India’s game art creation industry is at a relatively promising stage and China has been in this business for far longer and is currently the number one globally in sales, India is being looked at increasingly as a viable alternative for global game art development.
Sharing his insights on how bullish the gaming market is, Manvendra mentions about his upcoming plans in an e-interaction with Gairika Mitra.
How do you think is the game art creation sector going to upsurge in the near future?
More people, across a wider demographic group, are now playing video games than at any other time previously. This, naturally, is creating a demand for more games and gaming content (in the form of downloadable content or DLCs). The impending launch of the next generation of gaming consoles (the PS5 and the Xbox Series X) is also propelling the development of more games that are designed for these consoles.
The production of more games, of course, means a greater demand for graphical/art content. This, in turn, means that for specialized game art service providers like Lakshya Digital, there are significant growth opportunities. Specialized and reliable game art services companies are therefore likely to see a significant upsurge in the near future.
What is the exclusiveness of your company, that’s unique from other players in the market?
What sets Lakshya Digital apart from its competitors is its “dual shore” production model. In key markets like the US, Japan and the UK, Lakshya Digital has onshore teams of experienced art directors. These industry experts work closely with clients to understand their requirements and propose optimum solutions on one hand, and with a large and talented pool of artists in India, to produce high quality graphical content (game art) on the other. So, when a client engages Lakshya Digital, they actually bring on board an expert team that can actually work as an extension of their team rather as an external service provider.
What is the latest mode of art and technology that you are catering to your clients?
Since Lakshya Digital works closely with clients, often as an extension of their team, Lakshya Digital’s art team uses the same tools that the client’s internal team does. This often includes the latest versions of the client’s proprietary tools. Further, Lakshya Digital’s art team is proficient in the use of industry standard software such as Zbrush, Maya, Max, Photoshop etc. Also tools like Substance Painter, Houdini and SpeedTree for generating procedural content, Xgen and Ornatrix for hair and fur, Marvelous Designer for cloth simulation etc.
How important do you think is it for people to rely on technology? Are there any major follies per se?
Technology is going to drive the future roadmap for any industry, gaming is no different. There are many technological innovations that are happening in the gaming industry. If we have to offer effective and efficient services to our clients, if we have to provide value to our clients and ensure that we live up to expectations that they have from a trusted partner, then we will have to invest in creating, learning and deployment of new technologies. I do not see any problems in embracing technology. It will only help us in becoming more effective, innovative and efficient.
Coming to the financial perspective, are you a bootstrapped venture? If not, kindly elucidate on the nature and amount of funding raised.
During inception, Lakshya Digital was indeed a bootstrapped venture. We started with a small amount of Angel funding by one of the founders. That apart, Lakshya Digital never raised any funds for its operations, till the time it got acquired in 2014.
What are your immediate and long term milestones like?
Immediate milestone would be to explore the availability of talent in other regions and cities of India like North East, West Bengal, Bangalore, Hyderabad, etc. We see a strong growth in the development needs of the global industry, and we must ensure that we are prepared to address that potential with trained and adequately skilled talent.
As a long-term milestone, we want to ensure that we focus on growth and see ourselves doubling in the next 3-4 years. Lakshya Digital endeavours to be amongst the top one or two Game Development Services studios in the world. Currently, we have a very strong presence in the US and Japan. In the next 3-4 years we would want to establish ourselves as the number one Game Development Service provider in Europe and UK.
Lastly, any word of advice for the wannapreneurs?
The best advice that I can give is that when you start a business, you have to invest in Teams and Technology. Always compare your skill, competence, quality with what is the best out there and not with what is your local competition. You may not go very far if you are the best amongst your local competition. The benchmarks have to be set against the best that is happening at a global level. And lastly, think about what is good for the customer, and not just what is good for you…
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