India’s year-ender gaming meetup is back in Goa and the theme is right on time. With the regulatory map redrawn, the near-term growth lanes are esports, social games, and skill formats that sit far away from money-gaming headlines. The talk on the floor will be less about grievance and more about execution.
Why this edition matters
Policy is moving quickly and everyone wants clarity without killing momentum. This show gathers policymakers, publishers, tournament operators, payment pipes, and adtech under one roof. The practical sessions look at player protection, ad disclosures, age gates, and how to rebuild trust with families who only saw gaming through tax and ban stories all year.
Who to seek out
Tournament operators with proven anti-cheat and school-college circuits. Payment partners that can do spend controls and parental approvals. Cloud and CDN teams who actually understand India’s last-mile jitter. And analytics partners that speak in dashboards a brand manager can read, not only SQL.
For founders, a simple game plan
Ship a live demo and a one-pager that maps your feature set to the new rules. Book short slots with three partner types in advance, and leave air in your calendar for serendipity. Attend at least one session that is not your lane. The most valuable idea you bring home will usually come from someone who does not build what you build.
Esports outlook
Expect more school-to-city ladders, creator-led league formats, and partnerships with venues that can host LAN weekends inside larger pop-culture events. Brands want safe, repeatable formats tied to curriculum calendars and family hours. If you can deliver that, budgets follow.
Skill gaming outlook
Games that explain their rules in thirty seconds and prove fairness will grow. If your title needs a whitepaper to justify skill, you are making life hard for yourself. Lean into leaderboards, leagues, and prizes that feel like sport, not finance.
Measure success with boring dashboards
Daily active users, minutes per session, churn, report-to-ban latency for cheaters, and sponsorship renewal rates. Investors will ask for those numbers first. Bring them, and you stand out.
Follow Gaming Moves on Instagram and Facebook for session takeaways, pitch-deck templates tailored to the new rules, and live notes from the hallway track that never make it to the stage.
