Radikally Different - Our World View

An Overview Of Online Gaming In India

The advent of India’s online gaming industry dates back to the early 2000 s, when console and PC gaming brought several middle-income Indians onto the digital gaming platforms. India has now become a blockbuster story enabled by the rise in Internet penetration and the increase in the smartphone user base. The online gaming market realized impressive volumes with 120 million online gamer(s) and a market value estimated at 44.2 billion Indian rupees in 2018. The key driver of market volume was proliferation of low cost smartphones amongst urban and rural population. The monetization is realized through revenue streams like in-app purchase, pay per download, subscription service etc. by gamer(s) and in-app advertisement, incentive based advertisement etc.

In the future, India is expected to move towards value driven consumption and comprehensive local content development. The industry is expected to gain momentum and reach a market value of 1 billion USD with 310 million online gamer(s) by 2021. This 28% CAGR growth will be driven by

• Rising Disposable Income
• Youthful demographics
• Affordable new Technologies
• Localized content
• Internet Penetration
• Smartphone Penetration
• Ability for masses to make Digital Payment
• Growing local Developer ecosystem

The key driver of market volume was proliferation of low cost smartphones amongst urban and rural population. 75 percent of the market is dominated by entry-level or sub-INR 10,000 smartphones.

As compared to 31 per cent today, the internet penetration is expected to reach 53 per cent of population by 2021. The smartphone users, projected to be 470 million by 2021, are expected to enable this rise in internet penetration. The availability of affordable smartphones is expected to prompt a shift from the current feature phone users to smartphones.

The surge in volumes of mobile internet users is likely to be complemented by a five times rise in data consumption and 1.6 times increase in disposable income of our country. Hence, the market is expected to be enhanced with young population, high internet volumes, engaged online users and improved paying propensity by 2021.

With background of such developments, the industry is expected to gain momentum and reach a market value of USD one billion and 310 million online gamer(s) by 2021. This growth is expected to be further supported by the comprehensive rise in digital payment user base, launch of new technologies at affordable rates, increase in local developer base and focus on development of content with local themes, Indian languages and global standards.

If the game bug has bitten you and you are wondering whether it is the right time to start your first game, we feel this is as good as it gets. While there will be many opportunities opening up in the future, the proverbial saying that the early bird catches the worm always holds true.