Chinese tech major Tencent on Friday announced strategic partnerships with Service Export Promotion Council (SEPC) and Game Developers Association of India (GDAI), making an initial commitment of over ₹100 million to support development of India’s gaming and AVGC ecosystem. It said its commitments include providing resources and programmes spanning curriculum development, industry training, and mentorship.
The company said this marks the beginning of the company’s long-term collaboration with the country’s gaming and AVGC sector. This development comes post regulatory clarity in the digital games space as well as India relaxing FDI norms for countries sharing land borders.
The tech major said that this commitment was aligned with India’s national ambition to train and employ two million skilled professionals in the AVGC-XR sector by 2030.
“We wouldn’t be here if we had concerns. We welcome the enhanced clarity, especially in the video game sector, and the government of India’s focus on the orange economy has been well-received and is a big driver of why we’re here,” said Danny Marti, Head of Public Policy and Global Affairs, Tencent.
The tech major had faced some regulatory challenges in the past, especially with its popular PUBG Mobile game, due to national security concerns following border tensions.
“We certainly welcome any kind of regulatory clarity in this space. It’s a complex space..and here I mean clarity between the real money game debate and the social and eSports space. What we have been talking about over the past two years is all about social games. And I can share we have had early engagements with the government and other stakeholders. So the regulatory clarity now, I think, has helped us move past that initial discussion,” Marti stated responding to a question on the regulatory front in India.
When asked about his views on the Indian government relaxing rules for investment from bordering nations, he said that points to “easing of regulatory framework that encourages additional investments and partnerships.” He pointed out that India is a rapidly growing and vibrant creative economy with a growing video games sector.
Tencent Games Global Vice President for business operations, strategy and compliance Yong-yi Zhu said that the tech major sees a lot of potential in India’s gaming sector. “From Tencent’s perspective, India has a large player base and we want to put our games in their hands, for them to experience them with their friends, with their families. Gaming is inherently very social.” Talking about the creator economy, he said the company wants to focus on building an ecosystem.
He added that Tencent is looking forward to the creation of new intellectual properties (IPs) by people in India.“Really looking forward to that, and building that, you know, pipeline for the world, not just for local folks,” Zhu added.
Tencent and the Game Developers Association of India (GDAI) has signed a three- year MoU to strengthen India’s gaming talent pipeline through grassroots developer engagement, industry-led skilling, mentorship, and hands-on learning initiatives. Under another three-year MoU, Tencent will work with SEPC to strengthen national capacity building, facilitate industry dialogue, and support Indian AVGC companies in accessing international value chains, it added.