PlayStation put out a new "Must Play Indies" teaser on June 23 spotlighting the India Hero Project lineup, linking out to the official program page. It is a good reminder that this program exists, that it has real games in development, and that most people outside the indie developer community have no idea what it actually is or what is in it.

Sony Interactive Entertainment has been running a regional incubator program called the Hero Project since at least 2017, when it started with Chinese developers under the China Hero Project. The India version launched in 2023, and it is a real program with real money attached. Not a contest. Not a game jam. Recoupable development funding starting at $100,000, with access to SIE's internal resources and mentorship, and a potential publishing deal on the other end if the game performs well enough.

Seven Indian studios are currently in the program across two cohorts. The games cover a wide range of genres, from a third-person action-adventure set in a dystopian biotech city to a first-person narrative adventure about human trafficking set in mid-2000s India. That range says something about what SIE is willing to back. These are not safe, derivative pitches. Most of them are genuinely original.

Here is what the program is, who is in it, what they are making, and what Indian developers need to know if they want to apply.

What the India Hero Project Actually Is

The India Hero Project is an incubator program run by Sony Interactive Entertainment specifically for India-based game developers. The primary platform focus is PS5 and PC. VR2 titles are also supported. Mobile is evaluated case by case.

What SIE offers selected studios is a mix of practical support. There is mentorship from internal SIE teams, access to internal resources, and recoupable development funding. Recoupable means Sony recoups the investment from future game revenue rather than taking a cut upfront or demanding repayment regardless of outcome. There is also the possibility of publishing through SIE, though that is a separate discussion from development funding and handled case by case.

The program is overseen by an internal committee that includes Shuhei Yoshida, who ran PlayStation's indie developer relations for years before moving into this kind of role. That matters because Yoshida has a long track record of actually championing unconventional games rather than defaulting to safe commercial choices. The selection criteria are fairly straightforward: the game has to showcase emerging Indian talent, have solid prospects for successful implementation, and be technically sound in conception and feasibility.

Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis through an online form. Minimum requirements are that the studio be India-based, registered as a legal entity in India, and able to register as a PlayStation partner. Team size has no restriction. Solo developers and one-person studios are encouraged to apply. The minimum funding request is $100,000, with no stated cap above that.

Funding is disbursed milestone by milestone rather than as a lump sum. SIE monitors progress through development updates and status reports tied to those milestones. If a studio hits the targets, they get paid. If there is cause for concern, SIE can request additional information or conduct an audit.

Cohort One: The First Five Studios

The first cohort of the India Hero Project consisted of five studios, each working on a PS5 and PC title. All five are still listed as coming soon on the official program page.

Meteora: The Race Against Space Time (Big Boot Games)

A cosmic survival racing game where players control a meteor hurtling through a nebula, outmanoeuvring rivals and levelling up abilities to climb the leaderboards. Recent gameplay footage leans into the survival angle more than the original pitch suggested. It is not just about finishing first. You need to stay alive long enough to get there. It is also the only first cohort title targeting PS VR2 alongside PS5 and PC, which is a notable commitment given how small the VR2 install base is. Big Boot Games is clearly building something that leans into the hardware rather than treating VR as an afterthought.

Fishbowl (imissmyfriends.studio)

Fishbowl is probably the most unusual title in the entire program. It is a slice-of-life coming-of-age story told over a month. Players video call loved ones, work from home, sort through puzzles to rediscover childhood memories, and do care tasks. The description specifically says players get to "know yourself better, one day at a time." The studio name is imissmyfriends.studio. This is not a combat game or a platformer. It is closer to a digital journal with interactivity. The kind of thing that is genuinely hard to pitch but genuinely interesting when it works.

Mukti (underDOGS Studio)

Since the original announcement, underDOGS released a gameplay trailer that filled in considerably more detail. Mukti is now described as a first-person narrative adventure set in mid-2000s India. Players take on the role of Arya, a young woman searching for her missing sister, as she navigates the corridors of an Indian museum and uncovers the hidden truths behind human trafficking. The mid-2000s setting adds a specific historical and cultural texture that the original pitch did not spell out. The subject matter has not changed, but the character framing makes it feel more grounded than a general "awareness" game. This is exactly the kind of subject matter that major publishers tend to avoid. An independent incubator program with SIE backing is one of the few routes for a game like this to get made at any meaningful production level.

Suri: The Seventh Note (Tathvamasi Studios)

Suri is a 2D rhythm hybrid Metroidvania set in mythical India. The premise involves five biomes inspired by Indian history, culture, and geography, with music either frozen in time or channelled so strongly that inanimate objects resonate with it. Players explore a hidden island called Raagamandala, trying to release the world from a musical curse and uncover the origin of music. It is a dense pitch, but the combination of Metroidvania structure with rhythm mechanics and Indian mythological theming is genuinely distinct. There is nothing quite like it in the existing PS5 library.

Requital: Gates of Blood (Holy Cow Productions)

This is the most conventional action game in the first cohort. Gates of Blood is a 2D side-scrolling action platformer set in the Egyptian underworld called the Duat. Players control a warrior named Zahrah and work through a series of intense boss-rush-style encounters against gods, demons, and beasts. Egyptian mythology as a setting is not new, but the boss-rush structure gives it a clean identity and a natural scope that makes it achievable for a smaller studio. Holy Cow Productions is not trying to build an open world. They picked a lane and are committing to it.

Cohort Two: The February 2025 Announcement

In February 2025, SIE announced the second cohort of the India Hero Project with two additional titles. The announcement came via the PlayStation Blog and was signed by Hector Fernandez, Head of GTPR Business Development and Strategic Initiatives at Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Bloody Boots (Weloadin)

Bloody Boots is a third-person action-adventure game set in a place called Crank Town. The setting is described as a dystopian entertainment hub built on junk-punk biotech, where illegal gambling and extreme acts are the main economy. Players control a fugitive teenager trapped in Crank Town's chaos, fighting through mutants, mech-enhanced supervillains, and bosses to find a way out.

The Crank Town concept is specific enough to feel like a real creative vision rather than a generic pitch. Junk-punk is not a common aesthetic in Indian game development. The biotech angle combined with the lawless entertainment district setting has echoes of things like Borderlands or cyberpunk action games, but the execution sounds like it has its own direction. It is coming to PS5 and PC.

Lokko (Appy Monkeys)

Lokko is a cross-platform 3D platformer with a heavy emphasis on user-generated content. Players build and share custom levels, characters, enemies, and tracks through an in-game editor. There is competitive play built in, where players challenge each other's best runs on created levels. The game is also built to take advantage of the DualSense controller's haptics across all three of its platforms: PS5, PC, and iOS.

The story involves helping the character Lokko defeat an evil corporation called Goobol to deliver pizzas. That is a deliberate tonal choice. Appy Monkeys is not pitching something dark or serious. Lokko is aimed at a broader audience, and the UGC angle gives it a longer tail than a typical platformer if the tools are good enough that players actually want to use them.

How the India Hero Project Compares to the Other Regional Programs

Sony runs three regional Hero Project programs. The China Hero Project has been operating the longest, and games from that program have reached global audiences on PS4 and PS5. The MENA Hero Project covers the Middle East and North Africa. The India Hero Project is the newest of the three.

The structure across all three is similar: incubator-style support, recoupable funding, and mentorship from SIE internal staff. The India-specific version has its own Vendor Programme that brings in external partners to give studios access to tools and expertise beyond what SIE can provide directly. The Vendor Programme is designed to sit alongside the incubator rather than replace it, expanding the network available to participating studios.

What makes the India program notable is not just the existence of the funding. It is the range of subject matter SIE is apparently willing to greenlight. A game about human trafficking set in a museum. A slice-of-life working-from-home story. A rhythm Metroidvania built on Indian mythology. These are not easy sells. The fact that all five first-cohort studios are still listed as in development, with two more added in 2025, suggests the program is functioning as intended rather than stalling out.

What Indian Developers Need to Know Before Applying

A few things about the application process that are worth reading carefully before submitting.

The program does not support gambling games, real money gaming, or games with explicit content. Those are excluded regardless of quality or concept. Previous experience in console or game development is not required, but applicants need to be able to register as a PlayStation partner, which involves completing Sony's developer registration through PlayStation Partners.

International teams are eligible if they have a registered entity in India and at least 50% of game development is executed from India. Formal legal partnerships between studios can apply together. The committee is unlikely to fund more than one proposal per developer, so studios with multiple projects should pick their strongest pitch rather than submitting everything.

The funding timeline is realistic. SIE acknowledges that most games will take one to three years to complete. Funding is disbursed milestone by milestone, which means studios need to plan their development schedule around deliverables that SIE can review and approve rather than working toward a single final submission.

There is no application fee. The selection committee reviews all submissions and contacts shortlisted applicants to submit a detailed pitch deck and budget. After that comes a review of the actual game build before funding is formalized. So the process runs from application to pitch deck to build review before any money changes hands.

The application form is live at forms.office.com and has been accepting submissions since May 2023. Applications are accepted in English only. For questions, the contact email listed on the official PlayStation page is IHP@sony.com.

Why This Matters for Indian Game Development

India has a game development industry, but it has historically been dominated by outsourcing and mobile work rather than original IP. Studios making games for global console platforms are a small fraction of the total developer population, and most of them have done it without meaningful institutional support.

The India Hero Project does not fix that at scale. Seven studios in two years is not a large number. But the program is providing something that has been largely absent: a structured path from concept to PS5 launch with financial backing behind it. The minimum funding threshold of $100,000 is enough to actually hire people and build something. It is not seed money for a demo. It is intended to fund real development.

The games that have come out of the program so far are original. None of them feel like safe pitches designed to check a list of commercially proven genre boxes. Whether that originality translates into sales remains to be seen, given that none of the cohort one titles have released yet. But the willingness to fund Mukti and Fishbowl alongside more conventional action titles like Requital and Bloody Boots says something about the program's actual priorities.

PlayStation's June 23 teaser was a short clip. But it is a good signal that the program is still active and that SIE considers these games worth promoting. For Indian developers who are building something for PS5 or PC and have a legal entity registered in India, the India Hero Project is probably the most accessible route to console publishing support currently available. The application is open, the minimum team size is one, and the funding floor is meaningful. Whether Sony greenlights any given project depends on the pitch and the committee. But the door is open, and the program is actively adding studios.

More information and the application form are available at the official India Hero Project page on PlayStation.com. The June 23 teaser is on PlayStation's YouTube channel at youtube.com/watch?v=isH27URzRgg.