Announcement
On 1 September 2026, KRAFTON India issued a press release announcing the launch of KIGI Academy, an industry‑academia initiative designed to develop India’s game‑development talent ecosystem. The programme is established through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), marking the first collaboration under the KIGI Academy brand.
Programme Structure
KIGI Academy is a six‑month fully funded training programme. It comprises a four‑month on‑site learning phase conducted at the IIT Madras campus, followed by a two‑month immersive residency at KRAFTON India’s headquarters in Bengaluru. The on‑site phase spans 16 weeks, focusing on core game‑development skills using the Unity engine, with an emphasis on mobile gaming and weekly collaborative builds. The residency lasts 8 weeks, during which participants work on real‑world production processes and culminate in the creation and showcase of a final vertical‑slice game.
Selection Process and Cohort Size
The inaugural cohort will consist of 30 students drawn from IIT Madras. Applications are submitted via the IIT Madras placement portal, undergo screening, and are followed by personal interviews. From this pool, 10 students will be selected for the residential phase in Bengaluru. Eligibility extends to third‑ and fourth‑year B.Tech. and Dual‑Degree students across all years, as well as postgraduate and Master’s students from any engineering discipline; no prior game‑development experience is required.
Curriculum and Mentorship
Participants receive hands‑on exposure across the full spectrum of game development, including coding, game design, UI/UX, art, and product development. Industry experts mentor the cohort throughout, introducing KRAFTON’s global development standards. Exceptional performers are offered full‑time employment with KRAFTON India after completion of the programme.
Executive Comments
Anuj Sahni, Head of KRAFTON Incubator Program & Director Publishing, stated that India possesses abundant engineering and creative talent but lacks a structured pathway linking academia to game‑development realities, which KIGI Academy aims to provide. Saurabh Shah, Head of People Operations, highlighted the initiative’s role in creating meaningful pathways from learning to careers in the gaming industry. Prof. Prathap Haridoss, Dean of Academic Courses at IIT Madras, praised the collaboration as a means to foster innovation by combining academic rigor with industry expertise.
KRAFTON’s Training Legacy and Scale
KIGI Academy builds on KRAFTON’s KRAFTON Jungle programme launched in October 2022 in Korea. Jungle is an intensive, project‑based residency that trains developers through the complete game‑creation cycle, targeting 1,000 developers annually. Operators of the Jungle programme also serve as mentors for KIGI participants, transferring the hands‑on training philosophy to the Indian context.
KRAFTON India – Business Footprint
KRAFTON India delivers premier mobile gaming experiences, most notably Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), which has surpassed 260 million downloads. Its portfolio also includes titles such as Bullet Echo India, Road To Valor: Empires, CookieRun India, and Real Cricket. Since 2021, KRAFTON India has invested over $250 million in Indian startups across interactive entertainment, gaming, esports, and technology.
Unicorn Growth Fund
The company has launched the KRAFTON India Unicorn Growth Fund, a Rs 6,000 crore fund jointly created with South Korean technology giant Naver and financial services firm Mirae Asset, aimed at supporting high‑potential startups and accelerating the growth of India’s next‑generation global technology leaders.
IIT Madras Profile
Established in 1959 as an Institute of National Importance, IIT Madras operates 18 academic departments, employs more than 650 faculty, and serves over 10,000 students, including participants from 18 countries. It has been ranked No. 1 in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) overall category for ten consecutive years and No. 1 in the Engineering Institutions category for ten straight years (2016‑2025). The institute also holds top positions in Sustainability Development Goals and Innovation rankings.
Overall Significance
KIGI Academy represents a strategic partnership that combines KRAFTON’s global game‑development expertise with IIT Madras’s academic excellence, creating a structured pipeline for nurturing game‑development talent in India and potentially feeding skilled professionals into KRAFTON’s expanding mobile‑gaming portfolio.