Xbox reveals plans to support mobile gaming in India

Microsoft’s video gaming brand Xbox has shared its plans to support not only India’s console gaming market but also its mobile gaming ecosystem.

Arjun Varma, Xbox Gaming’s Global Expansion Incubator (GXI) Manager, said in a statement to GamesIndustry.biz that “the idea behind GXI is to engage and connect with the local developer community in India.” 

“We want to support and enable this ecosystem to find success. We’re looking at how we can get these titles published on Xbox in addition to other platforms. The gaming industry has boomed in the last few years and India is a really interesting market for us. There’s a lot of cool content coming out and we want to build on the potential that we’re seeing.“

India is a ‘’predominantly mobile market’’, Varma added. According to the report, the GCI team wants to close the gap in the country between smartphones and traditional PC & console games.

He said that they’re advising developers to incorporate mechanics in their games to make it easier for players to switch between different platforms. ‘’Cross-platform is the right way to go for a market in India,’’ Varma said. ‘’We encourage that and I’ve been seeing mobile devs include mechanics that simplify the porting process to consoles and PCs.”

Also Read: Microsoft wants to build an Xbox mobile game store to rival Apple and Google

Meanwhile, he also revealed the company’s plans to offer indie developers “the same tools and resources that Microsoft’s biggest partners have access to,” and that it’s exploring how it can use Microsoft’s ID@Azure program for them, which could provide them with the chance to get $150.000 worth of free Azure credits.

According to a report from Niko Partners, India’s slowly closing in on China in the Asian gaming market.