How online gaming sector has become the new sunrise sector in India and grew in the pandemic

A friend of mine met the famous actor Govinda at an airport many years ago. The star was wearing his sunglasses inside the terminal. In the vein of being bold and playful, my friend went up to Govinda and asked why he was wearing sunglasses where there was no sun to be seen. Pat came to his reply, “… because my future is very bright!” Personally, I’m very impressed that Govinda knew about ZZ Top’s famous song but to extend the analogy, gaming is wearing the afore-referenced sunglasses and it ain’t coming off anytime soon!

The pandemic lockdown has been a major, positive catalyst for the gaming sector in India. According to the latest FICCI-EY report on media & entertainment, online gaming grew 18% to hit Rs. 77 billion in 2020 and gamers grew from 300 million in 2019 to 360 million in 2020 and forecasts that this segment will grow to Rs. 155 billion by 2023. With digital adoption galloping upwards overnight, phones/ tablets and laptops being the destinations for social interactions and the need to engage and entertain oneself being the need of the hour, gaming is where it’s at!

Kartikeya Rao, CEO, WowChess

The beauty with gaming in India is that the most popular games are across different genres so there is widespread interest. Big esports titles like CS: GO and Call of Duty, casual games based on sports like FIFA and 8-ball pool, a slew of hyper-casual titles, games of skill like poker and chess, and traditional games like ludo. There is something for everyone, clearly!

A big universe which has been growing and which is one of the big reasons why social gaming is becoming the new thing is the growth of the creator economy. Creators who stream as they play and entertain their audiences is something unheard till a couple of years ago but in the pandemic, such shout casters have amassed huge followings.

Take chess, for example Former world champion in blitz chess and world number 2, Hikaru Nakamura, was regularly streaming on Twitch but his following went crazy during the pandemic and he ended up signing up with one of the world’s largest esports teams.

Popular chess players, Alexandra and Andrea Botez from Texas, USA started streaming on Twitch in 2016. They project their earnings US$500,000 this year! Closer home, International Master, Tania Sachdeva has got a steady, growing following. The Netflix show, The Queen’s Gambit, was an unexpected hit and boosted engagement and following for chess.

The creator economy ensures that there is something for everyone, however, niche, and creators can earn off it so it isn’t a hobby or past time anymore. Platforms like WowChess encourage players to play casually or with an entry ticket & win prizes, to stream or create content and form cohorts to play new gameplay formats, essentially, empowered to consume chess how they want to.

In India, online gaming is largely played on mobile phones. Thanks to Jio and well-priced and specced handsets, anyone can play PUBG (before it was banned), word games, skill-based games with money anytime, anywhere and with anyone! And most gaming companies have an app-first approach to address this large market.

As this industry continues to develop, there are some clear hot pockets of activity. Fantasy sport has become a huge crowd-puller and despite the fact that sporting events had got cancelled in 2020, it still grew at 24% as per the FICCI-EY report. Esports is another rapidly growing part of gaming. This same report mentions that esports saw a 90% growth in the number of people playing esports and a 100% growth in followers.

As more players, games, sponsors, creators, and viewers get involved in gaming, it is necessary that we have a national regulatory body to address legalities and policy around online gaming. It is a vast, complex, and dynamic space that requires all stakeholders to have a voice as opposed to dealing with matters at a state level. This will ensure inclusion and innovation while fulfilling the potential that online gaming clearly has. No time to remove those sunglasses for a long time!

Authored: Kartikeya Rao, CEO, WowChess