Happy Diwali from Kwalee!

Diwali is here, and it’s our first since establishing our Bengaluru team in May! We’re really proud of the brilliant team we’re building in India; their talents have helped us to ship more brilliant games and working with them every day is a privilege.

At Kwalee we largely work together as a single unit, as we do with our team members all over the world, which means that we’re a tight-knit bunch regardless of location.

It also means that we’ve been learning about the Diwali traditions and celebrations of our teammates in Bengaluru, and what they have planned for the weekend’s festivities.

“We celebrate with crackers (fireworks), sweets and diyas – a small cup-shaped oil lamp made of baked clay,” says Nisha, our Office Manager & Administrator. “There’s lots of dressing up and, of course, meeting friends!”

Siddharth, our Senior QA Tester, adds that his plans are fairly similar, albeit with added meaning given the circumstances: ‘This year it’s been a bit different since I am going to see my family after around one year,’ he explains. ‘And the past six months are making it more valuable to be able to visit loved ones and celebrate with them.’

For programmer Ruchi and artist Pranav, food and in particular sweets are also a key part of the occasion. For an example of these sweets, you can see below the care package that went out to our teammates in India.

Aakash, also an Artist, reminds us of the spiritual significance of Diwali: ‘We decorate our house with colourful lights, cook delicious foods, worship Mata Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity, and Lord Ganesh, the god of beginnings, intelligence and success. We light the diyas to eliminate darkness. After that, my brothers, cousins and I all make a gang and burst firecrackers, whilst going door to door offering sweets to our neighbours. It’s awesome!’

And last but not least, our legal counsil Romil paints a cosy scene: ‘Diwali gives me absolute festive vibes,’ he says. ‘I am going to celebrate this Diwali at my friend’s place. He will be hosting a Diwali party where we will probably play cards, listen to Bollywood music and burst firecrackers later in the evening. I will also be having a small pooja (it’s what you call a religious ritual) at my place with my family and followed by all fancy Diwali munchies to eat.’

We only wish that we were able to have a proper Diwali celebration at a physical office in Bengaluru, but that’s certainly something we look forward to for next year’s festivities under hopefully far better circumstances. The studio location will be officially unveiled and opened when it is more safe to do so – watch this space!

But in the meantime, with the Bengaluru team having contributed to our recent milestone of more than 100 employees and plenty of vacancies in all locations, we can already welcome you to join the team and start working with brilliant colleagues in India and all around the world.

So it’s a big Happy Diwali from everyone at Kwalee! We hope you are able to mark the occasion and that you have a great time.