PUBG and BGMI-maker KRAFTON intends to set up an R&D facility in India by next year to develop games suited to Indian culture, company’s India business head Sean Hyunil Sohn said.

KRAFTON India CEO Sohn said that the details of the facility are yet to be finalised, but the top location choices are Bangalore and Pune, a PTI report from New Delhi stated yesterday.

“We will continue to launch new games for the Indian market, either sourcing from outside or from India. We will do our best to set up a good quality development team based in India and develop quality games based on Indian culture,” he said on the sidelines of IDGS Gaming Conclave.

A moneycontrol.com report quoted Sohn as saying that they had seen a very fast pace of growth on a year-on-year basis but there was  a lack of top-quality talent supply into the ecosystem, which has many factors behind that sort of situation.

“A short history of game development might not have enough impact on the general public to understand gaming as a proper, serious professional career. Apart from that, as a developing country with a huge young population, there is a lack of enough informed investments into the basic IT infrastructure for education,” the Storyboard18 report quoted him as saying.

It is very critical to promote and change the perception of the gaming industry, which can bring a lot of positive impact to the industry, Sohn further said.

KRAFTON has invested USD 160 million in Indian startups since 2021 and plans to invest an additional USD 150 million over the next two to three years. The company earlier this year launched the KRAFTON India Gaming Incubator programme to support game development talent in India by providing funding, mentorship, and essential resources to developers.