China dev cost "half" that of India

Speaking in this interview, Indian developer Sangam Gutpa has said that he ships the majority of artwork to his company's Chinese arm as wage costs there are "half" those in India.

"We have 30-40 people in China already," Gutpa said. "India was price effective, to be honest, until last year. Nowadays, after the dollar slipped, not any more... Now we send all our major artwork to China only, which is extremely cheap, almost half the Indian salary."

Gutpa is the CEO of Mumbai-based Trine Games. The 190 staff studio is currently working on racing game Streets of Mumbai, a title called Legends of Great India, a flight shooter called Wings of Control and a sports game for Wii and Xbox 360.

Despite moving expensive art creation out to China, Gutpa added that there is a desperate need for more experienced games developers in India.

"Huge, huge, huge," he said, when asked if there was a dearth of professionals in the country. "For the past year-and-a-half we have been doing things ourselves and training our guys."

Very interesting read, that. Go have a look.