MUMBAI: In the global gaming industry that is expected to be worth USD 82 billion by 2017, India’s USD 200 million market is minuscule. But the market is now growing at a rate of 18 per cent providing an opportunity for professionals across multiple verticals including music.

Infact, music or soundtrack/ background scores of international titles have a significant budget dedicated to them today and are scored by top musicians and directors from the music industry.

Radioandmusic.com caught up with leading game developer Zapak’s VP product, Deepak Abbot on where the country’s gaming industry stands on sound and music.

Excerpts:

How do Zapak and the country’s game developers design sounds? How important is sound in games?

Sound design is critical to game design. Right sounds can make the game even more enjoyable. Sound in game can range from introductory music, background music, SFX, click tones and event based sounds. Depending on the game’s budget, we either decide to outsource the sound or use stock sounds which we have built over a period of time. Most big gaming studios hire dedicated sound engineers and designers.

How big is the country’s gaming industry and what is the market share of domestic developers?

The Indian gaming industry is around USD 200mn and it’s growing at a rate of 18 per cent CAGR. Domestic developers would account for around 50 per cent of the market share.

In the West, the sound of computer games has been taken to a level of soundtracks. What is the scene in India?

India has not yet seen games of that level. Sound is not assigned big budgets as far as Indian studios are concerned to keep the overall costs down. Only a few big games developed in India would have a decent budget for sound. In the West, the multi-million dollar games have 5-10 per cent of their budgets for music that translates into a huge sum.

Until India starts consuming more games and the ROI (Return on Investment) for gaming companies goes up, we don’t see bigger investments in sound designing.

Do Zapak or the industry’s game developers hire professional musicians?

We generally outsource our sound requirements, if we have some really specific requirements which cannot be fulfilled by our stock library. We usually look for musicians who are specialized to make music for games. Any musician would not do; neither would someone who has worked on the mobile platform. For us, the cost comes later and is not a prime criterion for a big game.

How much can a professional working on the music earn?

The rates a musician can earn ranges from Rs 5,000 for a simple game to Rs 1 lakh for a big one for iPhone or an iPad. This would include not just the background score but the sound effects. Small game developers usually depend on stock music.

Will the gaming industry provide a viable line of work for musicians?

Not at the present. For that to happen, India’s consumption of high end games has to grow. And developers should start working on high-end games with budgets. The industry has to grow and right now, we are in a Catch 22 situation where music and sound projects are small and high end developers need musicians with experience. The eco-system has not developed as yet but India has a strong outsourcing culture where companies from US or others can outsource their work.