Ready to be a ghostbuster? Here's why Indian game developers believe horror games are the future

Representation pic

Imagine the oppressive humidity of a remote island in Kerala. The sun has dipped below the palm-fringed horizon, leaving only the rhythmic lap of water against the shore. You are alone, trapped in a landscape that feels as much like a memory as it does a prison. This is the world of Thekku Island, a recent release that has tapped into a primal fear, proving that the world of video games is looking to spook you out.

But why do we love horror? Shubham Rajanwar, founder and CEO of Mad Mantra Games, who has made the horror exorcism game, Kamla, says, "Games are a medium for people to enjoy what they already like. If you already enjoy horror movies, you are more likely to enjoy horror games and play them."

The Rs 50 crore nightmare

For those who don't spend time clutching a controller, the scale of this industry might be the biggest jump-scare of all. The global immersive horror market is projected to hit over Rs 50 crore ($5.5 billion) this year.

Spook-A-Boo is inspired by Ghostbusters and Luigi's Mansion. It's a ghost-hunting couch co-op game designed for families to play together

On Steam, the world's premier PC gaming platform, horror is an unstoppable force. In 2025 alone, 3018 horror titles were released - a leap from the 155 titles released just a decade ago. "If you check the Steam stats, horror has been one of the highest selling genres throughout," says Megha Gupta, founder and director of Wala Interactive. "It hasn't shifted from the top five in a lot of years."

For an Indian indie studio, horror is the ultimate cheat code. Unlike massive action epics that require Hollywood-sized budgets, horror thrives with dimmer lighting and shadows. "Technically, horror games are less ambitious projects. They can be a success on a small budget if you get the design, sound, and artwork right. The experience design is easy, you just have to make the right decisions on a tight budget," says Rajanwar.

Shubham R and Dr Parthasarathy PK

Prof (Dr) Parthasarathy PK, Dean at Chitkara Centre for Game Design & Immersive Technologies, explains the mechanical logic. "The 3D textures will be more visible in the daylight. If I am an indie developer and I don't have the budget, horror works because the aura, the lighting will be less, and you don't have to create full-flip textures. All you need is the story, the narrative content. If the narrative is good, the game will also be successful," he says.

Scream economy

YouTubers with their mouths agape in thumbnails, reacting to a digital monster, and scared in their seats, are a sight everyone loves. This is the scream economy. And when an influencer screams, their audience buys.

Twitch, a live-streaming platform focused on video games and esports content, generated over 43.2 million viewer hours for horror content in the last year. Pranoy Chatterjee, founder and CEO of Unquittable Studios, the developer behind the upcoming high-octane title Bloodfire, notes that horror has become a streamer-first genre.

Chatterjee says, "Streamers play it all the time. People find it funny, and that actually provides a good boost in sales. Streamers mostly play horror games because of jump scares."

This visceral thrill is why such games are exploding. They are games that are inherently more marketable for developers.

Culture is currency, too

In Bloodfire, Chatterjee has designed an arena shooter game. Still, he has woven in cultural elements like the ancient Brahmi script, which you will identify if you are Indian. "The main inspiration was from Dante's Inferno, but I did want to add an Indian touch. So, you see Brahmi and some of the enemy characters are inspired by Indian rakshas. But I didn't want to make it overtly Indian so that it could reach a global audience," he says.

Kamla has carved out a solid space with an estimated 10,000 owners and a 90 per cent positive rating, while Thekku Island (the Kerala-based title released earlier this year) is sitting at an 87 per cent ‘very positive rating on Steam.

Spook-A-Boo, which is yet to be released, takes the horror comedy route. Inspired by Ghostbusters and Luigi's Mansion, it's a ghost-hunting couch co-op game designed for families to play together.

"We wanted a couch-pop game first, and then we added the theme," Gupta explains. "I wanted to spread laughter. Kids can play with their parents, and couples can play together. The youngest who's played our game is a four-year-old, so we decided to remove the jump scares and bring in more laughter."

While PC gaming gets the prestige, the real battle for Indian attention is won on the six-inch screen. "What the mobile audience wants is very different from the PC or console audience. India is a country of new gamers, and rarely will people buy games to own. These new gamers are also not hardcore gamers, so mobile games fare better in India," says Rajanwar.

But as the gaming sector grows, the pressure to innovate intensifies. Chatterjee warns against the copy-paste culture. "The horror genre is still being done to death in India. Like another new day, another new horror. We are in a learning bubble, and I feel that bubble is going to burst very soon. We need experienced developers to get on the global level."

Learning bubble

>>  Global giants like Krafton and Sony are now hunting for Indian talent
>>  The government has taken initiatives to promote Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC) with development for specialised courses

The price of fright

$5.5 bn
Projected global value of the immersive horror market

43.2 mn
Hours of horror content watched on Twitch in a single year

10,000+
Estimated users of Kamla, currently India's most successful indie horror game

60%
Viewership boost mega-creators see when playing horror titles