PUBG, BGMI-maker KRAFTON plans to set up R&D unit in India by next year: India CEO

PUBG and BGMI-maker KRAFTON intends to set up an R&D facility in India by next year to develop games suited to the Indian culture, the company's India business head Sean Hyunil Sohn said.

KRAFTON India CEO Sohn said that the details of the facility are yet to be finalised, but the top location choices are Bangalore and Pune.

“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,” he said on the sidelines of IDGS Gaming Conclave.

Sohn had earlier told PTI that India was among the top three markets for the company in terms of user base.

"India has a huge demand for digital entertainment content, including gaming. We have seen a very fast pace of growth on a year-on-year basis but I think there's a lack of top-quality talent supply into the ecosystem, which has many factors behind that sort of situation.

“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,” he said.

It is very critical to promote and change the perception of the gaming industry, which can bring a lot of positive impact to the industry, Sohn further said.

"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 said.

Although information and education are easily accessible today, he said, the means and thought behind it are crucial too.

“There are a lot of open courses available on YouTube, and available from many large global universities. They have access to information and educational material, but they don't have the hardware, or they don't have the support from family to spend time on it. I think that can be not easily solvable, but it can be slowly solved by support from the government, and from companies like us through CSR initiatives, among others," Sohn said.

KRAFTON has invested $160 million in Indian startups since 2021 and plans to invest an additional $150 million over the next 2-3 years.

The company earlier this year launched the KRAFTON India Gaming Incubator programme to support game development talent in India by providing funding, mentorship, and essential resources to developers.

Speaking on concerns around the popularisation of violence-based online games, Sohn said it is important to be mindful about excessively consuming any type of content and strike a balance between the negative and positive impacts of it. KRAFTON as a publisher has put a three-hour playtime limit per day for minors, and a six-hour playtime limit for adults.

Currently, the South Korean company runs the popular Battleground Mobile India (BGMI) shooting game in India, a successor to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) which was banned by the government in September 2020.