An Interview With Matthew Jeffrey
31 May, 2007, 2:53 pm IST | by Avinash Bali
Challenging everything... and everyone!
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At the recently held Anifest, a huge animation and VFX event for the Indian industry, graphic chip developer NVIDIA flew down Matthew Jeffrey, Head of Talent Development, Electronic Arts down to give the key note speech for the event as part of NVIDIA’s Digital Bollywood initiative to promote the animation, VFX and gaming industry in India. Tech2 goes behind the scenes with the man responsible for hiring talent, responsible for franchises like Black and Burnout as he gives us the lowdown on working at EA and shares with us, his views on the future of the Indian Gaming Industry. What according to you is the future for Indian gaming and where do you see this industry five years down the line? Also, what could be some of the challenges and pitfalls the industry needs to watch out for. The future for the Indian games industry is phenomenal. The growth of Indian gaming is quite staggering and this is set to continue to accelerate. This is currently being driven through PC gaming, the adoption of broadband, the huge sales of mobile phones and the growth of gaming cafes, all combining to show India's passion for gaming and its potential for the future. I expect the console market to grow rapidly as Indian's witness what Next Generation gaming can bring and they devote more money to being entertained. Let me be very clear that India should be very proud of how far it has already come in the entertainment industry. What is the exciting part is how far it will still go. I only hope that one day Indian's themselves see the huge potential for growth that lies in their own market. Too many professionals and students see value in moving to the West to build their career, when in fact they could have a tremendous impact in driving the Indian games market forward. The Indian games market is calling for true leaders and new ideas and I hope that more Indian professionals and students stay in India and take the gaming market to new levels. I certainly hope to see a Global smash hit game coming from India in the next 5 to 10 years. Currently, we are in the early stages of the growth of the games industry. Companies from the West are recognizing the talent and potential of the Indian games market. This is at very early stages and many companies, including EA, are outsourcing production to Indian studios. We work with DQ. However, we also have our own mobile development studio here in India, (formerly Jamdat). High quality animation and modeling work is being done here in India. The next stage of growth for many companies will be moving on from outsourcing to hopefully seeing new ideas and original creative content being produced for world consumption by Indian entertainment studios. I believe India has the capability to be a key driver in the global games market with some great content and fresh new ideas. However, with great opportunities come great challenges, which could destabilize the growth potential of Indian entertainment. Firstly, piracy is a massive concern. People have to understand that piracy will seriously damage the Indian games industry. Studios take huge risks in developing a game, investing in staff and technology and ultimately need a return on investment, to reinvest into their company and hire more staff and buy better technology. Piracy destroys that model and can result in studio closures and more importantly job losses for highly creative people. Secondly, wage spiral inflation is a concern. I hear of stories in Indian studios of people resigning to go to a new job and then being offered a much higher salary to stay. This then has knock on effects internally within the company. Companies have to remember that rapidly accelerating salaries can also seriously affect investment in India. There are several key markets which are competing for growth including China, Russia and East European countries. Currently India is very attractive for investors and wage spiral inflation as well as piracy can harm this. Third, education is critical. Ensuring students are well educated and equipped to work in film and game is crucial. Companies need to work hand in hand with schools and universities, building partnerships to ensure that curriculum development reflects commercial reality. |
Tags: Interview , Matthew Jeffrey , EA
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