Game Studio Internships in India: Where and How to Apply

Every year, hundreds of engineering and design students in India send out applications to game studios and hear nothing back. The problem is rarely talent. It is almost always timing, targeting, and preparation.

India's gaming industry now employs tens of thousands of developers across studios in Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, and Mumbai, yet most applicants still approach it the same way they would a software services company. This guide covers what matters.

Below is a studio-by-studio directory of active recruiters for gaming internships in India, followed by a step-by-step preparation framework built from verified public listings, studio career pages, and community-sourced experience.

The Studios Actively Hiring Game Development Interns in India

Ubisoft Pune: The Benchmark for Ubisoft Pune Intern Roles

Ubisoft Pune is the most visible entry point into AAA game development in India. Established in 2008, it works across quality control, live ops, production, and game development on franchises including Assassin's Creed and Rainbow Six. The Pune studio built its reputation with over 950 team members, but Ubisoft India's total headcount across Pune and Mumbai now stands at more than 1.3K employees.

The Ubisoft Pune intern program for game programmers targets final-year students and recent graduates holding a B.E./B.Tech in computer science, BCA, MCA, or an equivalent qualification.

Interns typically work under senior programmers on engine and gameplay systems, with past listings citing modules across physics, rendering, networking, and AI. The role is hybrid from Pune. Stipend sits at approximately INR 3 to 5 lakhs per annum (LPA) on an annualized basis, based on public listings, with most openings posted between January and March for summer onsets.

Applications go through the official Ubisoft careers page and LinkedIn.

Separately, Ubisoft India runs a formal academic partnership with Rubika, through which interns in game design, game art, and animation are recruited from both the Indian and French campuses.

Apply at: careers.ubisoft.com

Sumo India Studios: AAA Co-Development From Pune

Sumo India is part of the global Sumo Digital group, which co-develops genre-spanning titles across horror, role-playing game (RPG), racing, and first-person shooter (FPS), and contributes to engine, tools, and gameplay programming on projects backed by publishing platforms across console, PC, and mobile. Their portfolio covers Forza Horizon 4 and 5, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Hogwarts Legacy, and Still Wakes the Deep. The group most recently began producing content updates for Warframe in partnership with Digital Extremes.

Intern and junior programmer openings appear on an as-needed basis rather than a fixed academic cycle. Strong C++ fundamentals and some engine architecture familiarity are the baseline expectations. Stipend figures are not publicly disclosed.

Apply at: sumo-digital.com/careers and LinkedIn

Studio Sirah: India-First Game Design Internships

Studio Sirah is an indie gaming studio founded on the belief that there is immense untapped potential to build games within an Indian context. The studio borrows from a 5,000-year-old culture and combines it with immersive art, strategic gameplay, and deep progression systems. Its debut title, Kurukshetra: Ascension, won Best Indie Game at Google Play Best of 2023 and was showcased at the game developer conference (GDC) 2024 as one of ten winners of the Bharat Tech Triumph competition.

Openings skew toward game art, 2D and 3D illustration, and narrative roles. Portfolio quality is the primary filter, and internships are project-specific with no fixed posting schedule. Direct LinkedIn outreach is the most reliable route.

Apply at: studiosirah.com and LinkedIn

Lila Games: Internships at a Shooter-Focused Studio

Founded on the principle that people can change, Lila Games is focused on building the most ambitious free-to-play (F2P) shooter game the world has ever seen. The studio is led by Joseph Kim, formerly Chief Product Officer (CPO) at SEGA and Studio Lead at FunPlus; Avinash Pandey, co-founder of JUNE Gaming and Y Combinator alumnus; and Paul Leydon, former lead game designer at FunPlus and MZ. Together, they have shipped titles that include King of Avalon: Dragon Warfare and Game of War. 

The studio offers internship opportunities for students and recent graduates, as confirmed on its public frequently asked questions (FAQ) page, with engineering and game development as the primary focus areas. Openings are listed on the careers page as the studio scales.

Apply at: lilagames.com/careers

Dot9 Games: Mobile Game Development Internship in Mumbai

Dot9 Games is a Mumbai-based studio whose leadership team has been involved with making mobile games for over 18 years, with credits spanning BioShock, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Disney productions. The studio has stated that opportunities are plentiful and positions are made for candidates with the right attitude, talent, and skill.

Unity developer, mobile game developer, and quality assurance (QA) tester are the typical intern-level openings, accepted on a rolling basis.

Apply at: dot9games.com

Rockstar India: Engine and Gameplay Roles in Bengaluru

Rockstar India, formally known as Rockstar Interactive India LLP, was established in August 2016 and is led by studio director Daniel Smith.

Rockstar India's primary headquarters is located in Bengaluru at Prestige Shantiniketan, Whitefield Road. Bengaluru's established tech ecosystem is cited as the key reason for the studio's large pool of skilled professionals in software development, animation, and digital media.

Recruiting is concentrated in Bengaluru, where engine, animation, gameplay, data engineering, design, and operations roles are listed through the official careers portal. The studio also hires game testers through in-office, full-time positions at its Bengaluru facility.

Entry-level and associate roles, including Associate Animation Content Developer, appear on the portal periodically and serve as the primary pathway for early-career candidates.

Apply at: rockstargames.com/careers

Other Game Studio Jobs Worth Tracking

EA Hyderabad is an active internship hub with recurring software engineer intern and trainee associate financial analyst roles, covering gameplay engineering, QA, design, and production across its mobile titles.

Meanwhile, Zynga India runs a specialized Catalyst Internship Program in user interface (UI)/user experience (UX) and technical art across its Bengaluru and Hyderabad offices, alongside backend, Unity client, and analytics intern openings for its social games division. Nazara Technologies operates internships through its Mumbai headquarters and across studios, including Nextwave Multimedia and NODWIN Gaming.

PlaySimple and Moonfrog Labs, both Bengaluru-based and backed by global gaming groups MTG and Stillfront, respectively, hire regularly for engineering, live operations, and product management.

How to Land a Game Development Internship in India: Step-by-Step

Step 1: Choose One Discipline and Commit to It

Pick one area: gameplay programming, level design, game art, QA, or production. Clarity of focus signals to recruiters that an applicant understands how studios are structured. A scattered profile is the most common reason shortlisting fails.

Step 2: Build Finished, Playable Projects

For programming roles, build two or three small but complete games in Unity or Unreal Engine. A playable demo on Itch.io or a documented GitHub repository carries more weight than a video walkthrough.

For art roles, an ArtStation portfolio with process breakdowns is what studio art directors examine. Incomplete projects are filtered out at the first screen.

Step 3: Prepare the Core Technical Skills

Studios like Ubisoft Pune consistently test interns on C and C++ proficiency, debugging, computer graphics, DirectX or OpenGL, AI programming, physics programming, and analytical problem-solving. Artists should be comfortable in Maya, Blender, or Substance Painter and able to speak to their pipeline during an interview.

Step 4: Assemble a Single-Page Portfolio

Link a resume, a playable build, a 30-to-90-second demo reel, and a GitHub or ArtStation profile on one page. Studio recruiters spend seconds on first-pass screening. The most important work needs to be immediately accessible.

Step 5: Apply Through the Right Channels at the Right Time

For large studios, use official careers pages and LinkedIn. For indie studios, Internshala, Wellfound, and direct LinkedIn messages to hiring managers all produce results. Larger studios concentrate internship windows around March to June for summer and October to December for winter, with durations typically running two to six months.

Apply six to eight weeks before those windows open.

Step 6: Know What the Interview Process Looks Like

Most gaming internship processes in India run across three to four rounds. The first is a portfolio and resume screen. The second is a technical assessment covering data structures and algorithms for programmers, or a take-home art test for artists. The third is a technical interview with a senior developer covering how projects were built, decisions made, and bugs resolved.

The fourth is an HR conversation on availability and working style.

Step 7: Use Community and Event Channels

The India GDC, Global Game Jam (GGJ), and local international game developers association (IGDA) chapter meetups put applicants in contact with studio staff. Game jam participation is consistently cited as one of the strongest signals in an application, often weighing more than academic credentials.

Discord servers for Godot India, Unity India, and Indie Game Dev India communities also surface openings before they reach job boards.

India is Building, Not Just Playing

India's gaming market, with over 500M gamers, is no longer purely a consumption story. 

Studios like SuperGaming, Studio Sirah, Mayhem Studios, and Lila Games are building original intellectual property (IP) for global audiences from Indian cities, while global publishers have embedded hundreds of developers in Pune and Hyderabad. The infrastructure for a full career in game development, from a game development internship in India all the way to a lead role, now exists without requiring emigration.

For students graduating in 2025 and 2026, gaming internships in India represent one of the clearest entry points into this ecosystem. The studios are hiring. The roles are real. The gap is almost always preparation, not opportunity.