Gaming is being looked upon as an ‘interactive’ form of entertainment: Experts

Mobile gaming in India is a rapidly growing industry. According to industry reports, the gaming industry in the country is poised to more than double its growth – from $1.2 billion currently to $3 billion by 2023. Industry estimates peg the number of mobile gamers in India at 365 million.

The entire pandemic period has seen an accelerated adoption of online gaming in India, with an average time spent on mobile phones reaching 4.1 hours during the lockdown period from 2.5 hours in the pre-COVID-19 era. According to a Deloitte report, with a share of 13% of the global gaming sessions, India is among the top five gaming markets in the world.

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To understand this sunrise industry further, Adgully’s premier #TwitterChat #GullyChat property on Friday, July 23, turned the spotlight on ‘What makes India a mobile first gaming market’. The discussion was joined by a panel of gaming experts comprising:

Nitin Goel, Country Manager, Indian Sub-Continent, Gameloft

Ritesh Ujjwal, CEO & Co-founder, Kofluence

Rohit Agarwal, Founder & Director at AlphaZegus

Roland Landers, President, All India Gaming Federation

How big is the mobile gaming business in India?

Rohit Agarwal noted, “Not only are we talking about a 350 million+ mobile gamers base, but seeing over 40% of this audience being female gamers and over 70% being committed gamers shows a really promising way ahead, both in terms of diversity and consistency.”

Expressing his confidence in the steep growth of the gaming industry in India, Ritesh Ujjwal remarked that the industry was currently valued at $1.5 billion, where one-third of its population belonged to Gen-Z.

According to Nitin Goel, “The Indian gaming industry is eventually at the cusp of hockey stick growth. We are talking of anywhere between 350 million and 450 million users generating over $1.5 billion revenues.”

“RealMoney, Fantasy Gaming took off very sharply in the last 2-3 years. However, IAP, which is the bedrock of Mobile Gaming revenue, is still low at $300. With changing spending patterns on Indian consumers, we expect it to grow to $1 billion in the next 2 years,” he added.

Giving an idea of how big the Indian gaming industry is, Roland Landers said, “Around 350 million gamers and about $1.5 billion in revenues.”

What is the growth rate of this industry?

Agarwal said, “A big chunk of the Indian audience discovered gaming as a new form of entertainment during the lockdown. While the CAGR was 21% from 2014 to 2020, it is now expected to cross over 40% each year point forward.”

According to Ujjwal, “The growth has been ~40% in the last one year, with a CAGR of around early to mid-30s over the next 5 years.”

Goel added here, “We expect the overall gaming industry to grow at a CAGR of 30%+, with disproportionate growth in e-sports although at lower base, disruption through Cloud Gaming with 5G rollout. RealMoney has a tailwind although it is tough to navigate through negative perception.”

Landers noted, “As per the #EY #M&E report for #FICCI2021, it was 21% over last year in revenues and double digit growth in number of #gamers.”

A combination of smartphones and mobile data getting cheaper, more powerful, and more accessible to the consumers are the key reasons behind the growth of the mobile gaming industry in India. Also, gaming is being looked upon as an ‘interactive’ form of entertainment, something that every age group can consume, the experts said.

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