The Indian Gaming Industry is Poised for Further Growth

As a country with the largest youth population in the world, India is poised to become one of the leading markets in Gaming Industry.The country is embracing  growth is driven by rising younger population, higher disposable incomes, introduction of new gaming genres, and the increasing number of smartphone, gaming consoles and tablet users.

The monetisation is realized by way of revenue streams like in-app purchase or pay per download or subscription service by gamers and in-app advertisement, incentive based advertisement etc. by the ecosystem. Today, monetisation is dominated by advertisers and publishers. 

The  Current Scenario

The Indian gaming industry has a projection of reaching $1.1 bn in 2020 with a projected 628 million online gamers. This rise in popularity is largely due to the increased accessibility of the public to multi-platform dissemination along with a saturated and affordable technology market ensures that smart devices reach even larger sections of society every year. The internet penetration in India is expected to reach 53% of its population by 2021.

Presently, a gamer in India spends an average of 42 minutes a day on gaming consoles. According to a study, online gaming will also be redefined by the digitization of traditional Indian games. Many Indian game developers have been exploring this aspect by creating online games in different local and regional Indian languages as well as creating online versions of traditional card games such as Rummy and Teen Patti. 

The gaming sector in India can be divided into distinct segments - individual gaming, multi-player gaming (both offline and online) and fantasy sports. With the increasing demand for interactive games, gaming companies are using this in their favor and targeting each of these sectors. Indian startups like Mobile Premier League, 2pi interactive, 99Games and Apar Games have been making exceptional contributions to the gaming development markets globally. Virtual-reality gaming is also a fast-evolving vertical in the country with bigwigs like Google and Samsung leading the way in VR penetration in the Indian market. 

The Indian gaming market has recently invited both foreign investment as well as numerous homegrown initiatives.Tencent, a Chinese internet company, having stakes in popular games like League of Legends, Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, is planning to invest in the gaming industry in India.

Youzu, another Chinese company launched the Indian version of their famous strategy games last year. A Vietnam-based gaming studio StomStudio also recently partnered with mobile game developer Gamesbond to create mobile games in India.

The recent introduction of artificial intelligence into gaming is another element  that has excited many. For instance, tech startup Absentia has developed Norah.ai, an AI-powered tool for quickly creating and incorporating all the major elements in a game.

It  generates responsive, adaptive and intelligent behaviors primarily in non-player characters similar to human-like intelligence. It generates variety at each step thereby adding countless number of possibilities to the terrains, 3D models and gameplay environments among others. This kind of technology is simplifying it for game developers to continuously create and innovate on their concepts.

Advantage India

An increasing consumer base and e-commerce solutions in place has boosted the Indian game developer ecosystem. Ample opportunity to innovate and develop compelling content with experienced outsourcing facilities, QA testing and developing products combined with availability of creative talent, advanced technology and low-cost, Indian markets provide the best opportunity for collaboration and development work.

• Large youth and Internet population  - With India having the world’s largest youth population and second-largest internet population it makes the country one of the world’s leading markets in the gaming sector. There are over 22.2 crore gamers in India who spend an average of 42 minutes per day on mobile games.The key driver of market volume was proliferation of low cost smartphones amongst urban and rural population

• Availability of creative and skilled talent - India has no dearth of talent when it comes to programming and animation skills. Huge skills base across IT, Testing and Arts is attracting the top talent in the development and designing disciplines.

• Advanced technology with world class Infrastructure - The presence of big development centres like Microsoft, Nvidia, UbiSoft, Zynga, Electronic Arts, Disney, Playdom, Sony, Digital Chocolate across the country with state of the art development centres gives it the perfect setting for technical strategy and execution of projects from concept to market

Moving Forward

The next phase for this industry should consist of an interactive system of dedicated customers and enthusiastic developers and innovators. A crucial aspect of this would be ensuring that they both work together closely to make India a global destination for video and VR gaming industry through indigenous-themed games. The increasing popularity of gaming will gradually lead to a greater demand for content creators and next-gen innovators in India.

One must keep in mind that long-term global success in the gaming market will happen only when it is accompanied by continued innovation, excellence in graphics and the ability to create quality content for India with locally-adapted themes and languages.