New Delhi, May 22 (IANS): Game art and animation services company Lakshya Digital on Friday said it will be hiring 15-20 per cent more employees this year to meet demands of new businesses that it has gained in last couple of months, clearly bucking the trend of laying off people amid COVID-19 crisis.

This will translate to addition of 100-120 new employees in a year, said the company which has a team size of over 500 people.

"Lakshya Digital has gained new business due to its seamless migration to WFH (Work-From-Home) production environment, leading to an increase in client confidence in Lakshya's ability to deliver on commitment despite difficult circumstances," Manvendra Shukul, CEO Lakshya Digital, said in a statement.

"This demand has created new opportunities for careers in the gaming sector and we are expecting to add about 15- 20 per cent new hires currently to meet this demand."

Founded in 2004, Lakshya Digital has been developing game art for some of the biggest game titles globally in their studios in Gurugram, Pune, Seattle (USA) and Tokyo (Japan).

Dublin-headquartered Keywords Studios acquired Lakshya in 2014.

Lakshya said its client list includes Disney, Microsoft, Sony, Warner Bros., Square Enix, FromSoftware, Bandai Namco, among others.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has jeopardised most sectors and businesses across the world. However, the video game industry is proving to be resilient.

People have turned to video games during this crisis and the demand for content has been increasing like never before.

India is poised to become a major hub for game art outsourcing.

Online gaming, as a segment, is estimated to be a $1.1 billion opportunity by 2021, according to Google-KPMG.