Pixel Curry is a monthly take on what’s going on with video games in India. This month is a look at the rabies inducing fanfollowing a certain spartan has in the country. And we’re not referring to Master Chief.
Every country has some games that enjoy a certain degree of popularity that other titles can only dream of. America’s got Call of Duty, Gears and Halo, Japan has Monster Hunter, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy while the UK well…who knows what the nice folk there like. Every new entry is a number one on their weekly charts. But I jest.
Contrary to popular belief, India, unlike the rest of Asia isn’t steeped in MMOs and RTS games. While we don’t have charts representative of country as a whole, a casual discussion with any retailer would tell you that FIFA and GTA, along with God of War rank among some of the most popular games around.
Mumbai traffic. It’s indoors too.
What’s interesting though, is while FIFA and GTA are as mainstream as it gets, due to a variety of people from ages as young as seven hankering for their fix of footy or running over prostitutes (it’s only very recently that customers have been made aware of age-ratings), the typical Indian God of War fan is a completely different species.
Tell a FIFA fan here that their game of choice isn’t the greatest and he’ll crack an Arsenal joke and move on in life. Chide a GTA loyalist and he’ll just laugh out loud and subtly hint that you might need mental help. Your usual God of War acolyte however won’t take too kind to jibes directed to Sony’s mascot of Greek Genocide, Kratos. In fact you’ll be quite liable to be threatened with bodily harm or the very least a slew of cuss words.
True story: I was thrown out of a friend’s house for “not showing interest” in him beating Helios to a pulp.
They’re almost always male, usually between the age of 18-28. Now I’m no prize-winning sociologist but given our glorious education system, the pressure piles up at around 15 with parents hell-bent on ensuring their kids end up as engineers or doctors. Both of which demand excellent academic performance. Parents play a tremendous role in the upbringing of most and it continues even up to the mid-twenties (when most usually settle down and get married, usually arranged) and sometimes, even post-marriage if it’s a joint family household. Throw in the rigours of work combined with the societal pressure to start a family as soon as possible and you get a very repressed Indian male that needs an outlet to vent his frustration. Usually as a bald, pale mediterranean with a penchant for gory executions across a gorgeous mythological cityscape.
Sure, he could be playing Gears but Microsoft doesn’t have the legacy of Sony or it’s market share. He could be playing Super Smash Brothers but Nintendo still doesn’t have an official presence in India. He could be playing random dudebro shooter number 3469547 on the PC but he finds it cumbersome. In swoops Sony what with a familiar controller and the PlayStation moniker that commands around half of the market share and you have irresistible conditions that would make the most retailers wet their pants in excitement. On the first day alone God of War 3 sold 9,500 units and ended up doing 20,000 units in seven months. Not bad for a country where you’d usually be considered as crazy for even thinking of buying original games. You can only imagine how high-profile and how large a quantity was brought in for God of War: Ascension. By Indian standards of course.
Such a huge level of rabid popularity has it’s fair share of problems. While the rest of the world was raging over SimCity’s always online DRM, we had forums filled to the brim with fans angry with the delay of God of War: Ascension’s special edition. Which was delayed by just a day for every part of the country but Mumbai due to logistical constraints. And then there were freebies, with most retailers trying to cash in on the hype, pimping everything from underwear to keychains (some of which conveniently forgot to ask for permission to use the IP on such items) as pre-order bonuses to an audience more than ready for their next fix of god slaughter. Needless to say they were rushed and the fans were well, to put it lightly, enraged. After all, a 30-year old man getting underwear with Kratos’ mug on it fit for a 5-year old is no laughing matter. Unless well, you aren’t him.
Oh and there were midnight launches too. A bunch of them across the country. One of them even had a goddess of war. And while the anorexic, malnourished look doesn’t get my engine running, you can’t fault the effort. Given that most of the series’ audience has grown up with the series from the days of rampant PS2 piracy and is actually willing to pay money, it’s nice to see local outlets acknowledge the fan base with a midnight launch.
So yes, God of War is a big deal. To the point where I’m expecting it’s buyers to be riled up with the spate of so-so reviews. Think of it as the reverse of what happens on Metacritic or Amazon the moment a controversial mess like SimCity or Diablo 3 shows up. Instead of nasty, scathing reviews, you’ll have a horde of fans defending its honour. For them nothing comes close. That is, until Bollywood or cricket successfully ups their game with err…great games, which is what next month’s column is going to be about. After all, it wouldn’t make sense to start with the most obvious topic of conversation now, would it?
Until then, here’s a picture of the goddess of war at one of the local launches for you to critique.
Rishi will return, same time next month.
