The rise of the Gaming Metaverse

There are several lessons and takeaways from 2020, a momentous year of major disruptions, global shutdowns, and an economic rollercoaster due to COVID-19. Adgully brings its annual review of the year gone by, wherein industry experts analyse the most significant developments and trends of the year and their implications on the coming year as well. 

Manav Sethi, Chief Marketing Officer, Octro Inc, recounts the key developments in the gaming space in 2020, as well as the key learnings, which include investing in technology and high-quality people, and also listening to your players. 

Developments & disruptions

The year 2020 has been unprecedented for everyone and we are no different. From a portfolio perspective, we witnessed spike across almost all our games when the first lockdown was implemented, but after that growth has tapered down now towards the end of the year. However, considering that we had invested a lot on data analytics and CRM platforms, we have been able to retain users and can see a significant number of that converted into loyal users. On RMG side, we have grown 75% on our loyal user base (who have played more than 5 times) and 150% growth on total player deposits from 2019-2020.

Our leadership game, TeenPatti by Octro, has been a chartbuster all throughout and is played by some 150 million players and top is among the top 10 grossing apps on App Annie, even now. During COVID-19, we have also witnessed a 50x spike in our other game, Tambola by Octro.

This year has been a year of learning for everyone. The key learnings would be – be prepared, invest in technology, high-quality people, listen to your players and continue to up your game! 

Changes in consumer behaviour

COVID-19 has brought forward few quarters of growth in online gamers because of the disposable time and lack of offline leisure options. We expect these first time gamers to convert into loyal players and a big cohort moving beyond casual games. We can already witness huge uptake for games and tools like AmongUS, Fortnite, Roblox and Discord. 

Outlook for 2021

In 2021, we do hope that the Indian Government creates a favourable regulatory regime for foreign investment to come into India, both for online gaming and Real Money gaming. This will result in significant employment opportunities, made in India games and tax contribution to the exchequer. 

Key trends in 2021

• The rise of the Gaming Metaverse
• A Marvel movie will come from a blockbuster game (next 5 years)
• Video & Audio consumption will be move to gaming platforms at scale