KRAFTON India Gaming Incubator Cohort 4 Backs Bigger Games

KRAFTON India Gaming Incubator Cohort 4 Applications Are Live

Recruitment for the fourth cohort of the KRAFTON India Gaming Incubator (KIGI) opened on August 22, and Indian developers can apply through KRAFTON India's official portal. The programme started in 2023 to give local studios funding, expert mentorship and access to global platform connections.

A Wider Net This Time

The big shift in Cohort 4 is that KIGI is no longer only for early-stage ideation teams. Studios whose projects are already well into development, on mobile or PC, can now apply too. The intake splits like this:

• Mobile games: Titles in testing or soft launch that are posting promising early metrics.
• PC games: Games with a Steam demo that has pulled in user feedback through wishlists and awards.
• Early-stage concepts: Fresh teams and concept-stage ideas remain a core part of the cohort, just like earlier batches.

According to the programme director, this tiered approach is meant to strengthen the base for finding and nurturing game IPs across India at every stage of production.

What Selected Studios Get

Making the cut is more than a cheque. Teams inducted into KIGI receive:

• Financial backing
• Research support
• Mentorship from industry professionals
• A push towards global platforms

What KRAFTON Said

Anuj Sahani, Head of the KRAFTON India Incubator Program, said the aim has always been to back India's most promising developers with the resources and guidance to build globally competitive titles, and Cohort 4 widens that support while still nurturing early ideas and first-time teams.

Sean Hyunil Sohn, CEO of KRAFTON India, said India's game development momentum is strong, with more creators building for global audiences at every stage, and called Cohort 4 another step towards India becoming a global creative force in gaming.

How Earlier Cohorts Have Fared

KIGI already has results to show:

1. Cohort 1: Participating teams wrapped up development and hit their targeted soft launches under mentor guidance.
2. Cohort 2: Mumbai-based Singular Scheme released its action tower defence game Frontier Paladin on Steam on April 24, 2026, the first commercially released PC title to come out of KIGI.
3. Cohort 3: Picked in April 2026 from roughly 1,000 applicant studios, it inducted four teams - Zod Game Studios, Evolx Games, Ether and Red Devil Studios - all of whom are currently deep in development.

KIGI-backed studios and titles have also turned up at major Indian events such as Waves 2025 and IGDC 2024, with past cohorts featuring games like Sojourn's Past, Frontier Paladin and Ludaro.

Talent Building Alongside The Incubator

KRAFTON is spending on talent as well. On September 1, it partnered with IIT Madras to launch KIGI Academy, a fully funded six-month course that walks students through the entire game production pipeline, covering coding, game design, UI/UX and art. Of the first batch of 30 students, 10 moved ahead to a two-month hands-on internship at KRAFTON India.

For Indian developers with a mobile build in testing, a PC Steam demo with decent traction, or even just a solid early concept, Cohort 4 applications are open right now.