Increase in Online Gaming Puts India among Global Market Leaders

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Media reports reveal the growing popularity of the Indian gaming industry. With users, investments and companies all on the rise, the mobile gambling segment has the chance to become a driver for technological and economic growth.

Industry Figures Shine Light on Growth Trends

Online gaming in India has experienced a shift in status over the past few years. An exciting and easily accessible digital market, legal online lottery and gambling platforms have reportedly been boosted by affordable smartphones, cheap data and new daily routines after a series of lockdowns.

Online lottery ticket booking in India is probably the most popular legal real-money games (RMG) played on gambling sites like 10Cric.com. But board games, eSports and Battle Royale genres are not far behind. Both RMG and casual games have attracted increasing investment by funds, created industry-wide partnerships and have fueled the growth of India’s game development studios.

KPMG’s Media and Entertainment Report (2020) estimates the current user pool at roughly 365 million online players, while Deloitte India has valued it at $2.8 billion (₹20,500 crore) in mid-2021. Experts are unanimous – the industry has immense potential and continues growing each year by around 40%, accounting for 10% of the nation’s overall Media and Entertainment economy.

India is steadily ranking among the top five mobile game markets globally, with 13% of gaming sessions and traffic coming from within the Union.

Gamer Profiles, Post-pandemic Trends and Urban-Rural Splits

Undeniably, the Covid-19 pandemic impacted global health but also much of the traditional economy and the daily habits of almost everyone. The profile traits of the typical Indian gamers and online lottery players were highlighted both before and after the series of lockdowns.

While younger user groups (aged between 20 and 40) remain the most active, middle aged players and female gamers have been on a stable rise. Partly due to our stay-home daily schedules, mainly because of the accessibility of mobile devices and online games, the gap between urban and rural markets has been decreasing for a couple of years now.

Tier-1 cities are expectedly providing major player volumes and young metropolitan (self-employed) professionals make up a large part of online casino consumers. Rural users have made up the difference due to affordable tech and data. Both RMG skill gamers and online lottery players prefer customised Indian content and enjoy new technology.

The Gaming Industry as a Career Choice

The Indian online gaming industry has seen developer studios rise to above 400 in a matter of several years. Tech startups in the segments hire game designers, VFX and animation artists, sound engineers, various programmers and even game testers. The multitude of gaming careers are both attractive and well paid.

Spillover effects and collaborations see cloud service providers, marketers and media experts join the group. While free-to-play games lead in overall volumes, some innovative business models have elevated mobile gaming into a cornerstone digital media sector. Flexible monetization schemes, new generation advertising and content delivery have been born and have boosted both niche and mass market game companies.