Gaming has been an essential feature of the Indian entertainment business. The target market for this gaming platform is estimated at over 0.628 billion gamers. This environment includes not just players but also software developers and programmers, game designers and producers, investors, and advertisers. India possesses great gaming promise, and numerous explanations are justifying it.
India is now being counted as one of the front runners in South Asia’s gaming industry development. Besides, about 75% of people from India use the web each day, and youngsters between 15 and 30 are in the community’s highest numbers. This, in turn, is making online gaming available to almost a big part of the population. There’s an increased awareness of gaming, and it is transforming from being considered a derogatory activity to a more positive influence.
The fantasy gaming genre is particularly popular in the region. Fantasy sports lovers in India are rising rapidly and targeting around 100 million people by the end of 2021.
Gaming after Covid19 hit the nation.
- COVID-19 epidemic in India was first identified as early as 2020 after spreading to other parts of the world. The most simple effect of COVID-19 emergency shutdown and lockdown in India was the rise in gaming applications traffic and websites.
- Online Poker, Ludo King, Teen Patti etc. were the leading titles during the lockdown. The lockdown also meant that more users registered on gaming sites.
- Also, Paytm’s gaming app Paytm First Games saw their user base tripling in March. This app includes games like rummy, pool, ludo and snake wars. Rummy has attained the max popularity out of the above and exponentially increased in the number of games played and users.
Why is India a key differentiator? Here are seven reasons.
India has a younger market
India has the highest proportion of people under 45, so it is a big target market for online gaming. The substantial growth of Indians living in metropolitan cities has had a significant impact on India’s gaming industry.
Amount of internet subscribers
There are over 500 million internet consumers in India, making it the 2nd largest internet market in the world, falling second to China.
Advancement of mobile gaming
Many may not have ever spoken of handheld devices as gaming platforms. These days, smartphones are becoming increasingly popular as the preferred gadget for gaming. Smartphones are getting much more available and inexpensive and enable users to play the game everywhere they go. With the rise of smartphone games, prominent game makers recognise the value of making games for mobile devices instead of consoles.
Content local to India
Audiences are opting for a much more interactive gameplay environment with localised content as the primary focus. The online games like Ludo King, Indian Rummy, Andar Bahar, Teen Patti, & Texas Hold’em continue to draw people to numerous gaming platforms. This has since contributed to multiple video and book lectures on how to play, game rules and even tactics.
Moreover, game developers from India are making games in different themes and languages tailored to the preferences of the local audience. The companies celebrate the famous Indian festivals with engaging activities, including Holi, Diwali, Eid, etc.
E-sports and fantasy sports
Internet fantasy sports games are the practice of skill-based sports fantasy gaming. Fantasy sports gaming in the Indian industry is projected to cross at least $5 billion in two years.
The eSports sector has been undergoing a boom within India and seeing successful competitive titles like Counter-Strike, CS: GO, and others.
IT field boom
India’s vibrant and rising IT sector created a surge in employment possibilities in addition to traditional finance and marketing jobs.
Usage of online payments
There will be a massive increase in online payment system users by 2022 because of the e-commerce boom. Besides this has culminated in online game firms providing other payment methods that branch out to a broader demographic and appealing to the demands of their consumers.
Now let us take a look at some of the trending games accessed by Indian players on various platforms:
Ludo: This is already popular among people across all generations of India. Ludo can be considered as a simplified version of Pachisi. It is played with the help of a board and dice having six sides. The game reached new heights of popularity during the Covid lockdown times. People confined to their houses due to Covid were in search of games to pass their time. And online ludo presented a perfect option. Many online Ludo games and apps captured the attention of the general public, and they started playing the game on a regular basis with players from any corner of the world. In fact, Ludo King app is the 1st gaming app from India to cross 100mn in downloads according to some reports. The app is very graphic, and the dice throws are random.
Fantasy sports: Fantasy sports includes online estimation games in which the fantasy players assemble a virtual team of actual players(belonging to different sports leagues).
There are two varieties of fantasy sports in the industry.
- Season-long daft scheme
- Regular Fantasy Leagues
Teen Patti – One of the most popular card games among the Indian population is Teen Patti. The game has been present and played in India since decades. The game and its variants have found its way into the online gaming industry. People have been accessing this game on online platforms and playing it for real money too.
It’s more of an Indian game so if you’re not sure about the rules check out this guide before playing. It’s simple and it is one of the reasons why it is on a rage since lockdown.
MPL – MPL is the most popular gaming app in India. Mobile users can play in several mobile gaming contests with the MPL app. There are several ways in which the games can be played.
- Tournaments which include different groups of people playing against each other. Players should share their ratings on the leader-board for final estimates.
- One vs one clash can be explicitly waged by MPL participants. The winner is the player who finishes the play first with the top score.
- MPL fantasy cricket app- In this case, users have a chance to use MPL fantasy cricket and other fantasy games. They create teams virtually and then contest in live matches. The final scores are determined on the basis of the last points received.
Skill-based game apps such as MPL are fully legal in India and cannot be regarded as gambling but can be a way of winning money on eSports when playing them using a mobile gaming platform.
Where can the game industry in India find itself after the pandemic subsides?
The COVID-19 pandemic, although responsible for a catastrophic amount of fatalities and socio-economic troubles in India, also created a platform of opportunities for the gaming industry in the region. More visibility on eSports and video games to the public during the lockdown could contribute to the rising popularity of the sector in India. With the growing success of gaming in the nation, the industry also has the ability to be recognised and funded by the government.