Indiajoy has dual focus as a business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) event, attracting overseas delegates and facilitating critical connections within the AVGC industry, says Sridhar Muppidi, the Co-Founder of PurpleTalk, Inc, YesGnome, TVAGA, and Indiajoy in an insightful interview with Pickle

What has your experience been like attending Indiajoy over the years? How does Indiajoy facilitate industrial collaboration?

Hyderabad has long been a leader in the digital animation, visual effects, gaming, and comics (AVGC) business. Indiajoy was founded six years ago with the help of the Telangana government through TVAGA, which brought together some excellent digital conferences in many fields under a single tent. During Indiajoy, there is a VFX Summit (which brings together VFX Studios, professionals, content providers, and filmmakers). Another event, DesiToons, focuses on how to construct animation movies, how to do animation series, what new techniques are available, how AI affects animation, and an entire event dedicated to animation.

The largest event of the Indiajoy festival is the Indian Game Developers Conference (IGDC), which attracts over 5000 members of the gaming sector. IGDC is a significant event in and of itself, attracting 150 speakers, hundreds of investors, and publishers.

It is a business-to-business and business-to-consumer (Dream Hack) event. Indiajoy is a big festival that brings together hundreds of overseas delegates to create business prospects. Audiovisual experts from all around India attend Indiajoy because it allows them to meet new people and generate business prospects. We are quickly becoming a fixture on the world calendar. We anticipate that it will become a significant global festival hub within the next three to five years.

What has been the objective and vision of TVAGA and Indiajoy regarding the facilitation and collaboration provided by the Government of Telangana?

Indiajoy is a joint venture between TVAGA and the Telangana government. TVAGA represents Telangana’s AVGC industry.

The main goal of Indiajoy is to attract the world to Hyderabad and, in turn, to provide what India has to offer the globe.

So, if we’re talking about Hyderabad particularly, we want people from all over India to come here and possibly stay. So, at the end of the day, we’ve all worked with two fundamental concepts. One is how we develop commercial prospects for our companies throughout India. And how can we attract new talent to our industry? Anyone would tell you that practically every industry is desperate for more talent. If I find 1000 people at the right price, I will hire 1000 additional people because that is how it really works. Conferences, events, and festivals like this one enable us to educate and develop possibilities in the sector, allowing more people to pursue this as a career.

Why do you think Image Tower is special and what will it bring to Hyderabad when it is opened next year?

To be honest, the Telangana government has always been ahead of the curve in terms of investing in emerging technology or infrastructural projects (Image Tower). So it’s not like they just decided to enter this market. They’ve been aggressively backing this industry for over eight to nine years. We are appreciative to K. Taraka Rama Rao, Hon’ble IT Minister (Telangana), and JayeshRanjan, Principal Secretary, IT, Government of Telangana for their imaginative approach in addressing business demands. They have always been willing to meet with us. Telengana is welcoming an increasing number of AVGC firms to establish up offices/studios here. This industry need a space for incubation. That is why we are building this gigantic edifice (Image Tower). We are very thrilled about the Image Tower. We are also proud that Hyderabad will house this massive tower. We also have CoE with STPI for startups and incubation.

How do you see the gaming industry redirecting growth? What types of games are being created at Yesgnome?

Gaming is a nearly $200 billion industry, while Hollywood is only little less than $50 billion. We have fantastic prospects in India to create games for the rest of the globe. China and the United States currently control 70% of the global market. This is expected to alter in the future years. We need to disseminate the word that gaming is a lucrative career. To allow children to pursue gaming as an education and career, parents’ attitudes must shift. More universities and colleges should provide innovative media-based education courses.

Yesgnome offers a wide range of mobile games. We’re quite thrilled about a new form of entertainment right now. We are developing a platform that will provide a new form of entertainment and will pave the door for new ways of paying for certain types of content creators. So that was something we were looking forward to. We can’t say too much at this point. We are developing a large platform that will disrupt entertainment in India.