The second edition of Techcircle Digital Gaming Forum 2013 is just three days away. It will be held on November 29, 2013 at Hotel Taj President, Mumbai.
The summit will host a special panel on 'Raising Angel & Venture Capital For Indian Gaming Companies'. Moderated by Shrija Agrawal, Managing Editor, Techcircle, the panel will host Rahul Chandra, MD, Helion Advisors; Shailesh Lakhani - Principal, Sequoia Capital and Vikram Vaidyanathan - Director, Matrix Partners.
The panel will focus on what VCs/angel investors look for in gaming companies, in addition to, the challenges in investing in early stage gaming companies. What are the developments witnessed in VC backed gaming companies? How long does it take for gaming companies to monetise effectively post launch? What are the expected ROI in this sector?
The summit will also host a listing of Indiaâs top 10 emerging digital gaming companies, where the best 10 emerging companies will be shortlisted based on their big idea, innovation, UI, market opportunity, consumer traction & engagement. The applications will be vetted by a jury which includes Nitish Mittersain - CEO & Founder, Nazara Group; Manish Agarwal, CEO, Reliance Entertainment and Samir Bangara, MD & CEO, Qyuki as members. Click Here to apply or recommend a company.
The full-day conference, presented by Nazara Technologies, will discuss and debate on: building large, sustainable and scalable gaming businesses in India; how companies maximise revenue potential across all platforms; how Indian brands engage with consumers through gaming; opportunities in Indian mobile gaming; how companies overcome the challenges to monetising mobile gaming; raising venture capital and angel funding for gaming companies; gaming for global markets from India; as well as emerging opportunities in Indian animation ecosystem. Click for more details.
For registrations, write to Kanika at register@vccircle.com or call 0120-4171111.
Speakers
- Alok Kejriwal - CEO & Co-Founder, Games2win
.. and many more are joining.
9:30am - 9:40am
Introduction Note
9:40am - 10:25am
Keynote Panel: Building Large Gaming Businesses In India: The Road Ahead
Gaming consumption opportunities in India are well known and much talked about. As innovation is taking place across segments and users engage with these innovations and products, though still at a nascent stage, what will create large sustainable and scalable gaming businesses in the country? What can drive adoption of OEMs mobile application store in India where device fragmentation and ineffective experience/marketing appear as a logjam? Where does the transformation lie? What is the future of gaming opportunities by both device OEMs and carriers in a diverse Indian market? How do companies maximise revenue potential across all platforms? What is the rationale behind the recent acquisitions of gaming companies/development studios? Will this trend continue?
Nitish Mittersain - CEO & Founder, Nazara Group
Manoj Gupta - Head VAS, Micromax Informatics Ltd
Prashant Ojha- Sales & Marketing Head â India, Srilanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan- Electronic arts games
Manish Agarwal- CEO, Reliance Entertainment (Moderator)
10:25am - 11:05am
Fireside Chat: Creating World Class Gaming Products
Taking advantage of new technology, real time strategy, what innovative strategies can keep gaming products at the top of the charts? What it takes to build best gaming products in India? What model is working good (freemium/ premium) for pushing games into the hands of everyone? What games are necessary for turning infrequent gamers to hardcore ones? How attractive is the market to deploy multiplayer games in the ecosystem? Is there a big enough lucrative market for developers adopting games based on Indian themes? Are such local games getting global traction? What are the latest offerings in the gaming industry which are talked about?
Virat Singh Khutal - Co-Founder & CEO, Twist Mobile
Vishal Gondal - Founder & Ex-CEO, Indiagames.com
Bhavin Pandya â Founder & CEO, Rummycircle
Mohit Sureka- Founder & CEO, Spiel Studios Pvt Ltd
Alok Kejriwal - CEO & Co-Founder, Games2win (Moderator)
11:05am - 11:25am
Tea & Networking Break
11:25am - 12:25pm
Indiaâs Top 10 Emerging Digital Gaming Companies
Techcircle is launching a listing of India's top 10 emerging gaming product/service companies. The top 10 emerging companies will be shortlisted based on their big idea, innovation, UI, market opportunity, consumer traction & engagement. Our readers can fill the application form (click here) to apply or recommend a company. The applications received will be vetted by a jury of three senior industry professionals and the Techcircle team to select the top 10 emerging companies. For any query, contact Kanika atregister@vccircle.com / 0120-4171111.
12:25pm - 1:05pm
Panel I: Mobile Gaming
With the advent of smartphones, 3G services and world-class mobile game offering, what is accelerating the mobile gaming sector? What are the challenges to monetisation? How can companies overcome them? What are the obstacles in converting free to play players to paying players? Are service providers losing out on their app stores? What are the distribution models leveraged by game developers to reach out directly to customers? Is gaming market still untapped? Has it got high potential to surge? Will graphics and animation, 4G services and game outsourcing take mobile gaming sector to next level of upgraded version?
Deepak Taneja - Head Ecommerce and Digital Marketing, Nokia India
Binay Tiwari - Director - Marketing & Product, VServ
Manish Malik - VP - Gaming, Hungama Digital Media
Hrishi Oberoi - Director - Games & Studios, The Walt Disney Company
12:25pm-12:55pm
Techcircle Pavillion
At Techcircle Pavillion, companies will use kiosks to showcase their product and innovation to the participating entrepreneurs, game developers, investors and consultants. Each pavilion kiosk is priced at Rs 15,000 plus taxes. Contactayushi.misra@vccircle.com for more details.
1:05pm - 2:05pm
Lunch & Networking
2:05pm - 2:45pm
Panel II: Raising Angel & Venture Capital For Indian Gaming Companies
What are VCs/angel investors looking for in making investments in the gaming space? What are the challenges in investing in early stage gaming companies? What are the developments witnessed in VC backed gaming companies? How long does it take for gaming companies to monetise effectively post launch? What are the expected ROI in this category of business?
Shailesh Lakhani - Principal, Sequoia Capital
Rahul Chandra, Helion Advisors Pvt. Ltd
Vikram Vaidyanathan - Director, Matrix Partners
Shrija Agrawal â Managing Editor, Techcircle & VCCircle (Moderator)
2:45pm - 3:25pm
Panel III: Gaming For Global Markets From India
Is India ready to take up outsourcing jobs? Or are we late? What are the key challenges in taking up outsourcing jobs? Does India still hold the potential to attract large number of users and create new revenue opportunities for outsourcing businesses in the highly competitive gaming domain where China and Vietnam are becoming leading destinations in terms of cheaper labour and advanced technology? Is the focus seen to be gradually shifting in venturing into developing games itself? How do game developers overcome the hassle of setting up infrastructure and recruiting personnel, which is to be created at par excellence for attracting global crowd?
Anuj Tandon - Co-Founder & COO, Rolocule Games
Rohith Bhat - MD & CEO, Robosoft Technologies
M. G. Dayanidhi - MD - Asia Pacific, Digital Chocolate (Moderator)
3:25pm - 3:55pm
Tea & Networking Break
3:55pm - 4:35pm
Panel V: Gaming For Consumer Brands
How are Indian consumer brands engaging with consumers via games? How will this market evolve? Is the gaming formula appealing to consumer brands to draw in younger shoppers? Consumer brands are increasingly using gaming features for their promotional activities; is the trend getting viral? Are consumer brand moving towards gamifying their products to get away from the dullness posed by adopting traditional marketing strategies? Is it proved to be a cost effective way to retain customers?
Badri Sanjeevi - COO, Mauj Mobile
Srinivas Chilakalapudi - VP - Strategy, Associations & Digital Business, Green Gold Animation Pvt Ltd
Anila Andrade - Producer, 99 Games (Moderator)
4:35pm â 5:15pm
Emerging opportunities in Indian Animation Ecosystem
Is India becoming a popular destination for animation ecosystem? How rapidly are Indian animation houses competing with their western counterparts in terms of infrastructure and technology? What are the pressing challenges of the animation industry? What are the other great innovations witnessed in the animation space? Is the animation education segment ready to shift its focus from mere vocational side to the mainstream for budding artists interested in animation, gaming and visual effects verticals?
5:15pm - 5:25pm
Concluding Remarks
You can follow the updates on the event on twitter (hashtag: ##TDGF13), LinkedIn and Facebook.
For sponsorship, write to: ayushi.misra@vccircle.com.
For registrations, write to Kanika at register@vccircle.com or call 0120-4171111.