Online Gaming Industry sees Big Bang Growth

The meteoric rise of online gaming has been seen in India in the past two years. This is going to get bigger every year. While esports evolves itself, AR, VR, NFT, and XR, metaverse gaming will be the other big trends to watch out for in 2022.

Online gaming is the present and the future of entertainment. The sector is already bigger than the global movie and music industry – combined. In 2021, the Indian gaming industry generated $1.8 billion in revenue from 400 million gamers. As per a recent report by KPMG, the gaming market in India is expected to grow by 113 percent by 2025, $5 billion and 650 million respectively. Furthermore, the demand for technology devices has gained momentum with increased use cases of creation, learning, and remote working. PCs at the center of it are being used for various tasks from content creation, and consumption, to gaming.

According to another report from YouGov Global Profiles, 25 percent of global consumers are playing at least seven hours of video games each week on their devices – mobile and handheld. Most people play for less than seven hours which is equivalent to a working day.

Gaming, which was once restricted to only the privileged younger generation having access to personal PCs or consoles, is now a mass favorite with no age barriers. The Indian gaming industry is driven by digitally-savvy youth, affordable smartphones, 4G connectivity and cheap data plans, and the overall technological advancement in software development and cloud technology. This has also led to mobile phones being the preferred device for gaming. While the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns accelerated the adoption of gaming, especially converting non-gamers into casual gamers, users have continued to spend time on gaming. In fact, people can not only play a variety of games from anywhere but also have an opportunity to build successful careers in this space.

The Indian gaming industry further leveled up during the pandemic-induced lockdowns amid the rising need for virtual entertainment and the popularity of eSports, which was no longer a spectator sport. The industry is now anticipated to reach about the US $405 million by the end of 2022.

The rise of game streaming platforms in this space, engaging the streamers and gaming content creators from across the country on a single platform, has further aided gaming in India. Their advanced IT infrastructure is helping the gamers collaborate to make games more real and the future of entertainment.

Gaurav Agarwal, Co-founder, Gamezop

As digital penetration continues to grow, most digital players would want to bite into the gaming pie. Many non-gaming apps and websites have already integrated game centers comprising HTML5 games within their products. You might have seen that apps like Amazon, AccuWeather, MX Player, Paytm, and hundreds of others have a section for games. When users tap on games of their choice, they launch within these products directly – the games don’t need to be installed as standalone apps. Hence, the Indian gaming sector will grow exponentially in the times ahead and digital adoption will play a major role in this evolution.

India shipped 161 million smartphones in 2021 and had more than 800 million internet users. When smartphone gamers want to upgrade, they consider PC gaming for upgradation. Branded gaming PC category has also been witnessing strong double-digit growth over the last few years. Hence, digital adoption is definitely helping the Indian gaming sector.

India is now (in 2022) home to over 433 million online gamers. It is not surprising considering the rapid surge in Internet usage we have witnessed since the advent of 4G. Currently, the country has around 850 million internet users actively engaging with different forms of digital technologies. The growing awareness of the latest trends like AI, Cloud, analytics, AR/VR, blockchain, and others has helped Indian youth explore new avenues on Internet, and gaming is one of them. 

Not just entertainment, gaming is evolving as a professional sports item thanks to the recognition eSports gained as a game in popular sports tournaments in recent years. Apart from eSports, casual games and real money games are also growing at an unprecedented level. Online gaming has become highly dynamic and is getting fiercely competitive with the launch of new games with more sophistication and complex gaming scenarios.  

Moreover, the latest advancements in new-age device technologies have largely contributed to the growth of gaming in India. Today’s high-end processors are designed to meet the requirements of intensive gaming. There have been significant upgrades in the display, RAM, and battery performance, which all led to an improved gaming experience. With India’s smartphone user base estimated to touch 1 billion by 2026, India has the potential to emerge as the world leader in gaming.  

Vishwalok Nath, Director, Esports Premier League & World Esports Cup

Digital adoption is the cornerstone of the Indian gaming sector as gaming requires some amount of access to the latest technology. This includes modern smartphones, access to the internet to be exposed to popular gaming titles, and esports tournaments like ESports Premier League (ESPL), and World Esports Cup (WEC). The adoption has accelerated the rise of the gaming sector by ensuring that both gamers, as well as game developers, have access to the latest innovations and technology to play and create the necessary platforms, respectively. The rapid adoption and democratization of the internet after the launch of Reliance Jio served as a major catalyst to the current boom in the sector.

The launch of 5G in India, and the penetration of high-speed internet in rural India will make online gaming more accessible across the country. More digital adoption both in terms of increased penetration of existing technologies, and creation and adoption of new digital & technological advancements like VR, metaverse, 5G, and new age platforms, would all contribute to the sector. It’s a cycle that is spurred by digital adoption. Increased digital advancements lead to more gamers that leads to more audience, which leads to more brands & organisations coming up for gaming, more tournaments coming up, and investment flowing into the sector— leading to more digital adoption and advancements — this makes the sector attractive and new gamers come in. The cycle continues, and digital adoption is a silent foundation of this growth.

By Ashok Pandey

ashokpa@cybermedia.co.in