Gaming has been steadily on the rise over the past 10 years. Long are the days when this activity was considered for “geeks” or specific layers of consumers. According to various reports, there could be as many as 2.95 billion gamers worldwide with India taking in about 390 million gamers by 2021. India is also the 5th country in the world with the highest number of hours per week playing video games at 6:35am on average.
This phenomenon stems directly from the improvement of internet connections, increased digital literacy and, above all, the massive proliferation of smartphones. This is especially true when looking at India’s internal market.
Indian smartphone population
In recent years, India has grown from a smartphone penetration of 22% in 2017 to 35% in 2021. This means that in four years, the number of smartphone users in the country alone grew by 192 million. As a result, India is now the second largest smartphone market in the world, behind only China, which has more than 950 million smartphone users and a smartphone penetration of 66%.
While these numbers may be surprising, they only tell half the story. Overall, India has surpassed 700 million internet users and currently has one of the highest mobile data consumption in the world. These numbers reflect the country’s immense growth potential and why it has become so attractive to various smartphone manufacturers. As of 2022, Xiaomi will be responsible for 28% of all smartphone sales in the country, which means that the brand has a higher implementation in the South Asian country than in the domestic market, China.
Impact on mobile gaming
Smartphone games and mobile gaming have long dominated the global gaming market. Data from 2020 shows that mobile games account for 40% of global gaming revenue, bringing in $86.3 billion on their own. These huge numbers have had a direct impact on several gaming segments, which have benefited immensely from this new wave of mobile players.
The online casino industry is an example of this. This emerging company has increased the number of active players and has become very competitive with platforms trying to outdo their rivals by offering better exclusive offers, bonuses, free spins and welcome gifts to attract more players. As a result, players can now access guides to the best real money mobile casinos and decide which offers are best for them. Sites like this now describe payout percentages, as well as additional information to help players find the best casinos.
But that’s not all: more conventional types of games, such as puzzles, first-person shooters, and battle royale shooters, have also become increasingly popular. For example, the Indian market is responsible for 25% of all PUBG downloads, with 50 million active users per month. To get a better sense of how much the industry is growing, we just need to look at recent reports claiming that gaming is now growing faster than social media. This has also brought great benefits to Indian games, including Ludo King, MPL and Dream 11, which have crossed the 100 million download mark.
console gaming
Now that users are offered enhanced gaming experiences on their mobile phones, they no longer need to purchase specific hardware (consoles) to play some of their favorite titles. Still, data on the video game console market indicates that this segment has an expected annual growth rate of 10% from 2022 to 2026. As of 2022, this segment is also valued at $13.41 billion. PlayStation dominates the market and has shown steady growth in its dominance since September last year. The growth in this gaming segment has also been helped by the recent rise of Esports in the country. Esports has been declared an official sport by the Indian Olympic Association, with an expected number of players of one million by 2022.
While India’s video game publishing industry is still largely considered underdeveloped, local game studios have registered a significant increase from 15 in 2009 to 275 in 2021. In addition, international studios of major powers have opened offices in the country to try and market their brands. this still growing market.
Next steps
While India certainly has an immense internal market that is expected to continue to grow as demand also increases, complementing this growth with further investment in the development of a game publishing company is essential. In addition, India could have the resources to expand its industry to compete with other Asian countries, including Japan and China.
To do this, India needs to focus on education and attract talent that can help shape what could be one of the largest gaming industries in the world.
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