KRAFTON India’s push to build a home-grown game development scene took centre stage in Chennai last week, as eight indie studios pitched their games at the fourth edition of KIGI PitchFest. The studios were shortlisted from more than 300 applications, all of which came in within 30 days of entries opening. They presented on 30 October at the Chennai Trade Centre, during the India Game Developer Conference (IGDC) 2026, in front of a crowd of more than 100 people.
The format itself left very little room for padding or long introductions. Each studio had 10 minutes to pitch its game and show gameplay, before facing another 10 minutes of questions from the jury. According to KRAFTON India, the teams that made the shortlist stood out for having a playable build and a clear pitch deck. It also looked for strong alignment between the founders, their teams and the goals of the KRAFTON India Gaming Incubator (KIGI). That emphasis on playable builds is telling, because it rewards teams that have already put months of work into a game rather than those with only an idea.
The eight studios that made the cut from 300+ entries
The shortlisted studios were AbhiTechGames, Arckon Arts, Team Quasar, Compiling Shaders Games, Kalp, Xigma Games, Tandoori Pixels and 2Tellers Studio. KRAFTON India has not yet shared the games, genres or home cities of the eight teams, although it said the lineup covered a wide range of genres and platforms. They pitched to a 12-member jury drawn from India, South Korea and the United States, with expertise spanning product, design, art and strategy.
Anuj Sahani, who heads the KRAFTON India Incubator Programme, said the company was “encouraged by the overwhelming response to KIGI PitchFest this year”. He added that “it is great to see India’s indie gaming community building momentum”, and thanked the jury for the perspectives it brought to the sessions. Beyond the jury’s verdict, the studios also had the chance to collect feedback, meet mentors and connect with industry figures across the conference.
The stakes are significant for small teams working on tight budgets. Studios selected for KIGI receive between $50,000 and $150,000 in financial support, along with hands-on mentoring from industry veterans and access to KRAFTON’s resources. The programme can also open doors to publishing support, venture capital and potential equity investment from KRAFTON itself.
What KIGI has already delivered for Indian indies
KRAFTON India launched the incubator in 2023, and its first two cohorts brought in 10 studios between them. The third cohort followed in April 2026, when KIGI added four more studios, Xod Games Studio, EvolX Games, Ether Games and RedDevil Studio, from roughly 1,000 applications. In September, KRAFTON opened Cohort 4 with wider eligibility, inviting mobile games already in beta or soft launch and PC games with a live Steam demo, alongside early-stage teams with only a concept.
The results are starting to show on the awards circuit. Mumbai’s Singular Scheme, a KIGI studio, won Upcoming PC/Console Game of the Year at IGDC 2025 for Frontier Paladin, which became the first KIGI-backed PC title when it launched on Steam on 24 April 2026. This year, EvolX Games took Upcoming Mobile Game of the Year at the India Game Awards for Ludaro, its roguelike twist on the classic board game Ludo.
Another KIGI studio, Advaita Interactive, was nominated for Best Art Direction at the same awards, giving the incubator two nominated studios at IGDC 2026. For a programme that is barely three years old, that is a meaningful return, particularly in a market where most players still know KRAFTON mainly as the publisher of BGMI. KRAFTON India chief executive Sean Hyunil Sohn described Cohort 4 in September as “another step toward our vision of India as a global creative force in gaming”.
KIGI is only one part of a much wider bet on India. KRAFTON India says it has invested more than $250 million in Indian start-ups across gaming, esports, interactive entertainment and technology since 2021. It has also launched the ₹6,000 crore KRAFTON India Unicorn Growth Fund with Naver and Mirae Asset, and set up KIGI Academy with IIT Madras to connect the industry with universities.
BGMI itself has passed 260 million downloads, according to the company, and that scale is what gives KRAFTON India the room to back original projects from far smaller studios.
