bangalore to steer the fledgling gaming market in the country dhruva interactive a bangalorebased interactive game developer is planning to offer online gaming content to the discerning netizens here the company engaged in developing gaming programmes for the last five years is currently in talks with leading isps cyber cafes and cable broadband companies across the country to include its gaming content in their services portfolio dhruva became the first developer in india to work on a major game title with an international publisher when it developed the pc version of the successful 3d game title mission impossible for infogrames entertainment this game was based on the hollywood action flick in recent times however the explosive growth in pc penetration due to the internet and the resulting need for engaging compelling content is presenting an unprecedented opportunity for gaming and interactive entertainment in india says rajesh rao ceo of dhruva interactive cheaper bandwidth internetovercable dropping prices of pcs will result in games invading indian homes the development of highquality localised content will play an important part in the growth of this market rao pointed out computer games seem to be the current craze in the indian entertainment market with the leading market researcher ac neilsen pegging the market at over rs 500 crore in the next three years today the market is flooded with gaming consoles like microsofts xbox segas dreamcast and playstation of sony and these products are showing signs of becoming mainstream and massmarket consumer products here like in the us europe and japan the interactive entertainment industry in the us is now already bigger than hollywood over 42 per cent of all americans own at least one game console according to eric mottet a gaming icon and cofounder of infogrames entertainment worlds leading gaming software vendor in india internet will spur the growth of online gaming gaming parlours will mushroom just the way cyber cafes spread here four years ago however playing computer or video games is not yet a mainstream social activity the reasons for this include low pc penetration lack of parentalsocial acceptance of games as a medium of entertainment and prohibitive pricing of gaming software lets take a peek into the market there have been several studies that have talked about the future of this industry a recent study 3d gaming has shown that the worldwide market for game software will generate 148 billion in sales in 2002 the game sales worldwide are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate cagr of 724 per cent from 2002 to 2007 interestingly 128bit consoles are being rolled out in the global markets recently along with this next generation of games featuring even more spectacular graphics and gameplay the other segment expected to see the most rapid growth is online gaming at the end of 2001 approximately 35 million gamers visited sites featuring 3d games generating revenue of 1522 million online 3d gaming subscription revenue is expected to grow at a cagr of