the game and it becomes national news which puts us on the negative side.”
Skrossi talked about guiding young esports athletes and their parents and said, “I just want to help and guide young esports athletes and their parents and make them aware about the positives about the gaming field.”
The final question asked by Prime Minister Modi was how gaming can become the next big thing like dancing or sports. Thug answered the question and said, “For example our nation is way ahead in terms of sports, particularly Cricket. If we had not won the 1983 World Cup no one today would have had so much interest in that sport. The gaming industry has boomed in the last couple of years and several Indian esports athletes have represented the country on the global stage and if someone today wants to pursue gaming it should start as a side hustle for them.”
The gamers meeting Prime Minister Modi is not only a significant achievement for them personally but also an achievement for the gaming community as a whole as the gaming industry is now being recognized by the government and is being considered as the next big thing among the youth of the nation.
