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PlayStation has revealed some new details of its India Hero Project – the company’s big push into the exploding India game market. First announced in May 2023 as a followup to the successful China Hero Project, the new initiative aims to support game developers in India to bring their games to PlayStation 5.

The gaming market in India is currently worth an estimated $868 million in 2023 according to analyst firm Niko Partners, which is expected to nearly double by 2027. Recent advances in affordable high-spec smartphones coupled with the Indian government’s investments in affordable high-speed mobile internet has made mobile platforms more easily accessible to gamers in India. And while console and PC platforms are currently a tiny slice of the pie, they are growing, with both PlayStation and Xbox building support programs to help local developers to bring their games to both domestic and global audiences.

Speaking ahead of the India Game Developer Conference (IGDC) held in Hyderabad at the beginning of November, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s third-party business lead Hector Fernandez and India Hero Project program manager Sujith Sukumaran gave IGN Japan an update on PlayStation’s plans.

India Hero Project is a program where developers based in India can pitch their game to PlayStation, with a committee of nine Sony employees assessing each game. Sony will offer financial, technical and marketing support, and in some cases, perhaps even publish the games directly.

China Hero Project began in 2016 and is now in its third round, with acclaimed games such as F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch finding reasonable global success, and hotly-anticipated titles Awaken: Astral Blade and Daba: Land of Waterscar to follow. With India’s population of 1.4 billion recently overtaking that of China to make it the world’s most populous nation, and with over 500 million gamers as of 2021, Fernandez said he believes the conditions in India are just right to recreate these successes.

“India really stood out because of the favourable demographics, he said, noting that there is a younger audience for gaming in India than in the West and Japan. “When you dig a little deeper, and you start to look at the creativity that's coming out in India, obviously in film, television and music, there's all this creativity that's there – but it also extends into video games.”

The market is overwhelmingly dominated by mobile games, but PC and console game sales are growing. The many excellent games on show at last week’s IGDC reflected this, with notable upcoming games including action-adventure/bullet hell game Sojourn Past, slice of life coming of age story Fishbowl and Fortnite-integrated Indo-Futurist battle royale Indus.

The aims of India Hero Project are twofold: Increase PlayStation’s share in India’s console market by delivering culturally relevant games there, and bring those games to a global audience of PlayStation 5 owners who are hungry for new experiences.

To achieve this, PlayStation will offer participating developers not only financial support but also mentorship and training so that they can apply the skills they may have built up on mobile or PC game development to making games for PS5. For example, developers selected for India Hero Project may learn how to make use of the DualSense controller’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, or how to take advantage of ultra-fast SSD memory, with dedicated technical support provided by Sony. Or on a marketing front, they may learn how to make their games more accessible to the wide global audience of PlayStation 5 owners.

Sukumaran explained, “We want to showcase the talent from India, to offer local advocacy for global backing and to showcase their products globally, and also to bring our global expertise and knowhow to give developers there the experience to make a console game and make it a commercial success.”

“Talent exists everywhere: It’s all over the world,” said Fernandez. “But in order to help developers understand how to be successful on PlayStation, we actually have to roll up our sleeves and go do the work. We want to help realise an ecosystem, and to be a part of that ecosystem, so that the Indian creators and developers have the same opportunities that developers have across the world.”

It's a good read so be sure to check the IGN's article for more info on the India Hero Project:

Inside PlayStation's Big Push Into India's Burgeoning Gaming Market - IGN

Following its success in China, PlayStation detailed its new India Hero Project, which it hopes can lead to uncovering the next Genshin Impact-sized hit.

www.ign.com

 

[Belthazar]

The China Hero project ended up with some very good games... Hopefully this does too.

 

[Heisenberg007]

I love this so much because, unlike acquisitions, it helps grow the industry - not just move pieces from one block to another. This will lead to new developers, new studios, and new games for PlayStation gamers.

The China Hero project gave us some good games, and more are coming. I hope the India Project does the same. In 10-12 years, these projects would in fantastic shape and the studios experienced and well-oiled.

 

[PanzerCute]

I was in India for 3 weeks last month and I found quite a few PS5 (SM2 bundle mainly) and even PSVR2 in Delhi. Did not find any games tho.
I never went to shopping malls so I found them in open markets which is what surprised me.

Insane country, people and culture btw, I want to go back already!

 

[crackajack]

I definitely would like to see some studios in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentine... or Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt etc as well, maybe also in the arab world or in one of the -stans.
Sony is lacking in smaller scale first party games anyway after Housemarque and Arrowhead also strive to do big third person over the shoulder games. Start with some small games there and build then on talent that is showing.

 

[Unknown?]

If they can reach just 1% of India, they're going to set records!

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

I love this so much because, unlike acquisitions, it helps grow the industry - not just move pieces from one block to another. This will lead to new developers, new studios, and new games for PlayStation gamers.

The China Hero project gave us some good games, and more are coming. I hope the India Project does the same. In 10-12 years, these projects would in fantastic shape and the studios experienced and well-oiled.

This!

India, China, and South Korea are going to be the next major dev frontiers. And I can't fucking wait.

I look at the quality of storytelling and the unique ways that Korean, Chinese, and Indian storytellers craft stories that are very different from what we're used to out of Hollywood, and I'm fucking stoked by what some of these creative elements will do when they inevitably start flexing in the area of storytelling in videogames.

We're in for a treat.