Indepth: Unleashing the true potential for Indian gamers

India ranks as one of the largest mobile gaming markets in the world in terms of app downloads. There are presently over 400 gaming companies in India with around 420 million online gamers and India is second only to China in terms of number of gamers. Online gaming industry in India registers a growth rate of nearly 38% and is going to be the next sunrise industry. India’s online gaming industry is predicted to reach around $3.9 billion in value by the year 2025 according to a report by KPMG. Moreover India also constitutes the largest fantasy sports market at a user base of 130 million. From 360 million in the year 2020, to 390 million in 2021, the number of online gamers is only increasing with each passing year, with an expectation to surpass 450 million by the year 2023 and reach 657 million in 2025. There are a number of factors contributing to the rise of the online gaming industry in India such as higher disposable income, the growing population of youth, introduction of and advancement in gaming technologies, affordable internet and easier access to it, the increasing number of smartphone users, introduction of new genres of gaming among others.

The gaming industry recorded revenue of Rs 13,600 crore in the year 2021 and is expected to make Rs 29,000 crore within 2024-25, as per industry reports. Shivam Rao, Co-Founder, Trinity Gaming India, noted, “Different sections of the gaming industry have seen a noticeable increase. First off, the community has grown significantly in terms of viewers and engagement. It is very evident that there are a lot of fans who are getting motivated and striving to establish their careers in the industry if we talk about the growth in the number of content creators on different platforms. The phenomenal expansion of the Indian esports market is luring non-indigenous brands like skincare, FMCG, apparel, etc., along with the publishers and developers.”

According to him, one of the major factors contributing to the growth could be the accessibility of mobile phones and the Internet. “Even the mobile phones in the market are stable enough to handle high-end graphic games which are helping more people to indulge in the gaming sector. Another factor I believe is the interest of the Indian youth to keep up with the trends and prefer fields with more creativity. The gaming industry has been one of the most creative and entertaining fields which topped the charts of the latest trends,” he added.

The Covid-19 pandemic period witnessed a greater increase in online gaming in India, with nearly 7.3 billion installed games in the year 2020. Further data suggests that nearly 433 million out of the 846 million Internet users in India play games and around 35% of the population played online games in the year 2021. The online gaming industry registers a fast growth within the media and entertainment sector in India. With the surge in real money games, skill based gaming, esports, casual games, etc., the online gaming industry is gaining popularity.

“The gaming Industry in India is seeing a YoY growth of close to 30%, which is incredible for any sporting/ entertainment sector. It’s a sector that many brands, organisations, and stakeholders are investing in lately due to many reasons – one of the biggest pools of GenZ audiences, multiple branding touchpoints, high returns on investment, easy integration of Blockchain/ Web3/ Metaverse technologies, etc. Soon enough, with 5G coming in, the growth is going to go further up,” pointed out Rohit Agarwal, Founder & Director, Alpha Zegus.

"Esports has been the major factor contributing to the high growth of this industry. Esports is also considered a spectator sport. Moreover, in India, mobile gaming has been on a bull run. India becoming the second largest smartphone market, one of the cheapest mobile data plans in the world are now available in India is one other significant reason why gaming and esports in this country have picked up tremendously" said Rohit Jagasia, Founder & CEO, Revenant Esports.

Given the huge market potential, the number of professional gamers are on the rise in India and are earning even more than those in standard occupations. According to Yash Pariani, Founder and CEO at House of Gaming, like other athletes or influencers from the entertainment industry, gamers have a variety of sources of revenue, including esports wins, streaming rights, image rights, and offers from several corporations to work together to promote their products if they have a sizable fan base. As stated by Kani Gaming about the earnings from gaming nowadays, “It’s actually quite more than what people expect us to make. However, it’s not consistent. Esports players get a salary from organisations till they are esports players and content creators make money till they are getting views and brands! But the bar set is really high and gamers actually make more money than many professional people in 9 to 5 jobs as well.”

According to gamer known as Antaryami Gaming, “Gamers are getting a huge payout in India as many foreign organizations are also investing in Indian gamers but firstly you have to gather your public and kept them together. With good numbers and viewership, a gamer gets a payout that is far better than other industries.”

From hobby to big bucks

For many gamers, it started out as a hobby before they decided to make it a profession. “It started as a hobby on my laptop. Initially, I was having fun on Clash Royale. Then after almost a year, I realise the strategic gameplay are fascinating to the audience and one of my friends suggested me to share this on YouTube. Soon PUBG mobile hit the Indian market. That was the beginning of Alpha Clasher in the field of gaming,” says gamer Alpha Clasher. Talking about the earnings, he said, “Generally in India, gamers earn from their YouTube AdSense, collaboration with brands if gamers are effectively working on their channels and streaming platform like LOCO.”

Similarly gamers have also started from different professional backgrounds before stepping into the world of gaming. Recalling her first steps towards being a professional gamer, Shakshi Shetty shared, “I used to play a lot of mobile games at the back bench with the boys during lectures & beat most of them. They all kept suggesting to start streaming, many thought I would be good at it. So, I did a 9-5 job, invested a huge chunk of my savings into getting a gaming setup and just went for it as I didn’t want to borrow money from my parents.”

For Kani Gaming, it started by co-incidence. “It started out 3-4 years back during my modeling days. At that time I came across some videos of Battle Royal Games by YouTubers – dynamo/mortal. Before that, I never used to play any sort of games apart from Candy Crush,” she said.

“I always liked playing games since I was a child, I think every child does. But when I entered in gaming community it wasn’t as a hobby. As I saw people growing through playing games, it just struck me that I am also good at it. So, just for a try, I started gaming, and then it went well for me,” said Antaryami Gaming. Sharing his views on the overall gaming industry in India, Alpha Clasher said, “I firmly believe that there are many people who have the potential to make their career in this field and according to me this high growth was not so immensely possible if there is no growth of telecommunication industry, Reliance Jio has played a huge role for this as it gives India free surfing data which allows every individual to connect us and vice versa. Covid was also a kind of boon for us because I got several messages from individuals that while watching and interacting with me they feel really good and stay motivated.”

India is still in the initial stages of fully accepting gaming as a full time profession. Many Indian families do not support their children taking up gaming as a profession. “The Indian market is not so vast and versatile when compared to the industry in the west. Some people have still that kind of mindset that there is no scope in this industry, even though I don’t think many Indian parents know about this industry, which is totally acceptable. As a gamer, a drastic decrement in followers/subscribers always plays a vital role in affecting the mindset of a gamer so we have to keep on grinding and entertaining the audience. We have to make sure there should be versatility in our genre of games. Any industry can have rapid growth in the Indian market if the audience can accept it happily,” noted Alpha Clasher.

Sharing her views on the journey of the growth of the online gaming industry in India, Kani Gaming said, “It all started back during 2017-2018 when PUBG was introduced to India. It was an unstoppable growth for a good  two  years or more until PUBG got banned in India. That was a phase when the gaming community matured and they started exploring other games and PC communities as well. There was stunning growth, but still mature growth.”

“Esports in India is growing fast in terms of both prize pool and viewership numbers. In the beginning, the Indian Esports industry was far behind in the market when compared to countries like the US and Japan. It has been expanded on a huge scale in recent years. The country's revenue earnings are just 16%. But it can be said that the way gamers are trying to improve their skills by coming up with new ideas, gradually the Esports industry in India will grow in the next few years,” affirmed Yash Pariani.

The challenges

Speaking about the about the challenges in the gaming industry, Kani Gaming said, “The challenges faced as a gamer, unfortunately, are not the same for both genders. Male gamers face different kinds of challenges, whereas female gamers face them differently. Hopefully, the differentiation will soon be treated equally in the future years. When a player/ team doesn’t perform well and if they are famous, the other team/ player fans start trolling and spreading hate. These things are common in the sports section, but it’s seen a lot in the esports community. Another challenge for female gamers is the misogyny that people demonstrate – that girls can’t play better than boys. As female streamers, we get judged on basis of our Looks, on basis of how much makeup we have applied or not rather than our gaming skills.”

“The main challenge is family support because in the early stages gamers don’t earn and because of that gamers get demotivated as they get family pressure for earning. Many gamers with good talents but no facilities like high-end devices, high-speed internet, and proper guidance also couldn’t carry with their dream of becoming a successful gamer,” said Antaryami Gaming.

According to Yash Pariani , one of the major setbacks experienced by the Indian gaming industry is the sudden ban on BGMI, which has shocked the entire Indian gaming community. Additionally, the 28% tax has also impacted the industry. As the Indian esports ecosystem continued to grow, the government's new rules and laws increased prize pool taxes.”

“When it comes to challenges gaming industry has faced a lot of challenges and is still facing them. The biggest challenge will be the mindset of the parents or elders that gaming is just a pastime activity and one can not make a concrete career in that. But, we are proud that gaming content creators are constantly putting effort and Trinity Gaming India is also helping them break these kinds of psychological barriers. I truly believe that there is a need for proper legal regulations for gaming to be a more trustable career option for the youth. Apart from the industry challenges, There are a few challenges that every gaming creator has to face i.e the increasing competition in the market. To make a place in the industry, one has to constantly work on new ideas, content diversification, and most importantly consistency” says Shivam Rao.

 “Sudden game bans (like the BGMI & Free-Fire ban recently) are definitely one of the biggest challenges that the industry is facing at the moment. There are no set regulatory bodies, no guidelines, and no proper definition of esports/gaming being different from betting/gambling is putting the industry at unease. All the entities within the gaming fraternity are trying their best to tackle these, but some regulations from the government will be quite helpful” says Rohit Agarwal.

“As long as the government treats the esports/ online gaming & skill-based gaming industry separately, it's not going to be an issue. However, the line between these two industries is still quite blurred, because of which the gaming industry is still uncertain about what restrictions and regulations will be imposed on gaming” notes Agarwal.

Online gaming addiction has also adverse effects as happened in the case of 20-year-old Vengatesh from Tamil Nadu, son of daily wage labourers, who committed suicide due to online gaming. There have been around 17 reported cases of suicide due to financial loss because of online gambling addiction. There has been ban on legal online skill based games by the Madras High Court. A GST hike rate to 28% has been proposed on the online gaming industry in India.

Commenting on the online gaming industry landscape, Ankur Singh, CEO and Founder, Witzeal technologies, said, “The GST rate slab proposed to be imposed on the online gaming sector is 28% which is the highest slab. This poses to be a big challenge as the sector is very likely to lose the interest of gamers and investors, resulting in missing out on FDI opportunities.  While, the government has set up a task force for AVGC sector to boost the sector and employment, Higher GST rates could discourage new entrants since running expenses would rise and it would be challenging to draw users to the platform and utilize high-tech features for the products. We are hoping that the discussions and meetings which are being tabled with the government would result in a win-win situation. AVGC (includes ‘Gaming’) is a potential sector for employment generation however imposing such a high GST rate is will be a paradox. We would need support to grow so that we can contribute in a larger way not only for employment generation but also for achieving five trillion economy dream.”

Adding further he said, “With every growing sector comes growing challenges. While the challenges are many, the most prominent amongst them is availability of talent necessary for development of games particularly in light of the fact that gaming is still nascent in India. There is a dire need for good quality and skilled talent for the upheaval of the sector. The operators today are also indulging in training the existing and new talent further creating jobs and increasing the overall economy. Another challenge for the sector overall is the much-awaited policy or regulation from the government, which will bring stability to the business to build confidence with all the stakeholders. We are hopeful that the taskforce formed by the Government to look for the solution and industry players would definitely support the government and the sector at large to create a wonderful ecosystem.”