In Calcutta, while most Class XII students at St Thomas Boys School fret about their board exams next year, Priyesh Das worries about the qualifying rounds of the World Cyber Gaming Championships. To enter the competition, Das, a passionate gamer, has been practising for two hours a day. “I am playing Counter Strike,” says the 18-year-old whose father runs a cyber caf? in the city. Das says he plays on his computer as well as on his gaming console, Play Station 1 (PSP1). On his PSP1, he’s hooked on to Prince of Persia, Tomb Raider Legends and Shadow of the Colossus.

In Mumbai, Jayesh Mansukhani, 27, is addicted to Elder Scrolls Oblivion. A 300-hour role playing (where you become a character in the game) game, it has about 7,000 characters. The channel editor at CNBC’s newly set up personal computers and peripherals division spends a couple of hours a day playing games either at home or at work. “We have LAN (local area network) game competitions after work which run late into the night,” he says.

In Bangalore, Sairam Rajgopal, a 25-year-old software executive, spends four hours a day playing PC games on weekends. On weekdays, it’s about two to three hours: “I play both online and offline,” he says. His personal favourites are Age of Empires and Quake III Arena.

From coast to coast, gaming is suddenly becoming hot ? and a host of companies is gearing up to cash in on the phenomenon. They include telecommunication companies, cable TV networks, Direct-to-Home (DTH) companies and even multiplex chain owners. In the works are hefty investments (Reliance Entertainment alone plans on sinking over Rs 450 crore) and game portals, to name but two. Says consultancy company Frost & Sullivan analyst Alok Shende: “The potential of the gaming market is huge since it’s demographics driven. People in their early 20s with a good income will drive it.”

A senior Dish TV executive explains that gaming did not take off in India so far simply because few delivered games. That is set to change, with more DTH companies like Tata Sky launching services. Overseas, games are offered by DTH service providers like BskyB (UK), Canal Satellite (France) and Sky Italia (Italy).

“Gaming in India will be driven by people who are in the business of distribution (of content),” says the Dish TV executive. Dish TV, the Zee group’s DTH arm, will launch its gaming services within a month. “We will offer our customers access to a channel where we will park 6-7 games, to begin with,” adds Sunil Khanna, CEO, Dish TV. The technology for interactive games has been sourced from Open TV in the US which operates a popular interactive gaming channel, PlayJam.

Even your neighbourhood cablewallah may start delivering games along with TV channels. With multi-system operators (MSOs) like the Hindujas, Hathway and Siti Cable (the three own most cable networks) going digital and offering their customers set top boxes, games will be easy to deliver. “Once we have a large base of set top box users in the network, we will offer these services,” confirms Ravi Mansukhani, MD, InNetwork Entertainment, a subsidiary of Hinduja TMT, the Hinduja group’s media company. Hathway, on the other hand, will offer a gaming channel to customers who buy its digital set top box. “The digital box customers will have access to a channel with 10 to 12 games initially,” says company head E. Jayaraman.

Others, meanwhile, have more ambitious plans. Anil Ambani’s Reliance Entertainment will be investing Rs 450 crore in gaming over the next three years, says company president Rajesh Sawhney. The company already offers an extensive suite of mobile games for its mobile phone subscribers but will be leaping into the online games business by using Reliance Infocomm’s high quality optic fibre network across the country.

Sawhney also hopes to use Reliance Web World mobile phone outlets to distribute online games. “We will set up game rooms at Web World outlets,” he says. Gaming zones already exist at a few Reliance stores. He thinks that while mobile phone games will have high user numbers, online games will bring in higher revenue per user.

Last but not the least, Reliance is getting ready to launch a gaming portal as well. “There is no rocket science in portals. The key is content,” says Sawhney who believes that only local content will turn gaming into a mass-based business.

Sify is also planning on launching a gaming portal. “Currently, we publish A3 India, a multiple online role playing game. But in this quarter and in the next, we will bring a few more games of a different genre. Our plan is to eventually create a game portal,” says Chris Lee, head of online games at Sify.

The company is also pushing gaming through its chain of iWay cyber caf?s. Each caf? has a separate room, GameDrome, for games. “Online games are played from nearly 1,000 Sify cyber caf?s,” says Lee. He says that other than through its iWay caf?s, Sify is expanding the gaming market through its broadband subscribers as well. The company also promotes its online role playing games through ground promotions and contests in different cities. It organises inter-caf? and inter-city competitions where old and new players battle for top honours.

Clearly, the prospect of earning big bucks is what attracted even a multiplex chain like Cinemax to install personal computers at its Thane multiplex and create a Games Garage. The Garage is part of its gaming zone Giggles, which offers indoor bungee jumping, among other sports.

It’s not difficult to see why these companies are keen to offer gaming services. Reliance’s Sawhney believes that school going children between 8 and 15 are hooked on gaming. “Our internal study found that among youth, gaming is more popular than films. We’re clearly sitting on the tip of the iceberg as far as gaming is concerned,” he says. A Technopak Advisors’ study also states that “mobile, internet and console gaming is the fastest growing entertainment avenue among youth.”

Sawhney is right ? gaming addict Jayesh Mansukhani says that LAN game parties that often stretch on till early morning hours are in vogue.

Most people agree that the gaming business’ potential is significant ? it’s estimated that the gaming market (minus mobile gaming) will touch Rs 229 crore this year. And eventually, everyone hopes that India may follow the US where the gaming industry (Rs 1,80,000 crore) is bigger than Hollywood (Rs 1,37,000 crore). For all the enthusiasm about gaming’s prospects, some warn of several pitfalls. Unlike in the case of mobile phones, the number of personal computers and Internet connections in India is growing slowly. Besides, high-speed broadband connections for homes is still a bit expensive for most Indians.

That’s not all. Games are expensive. “A international gaming title can cost more than a Hollywood film some times,” says Rajesh Sawhney. “It’s not always easy to recover the investment as, unlike Koreans who spend between $25 and $50 on subscriptions to games, Indian are very cost conscious,” says Jayaraman.

Oblivious to the hurdles in the way of gaming industry however, Priyesh Das and his group of like-minded friends continue to practise for the World Cyber Gaming Championships. “In countries like Philippines, Japan and South Korea, there are professional gamers who may not study at all. It’s something that would be unthinkable in India,” says Das. That could change too.