NEW DELHI : Tencent today announced a partnership with Cyberlite India, to support a multi-city research programme to explore how students, parents and educators view careers in the video game industry. The study will focus on listening to local perspectives and better understanding the information and support that may help young people and their families navigate these career pathways.
Beginning in October 2026, the programme will engage more than 100 participants through
12 focus groups and co-design workshops across four Indian cities. The sessions will explore participants’ awareness of different industry roles and entry routes, the considerations that shape how they view these careers, and the questions that arise when discussing career options in the sector.
Insights from the sessions will inform a co-published report, How India Thinks About Gaming Careers. The report will bring together the perspectives of participating communities and share practical learnings on how career information and guidance could better respond to their needs. It will also contribute to wider conversations about supporting India’s talent pipeline for animation, visual effects, gaming, comics and extended reality (AVGC-XR).
Nina Bual, Co-Founder, Cyberlite India, said, “Young people are growing up with games as a familiar part of everyday life, but the wide range of professional roles behind them may be less familiar to students, parents and schools. This study begins by listening to these groups directly. We hope to better understand the questions they have, the information they find useful and how career guidance can be made more relevant to them.”
Judy Wong, Country Manager (India), Tencent, said, “We are pleased to support Cyberlite India in leading this research. Local perspectives are important for understanding how information about video game careers can be made more useful to students, families and educators. Tencent will contribute its industry experience while learning from the communities involved, as part of our continued support for India’s AVGC-XR talent ecosystem.”
Building the Research Through Grassroots Engagement
The research programme will include four parent focus groups, four educator focus groups and four student co-design workshops. One session for each group will be conducted in each participating city.
Student workshops will use interactive game-design exercises to introduce participants to the roles and skills involved in creating games and invite them to co-design career guidance they would find useful. Educator sessions will explore existing awareness of game development disciplines and career pathways, connections with school subjects and activities, and the resources that could support career conversations. Parent sessions will focus on current perceptions, considerations and questions about career opportunities in the industry.
Related activities and questions across the three groups will help the research team understand where perspectives overlap or differ, and what kinds of information may be most helpful to each group. These learnings will be reflected in the final report.
Extending the Conversation Through Game On
Alongside the study, Tencent will support a special three-part edition of Game On, an established YouTube series produced with youth platform Yuvaa, in collaboration with Games for Change India and Eight Goals One Foundation (8one). The episodes will bring digital creators and youth voices into conversation with video game developers, ecosystem experts, and parents. Through gameplay and discussion, they will explore the range of professional roles behind video games and respond to questions from young people and families.
Supporting the Creative Talent Pipeline in India
India has one of the world’s largest video game audiences, with Niko Partners estimating that the country had 511 million players in 2025. The 2026-27 Union Budget also highlighted the importance of future talent development across the AVGC sector, which is projected to require nearly two million professionals by 2030, and proposed Content Creator Labs in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges.
The study and related outreach are intended to support this wider effort by listening to local communities and encouraging clearer conversations about the roles, skills and career pathways within the video game industry.
As part of this wider effort, Tencent also participated in the recently concluded India Game Developers Conference (IGDC) 2026 as a leading sponsor. At the event, together with Cyberlite, a dialogue was facilitated on the potential of the video gaming industry and emerging career opportunities in the sector.
These partnerships reflect Tencent’s continued commitment to working with local partners to support the growth of India’s Orange Economy.
****