ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Why is India’s Gaming Industry Growing so Quickly?
India’s gaming industry is not as old compared to other countries.
The first game ever developed in India was Hanuman: Boy Warrior, created in 2009 for the PlayStation 2.
However, the game received immediate backlash for its inclusion of a Hindu deity within a game environment, threatening to destroy the country’s gaming industry before it had even started.
But it didn’t and gaming in the country continued to grow and in 2022, there are 275 game studios compared to 15 when it started.
With a predicted value of Rs. 20,000 Crore (£1.9 billion) by 2025, we look at India’s gaming industry and why it is growing so quickly.
When did the Growth Start?
When Home PCs were first introduced, they were marketed as the perfect way to browse the internet, educate and even work from home, as unpopular as it was during that time.
They became incredibly widespread throughout India as a way to educate children and promote a higher-paying career.
This is highlighted in some of India’s most popular careers such as software developer and engineer.
Video games can be installed on PCs and this is how Indians were introduced to titles such as Doom and Counterstrike.
But what made games so widespread was the prominence of piracy in the country.
This allowed people to acquire games and devices – possibly outdated by a few years – for a fraction of the price they were originally being sold for.
As technology developed, more impressive consoles were released.
The PlayStation 2 is one of the most popular gaming consoles in India, having sold 900,000 units before being discontinued in 2013.
During that year, the gaming industry in India had a growth rate of 30%.
The domestic gaming industry is predicted to create 10,000 – 12,000 direct and indirect jobs by 2023.
Mobile Gaming
Mobile gaming has also become incredibly popular across the country.
India’s mobile gaming industry alone is worth Rs. 150 Crore (£14 million) and makes up 86% of the country’s gaming.
Mobile gaming is popular as it allows people to play on the go, whether on the train or having lunch. It can be played whenever and wherever someone wants.
It also features popular traditional card games such as Teen Patti and Andar Bahar, appealing to wider, and possibly older audiences.
Among Indian gamers, nearly 48% spend money on mid-core games. In addition to this, 65% of gamers claim they have engaged in in-app purchases at least once.
Gaming Boom during Covid-19
During 2020, when Covid-19 spread across the globe, the gaming industry boomed, with India accounting for 17% of global mobile game downloads.
It was the highest of any country in the world, with 7.3 billion installed games in September 2020.
The total number of online gamers in the country also grew by 30 million between 2020 and 2021. It is expected to cross 450 million by 2023.
This is backed up by gaming platforms such as Google Play and Apple App Store, which recorded a 50% increase in engagement during the lockdown.
Furthermore, a report made by BARC and Nielson revealed that Indians now spend an average of 218 minutes gaming compared to 151 minutes before the lockdown.
Released by Lumikai, the ‘India Gaming Report FY 2022’ predicts a fast-growing gaming market with improving user engagement stats and booming investments.
India’s gaming market, which stood at £2.1 billion in 2022, is expected to grow at 17% per year to reach £6.9 billion by 2027. The revenue source is likely to move from RMG (real money games), where users play to earn, to in-app purchases, a category growing at 34% annually.
Sharing his thoughts on the report, Justin Shriram Keeling, founding general partner of Lumikai, said:
“India’s gaming industry this year hit major inflexion points, registering strong growth across the board.”
“India crossed half a billion gamers in FY22, up from 450 million the year prior.
“Industry growth is expected to be fueled by a rapidly increasing gamer base, higher conversion to paid users, and increasing sophistication of Indian gamers.”
However, the line between in-app purchases, and gambling has caused concern within the gaming industry.
During lockdown, the online gambling market grew by 40%.
Since 2021, the Indian gambling market has grown 37% and may reach £4 billion by the end of 2022.
Even though gambling laws in India are quite strict, they do not mention online gambling, as many were made pre-internet and not amended.
Online gambling can also be argued to be a form of online gaming, making it difficult to legislate.
This has created a legal loophole where people can gamble at foreign casinos, legally.
The government has called for regulation, but in 2022, there is no law that explicitly states what online gambling is, and if it is illegal.
Regardless, the gaming industry continues to grow rapidly.
Foreign Investment
This growth of India’s gaming industry has also attracted many foreign investors and companies.
For example, British video games developer Sumo Digital first expanded into India in 2007. It developed further in 2021.
While Sumo Digital mainly outsources to other companies, they have worked on large AAA titles such as Sonic Team Racing, Hitman 2 and Sackboy: A Big Adventure.
This does not mean that India doesn’t create hit games of its own.
Raji: An Ancient Epic is an Indian action-adventure video game developed by Nodding Heads Games in 2021.
The game originally launched on the Nintendo Switch in August 2020, followed by PC, PS4 and Xbox One two months later in October.
It won two awards at the Taipei Game Awards 2021 and was also nominated at The Game Awards 2020 for ‘Best Debut’, which was the first time an Indian game had been nominated.
Heavily inspired by Hindu mythology, the game is styled in the form of Pahari paintings and follows Raji, a girl determined to save her brother after he is kidnapped by demons.
Have attitudes towards Gaming in India changed?
As time passes, generations become more familiar with gaming and its entertainment value.
Over 50% of India’s population is under the age of 25 and this demographic makes up 60% of the nation’s gamers.
This shows that while older generations may still dislike gaming, that will certainly change as time goes on.
In an interview with GamesIndustry, game developer Imran Khan Kaki said:
“The future is bright for the Indian games industry. I see more and more kids wanting to get into creating games and make a career out of it.
“I personally think games are a fascinating and lucrative domain to be in, and I foresee good things happening in India for games.”
Views of the gaming industry as a niche market have disappeared as more people see how profitable and adaptable it can be with its multitude of platforms and genres.
All of this has coalesced into a rapidly growing industry, ripe for growth and expansion.
Predicted to be worth Rs. 34,000 Crore (£3.3 billion) by 2027, India’s gaming industry continues to grow at a rapid rate and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
The post Why is India’s Gaming Industry Growing so Quickly? appeared first on DESIblitz.