Decoding the future of the Indian Gaming landscape and what to expect in the coming few years!

Did you hear about the biggest deal that ever happened in the gaming industry, a few days back? No? Take Two Interactive - The company that made games like NBA 2k and Grand Theft Auto (Yeah, your typical GTA) has acquired Zynga Inc. for $12.7 billion.

How much is that in rupees? Well, it’s a little over 9,400 crore rupees, ONLY!

Now that we are into 2022, we can just marvel at the rapid growth of digital gaming in India that peaked over the last 2 years during the pandemic. And while the gaming market might look quite flourishing, the numbers were quite low, prior to the lockdown. Can you believe that?

Now, it was during this time that many people around the nation not only leaned towards the concept of video gaming but also realized that they could make a decent livelihood from it.

If the majority of predictions from the last year are to be believed, India's esports economy will develop even rapidly in the succeeding years.

According to recent research done by Mobile Premier League (MPL) - an e-sports and professional gaming ecosystem company, India's Tier-3 towns and cities have seen a substantial increase in the number of online gamers in 2021, in comparison to 2020. And, the leading 30 of these cities and towns contributed up to 170% additional players. Some tiny cities have experienced a 100% to 200% increase in online gamers.

As a result of this enormous spike, a new wave (Not COVID!) of influencers has emerged, with large numbers of devoted fan-following. Five gamers were even among the top Indian content creators on YouTube's recently announced list of top Indian creators. And it's been a while that things have begun to catch fire.

To name a few, you might have already heard of m0rtal, MythPat, Live Insaan, and even Tanmay Bhat, for that matter!

Where does all this revenue come from?

Mobile Gaming is also the country's major and fastest-growing market. It has a large user base by default. All you'll need is a decent smartphone or tablet to get started. This sector has a lot of scope since the globe has a lot of smartphone users – 3.9 billion as of 2021 — who are eager to spend money on mobile games.

In 2021, Apple generated $85.1 billion from app store purchases, and gaming applications accounted for 70% of all app store income. And less than 10% of all app store customers were responsible for 70% of this money. So it's a limited group of folks that are willing to spend the large bucks.

Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners India, AngelList, Lumikai, and Kalaari Capital were among the major investors, according to Tracxn.

In terms of gaming businesses, MPL received unicorn standing after raising $150 million from a group of investors that included Pegasus Tech Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Times Internet. Alongside, WinZo (Fantasy Games Platform) received $60 million in a Series C funding session; and NODWIN Gaming and Loco received $22 million and $9 million, respectively.

Individuals began splurging on current games between 2020 and 2021, which was a significant advancement. The predominant belief as per the giants was that after seeing significant growth in terms of involvement and customer base in 2020, it would slow down, but it rather hastened.

The larger the market becomes, the more sharks would the market entice!

The following are some of the beneficial aspects that have aided the rise of esports in 2021:
  • The debut of popular esports games such as BGMI boosted India's esports landscape many degrees further.
  • Amateur players began to view esports events and gaming as a real professional option.
  • Fresh and new esports teams gaining popularity because of events and competitions.
  • Regional businesses have shown a lot of interest in esports by funding and endorsing.
  • Esports competitions are streamed on prominent social media sites such as Twitch, Discord, Facebook, and YouTube.
  • Managers of such esports contests are expressing curiosity towards local esports, also known as gully esports, in order to make it as prominent as gully cricket.
  • Advertisements from celebrities. For instance, Bollywood actor - Rajkumar Rao promoted Garena Free Fire, and the former Indian Cricket skipper - M.S. Dhoni promoted PUBG - Mobile.

How is India making $1.5 billion revenue through gaming YoY?

User expenditures, such as in-app purchases and real-money games, account for more than 80% of the mobile gaming business, which is further fueled by the widespread adoption of advanced smartphones, low-cost internet, and especially UPI Payments.

Inexpensive Internet access and increased smartphone adoption have been the key drivers of development, which accelerated in 2020. Content creation, monetization, and economic affordability are all continually changing in the gaming industry, alongside it.

The Indian video game industry was anticipated to be worth $1.02 billion in 2020 and is projected to grow to $4.88 billion by 2026, with a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 20.83% between 2021 and 2026.

What is the future of businesses in the industry?

India is predicted to emerge as one of the world's major gaming industry locations, with one of the world's largest youth populations. The expanding younger population, increased purchasing power, the entrance of new gaming categories, and the fast-rising number of the smartphone-using population are all driving the country's rise.

So you could expect to see a big boom in the future. However, as the industry expands there will be risks too.

Mishaps on eSports event are always a possibility. Furthermore, there are several ways for these occurrences to go awry. Organizers of eSports events must consider all of the possible protection risks that come with facing huge audiences, and insurance plays an important component in that aspect.

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