Indian Developers Aren't Being Creative Enough Yet: Microsoft's Joseph Landes

Joseph Landes is the General Manager (Developer and Platform Evangelism) for Microsoft India, and his role is to get developers on board making apps and using the Windows Phone platform, but the first thing we talk about when we meet during his visit to Delhi is Halo.

The reason for this is twofold - for one thing, like us, Landes is a dedicated gamer who loves Halo. But also, gaming is one of the biggest categories in all app stores, and one that sees a steady turnover in downloads.

"I love gaming man, my house in Bangalore is like a Gamestop," says Landes, referring to a successful American retail chain that specialises in selling video games and related products. When we ask him what his favourite games are, it turns out that he loves fast paced FPS games. "I love Halo and I'm really enjoying the new Call of Duty as well," he says. "You have to play Halo Master Chief Collection from the beginning, I was playing episode 1 and it brought back so many memories."

Acknowledging the gaming category as a driver for any app store, Landes talks about the importance of building a community. "We've got a lot of great games now, and it's a category that Microsoft takes very serious," he says. "We've been building communities since we first launched the Xbox, and even now, with casual games, we've always focused on gamers."

But while Indians are consuming games in good numbers, Landes believes that there is still room for Indian developers to grow and improve. "The one thing I always point out, because I really want this to change, is that India is yet to come out with a world famous game," he says. "It's not that this can happen only in America - you look at Angry Birds, that's the first game anyone thinks of, that was not made in America."

In that case, what is holding Indian game developers back?

"[I think] people here are not deploying enough creativity - yet," says Landes. "I believe that people need to start looking to build something unique, something that they're really proud of, and we'll be really happy to help you in terms of experience, resources and more. You've got to make something that you are proud of."

"Instead though, what we often see in India, is that people want to make me-too games and apps," he adds. "People think - let me make another travel guide to Mysore, when there are already 15 of these. If you have something you want to share, and you just want to put it up for free, that's great. But if you're looking at it like a business, if you want to make money from it, then you've got to make something fresh."

Of course, discovery is a problem as well, and this can often force developers to think along certain lines. For this reason, many Indian developers choose the safer - if more creatively constrained - route of building licensed games that will get downloaded in record numbers simply because of the likeness of an actor, instead of any actual gameplay. But does this mean that an Indian developer who wants to be successful on a global level needs to avoid "Indian" touches? Not necessarily, says Landes.

"Sometimes, it can be unavoidable, you know? The big publishers, like Disney, or Hungama, or Gaana, a lot of their content has to be localised," he says. "They're always going to have India centric content. But in general, I think that the important thing to remember, regardless of what the concept is, is don't be limiting."

Indian stories and art aren't the problem, as attested to by games like Far Cry or even the Kickstarter funded game Unrest. What's important, is to have an international level of polish.

"Remember that the apps have a global audience, and the standards in a more developed country are different," says Landes. "People want a lot of polish, they want good art assets, and design, UI design, is still one of the weak points we see here."

"So for example, when we did a hackathon in India, we flew in graphics designers to work with the app developers, to help them bring the ideas to an international level of polish," he adds. "Because that's important too - first, you've got to have a great idea. Then you've got to do the work that brings it to reality."

Despite these challenges, Landes is largely optimistic about app development in India and talks about the response that Microsoft has been receiving in colleges and other locations where programs for students and startups have helped people to become app developers. However, while Windows Phone has been growing globally it still remains a small part of the market, and the app-gap between Windows Phone and other platforms like iOS and Android still exists.

"I don't think that the problem is that there are not enough apps [on Windows Phone]," says Landes. "There is a certain critical mass that's needed, and we're past that point now. You don't need to see 500 calendar apps - there is some expectation of variety of course, but I don't think people are looking for 100 horoscope apps and 200 navigation apps - just the 10 best ones."

And even more importantly, he believes, the launch of Windows 10 next year will be a game changer.

"Windows 10 will make a big difference for developers," says Landes. "You'll have truly universal apps - that will work on your phone, on your tablet and PC and even your Xbox. And you'll be able to reuse up to 70 percent of the code so it won't be very difficult, or very expensive, to make sure it works and looks good on all the different platforms."