Feature | Indian Gaming Industry; Are you game?

Gaming in India has picked up at a tremendous rate. From online games, mobile games to 3D games, people, both young and old are hooked on to it across the nation. Indian gaming industry is expected to grow at Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 32 per cent at Rs. 3,100-crore by 2014. This increase is attributed to the dominant young population and rising disposable incomes. Also now with increasing telecom bases and the onset of 3G services, mobile gaming has become more efficient with fast downloading speeds. With a mobile penetration of sixty per cent, the telecom subscriber base is expected to accelerate to 725-million in two years.

Although gamers could cut across different age groups and segments of the population, however a classic Indian gamer would be a male, average age of 26 and hailing from any of the top eight metros, according to industry reports. Also an average person plays games three times a week and his usual gaming sessions last an hour in length.

This industry captivates its audience through interactive games with relevant content strategy. The general trend is to have games where the user can have maximum participation and make him or her feel like a part of the game as much as possible. Through this strategy online games like Farm Ville have caught the fancy of many. Also with the introduction of X-Box and Play Stations in the market, 3D games have reached a whole new level of entertainment for its audience.

Gaming on television is a fairly new concept, one that is fast gaining popularity.

"There is an increased popularity of celeb games like the Yuvraj Singh Cricket Championship and Bipasha's Fitness Gym Game and thus we are trying to develop more of such games. Gaming is starting to spread to smaller towns and cities and has a chance for becoming bigger than movies among the youth," said Vikram Mehra, Chief Marketing Officer, Tata Sky.

"We have targeted women and kids. For kids, we use Disney characters to impart education like math's quizzes and pronunciation exercises. For housewives, our focus is on content on the TV. They just have to press a button and start. A new game is given to them every day. Our content is refreshed hourly. This is much better than somebody paying thousands of rupees on game software that the child might get bored off quickly. The Actve Games service is targeted to all age groups and includes various kinds of games which are refreshed on regular basis. Our attempt is to provide better and interesting games which can further attract a larger subscriber base," Mehra further explained.

The advertisers have warmed up to gaming today. For companies to have better avenues to get enhanced returns, they steer towards gaming.

"However the in-game advertising concept still has a long ladder to climb. As far as mobile and other gaming devices are concerned, advertisers have to understand the potential of this platforms and the requirement. Parents now realize that they are investing into a gaming device. It is moving away from the concept that kids should only study. The opportunities are pretty huge. The hardware and software market put together will be bigger than Hollywood. It can be used in different platforms, for promotions, cricket, and FMCG products and so on. The biggest factors that enhance this industry are the reach and affordability which will spread the culture of gaming in the country. I think the future would be the introduction of more complex games as compared to simple games. The biggest challenge is privacy and maybe the cost of these gaming devices," explained Yashraj Vakil, Chief Operating Officer at Dream11 Gaming (Dream11.com) and Red Digital.

Another area of concern for professionals in this industry is the lack of skilled talent coming in. There has to be more initiatives from the government to encourage and develop these skills amongst youngsters.

Manish Agarwal, COO, Reliance Entertainment said, "Gaming industry is a very broad industry. There are casual gamers, mobile gamers and social gamers and so on. India definitely has a gaming culture. There are various thoughts on if India will go the China and Korea route in terms of hard core gaming or the US route of casual gaming. My prediction is the route of causal gaming. The content has to be relevant and good. We also need skilled professionals to grow this industry to what it actually can be."

Although in its nascent stages, the gaming industry is being taken seriously by advertisers and brands today. The gaming culture in India has to be developed further to see the form it transpires into in the next few years. | By Janees Antoo [janees(at)adgully.com]