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Pocket Gamer Connects Bangalore 2016 heats up with over 600 delegates

Report from day 1

Pocket Gamer Connects Bangalore 2016 heats up with over 600 delegates

Pocket Gamer Connects Bangalore 2016 was the hot ticket this week in more ways than one, as a record number of attendees braved the 40 degree heat to come together and share knowledge, show games and generally celebrate the growth of the Indian industry.

On the back of figures showing that the Indian smartphone market had overtaken USA to become the second largest in the world with 230 million installed devices and figures of 75% growth in the mobile games market, there was an understandably positive and confident tone from a large local audience.

On track 

The Make In India track set the tone from day one with speakers such as

  • Rohith Bhat, CEO of Robosoft,
  • Manish Agarwal, CEO of Nazara Games,
  • Alok Kejriwal, CEO of Games2Win,
  • Rajesh Rao, CEO of Dhruva, and
  • Anurag Sacheva, Country Director of Rovio

They discussed themes ranging from 'Innovation in Indian Gaming' and 'Growth Hacking Trends' through to India Opportunity & trends and ‘India’s Future in the Mobile entertainment industry'.

Keynote sessions from

  • Google's Kunal Soni (Head of BD, Google Play Apps and Games for South East Asia, India & Australia), 
  • Ketchapp's Chief Revenue Officer Chris Calderon, and
  • Reliance's own CEO Amit Khanduja

...underlined the mix of eastern and western experts. 

There was an understandably positive and confident tone from a large local audience.

Meanwhile across on the ‘Mobile Games University’ track, sessions provided more practical information including

  • Building and Establishing a Monetization Strategy Using Ad Products,
  • Taking Gaming to the next level,
  • Improving user engagement with through Google Play Games services,
  • Monetization strategies that Game Developers should use in 2016,
  • Effective Tips to get your game Published'

The Indie showcase proved another notable highlight, as more than 70 Indie developers displayed their wares to an eager crowd of local and global publishers and press and were ably supported by a session on ‘Making global hits from India’ by Amit Khanduja, CEO of Reliance Games, which drew on best practices of how game developers in India can draw on success mantra of top publishers to develop global hits. 

The day ended with discussions on Gamification by a Dutch Delegation represented by Nasscom, discussion on mobile marketing & new tools of the trade by InMobi, Applift and a host of workshops on perfecting your game development by Intel, Microsoft, Samsung and Akamai.

CEOs View

“We have received a phenomenal response on our first day with wide participation from developers, gamers, media and global speakers," commented Amit Khanduja, CEO, Reliance Games.

"With a razor sharp focus on ‘Make in India’, this year Reliance Games aims to extend India’s competitive edge in gaming.

"Our investments in the Indie start up ecosystem and the workshop driven tracks this year are meant to fill the gaps in the industry on design, marketing & monetization”

Steel Media's CEO, Chris James was similarly enthusiastic.

"I'm delighted with the first day of the show, which has shown a healthy increase on last year. There were some brilliant and insightful talks across both tracks, the local game devs in the indie pitch didn't disappoint with some innovative game concepts on show.

"Ultimately I'd like to make a big shout out great work to my team and Reliance for making everything happen and thank everyone who attended for their support - we had a great turn-out from local developers as well as a fair sprinkling of international stars from Asia, US and Europe."  

Naturally there'll be a lot more coverage from the show on PG.Biz over the next few days including a report from day 2, results from the Big Indie Pitch plus stories and videos from original tracks.

Next up though, attention turns squarely to Canada for PG Connects Vancouver on 28-29th June - speaker submissions and early bird tickets are open now!

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