What are the challenges faced by game developers in India?
Game development is generally very complex and difficult, especially in terms of scale and concurrency requirements. This coupled with the creative requirements makes it even more challenging. In India and everywhere else in the world, only very large studios can afford the capital expenses for infrastructure — thus, the larger studios become larger while the smaller studios remain small due to lack of investment.
Also I think Indian studios have largely been following two primary business tracks – one directed towards the Carrier driven & feature phone serving content model, while the other led by outsourcing or third party development for global studios.
Playblazer helps game developers to acquire new skills & become more globally competitive – by providing the pre-built game mechanics, as well as the scalable infrastructure required to succeed at a global scale. The ability to scale is largely made possible with a combination of services that only Amazon Web Services (AWS) can provide.
How does it feel to be a finalist of the AWS Global Startup Challenge?
AWS Global Startup Challenge is the marquee Cloud Computing event to watch, and competing in an event of global scale requires quite a lot of work. We had competed in the 2010 round too, where we stood semi-finalists (Dialify Technologies Pvt. Ltd.), but getting to the Finals was a dream come true. It endorses our technical vision for our product, while also giving us global exposure.
The competition is tough, but very professional, and I felt that every team brought something unique to the challenge and to Cloud Computing.
It was at the AWS Global Startup Challenge that we announced the availability of Playblazer as a platform for the first time. Immediately after finale event, we met with YetiZen, a San Francisco Gaming Accelerator, with a stellar team of advisors drawn from some of the largest and most influential Game Studios and Publishers in the Bay area.
YetiZen team met with us a couple of times during the subsequent week and offered us a spot on their March-June 2013 batch, even though the application and selection process had been completed by the time we met. We have since moved to San Francisco in March to join YetiZen and will be staying here till mid-June.
AWS Global Startup Challenge AND our Finalist status has helped us push the envelope in terms of global reach into the Gaming industry.
