The Indian gaming space is growing with an exponential rise in consumer base and e-commerce solutions in place. The game developing ecosystem is deduced to have ample of opportunities in innovating and providing substantial content with respect to social and cultural context. This will be the key to engaging Indian gamers. The Indian market is prepared to supply various opportunities with the best possibilities of collaboration and development work concerning ‘experience outsourcing’. All this can be achieved by QA testing and developing products paralleled with the availability of creative talent, advanced technology, and low-cost investment.
Along with one of the world’s largest youth population, India is on the verge of becoming one of the frontrunners in the global gaming market. Being currently valued at $890 Million, the Indian gaming field is expected to grow at the annual growth rate of 14.3%. With the mobile gaming taking the lead at 71% share, the growth is propelled by a rise in the population of the youth, higher disposable incomes, introduction of new gaming genres, and increasing users of smartphones and tablets.
Gaming Sector in India
Games based on famous events like Kaun Banega Crorepati, IPL, Khel Kabbadi, and T20fever.com, etc. are becoming a trending source of entertainment amongst the youth. As the indigenous factor, that comes with it is motivating the people to experience and enjoy these games to heart’s content. Also, the arcade form of games is one of the most prominent genres followed by racing and puzzle games. Since there are 95% mobile-centric games, the growing focus has been turned towards the ‘kids’ genre as it has been observed that the millennial kids these days have become very tech-savvy. One of the popular media of accessing games has been various game parlors and cyber cafes for the children and adults too. The cyber cafe market currently has been estimated to be around 3000 in number, out of which 1500 have more than five proper equipment providing real gaming experience. As long as user penetration is considered, especially in mobile gaming; it is speculated to be at 19.9% in 2018 and is in hope of rising to 26% in 2022. The revenue generation in the mobile gaming segment is calculated to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2018-2022) at 9.8%, leading in the market value of $943 Million in 2022.
There are a lot of advantages in India for the gaming industry to be booming and reaching to the top level. Having the second largest internet population enables huge skilled IT, Testing, and Arts personnel with the availability of creative talent across the nation. Moreover, the rise in world-class infrastructure along with technological advancements provides scope for investments in the sector. The presence of huge development facilities such as Microsoft, Nvidia, Zynga, UbiSoft, Electronic Arts, Playdom, Digital Chocolate, Sony and Disney validates the Indian gaming industry in a manner that provides a bedrock for the field.
Online Gaming
The digital gaming segment is here to stay in India. It has been booming with a hunger for more user base in the online gaming zone. No wonder the online gaming space in India has a bright future in 2019 and ahead. With its tremendous growth realized by the gaming enthusiasts having good disposable incomes, the ecosystem has been paying astute attention and that is the reason many gaming start-ups are rising up concurrently.
The Indian online gaming industry is estimated to generate revenue of INR 11,900 crores by the end of 2023. Growing at 22% CAGR and a market share of 85%, mobile phones are registered as a heavy contributor in this space and relevant revenue generation in India. Whereas, the computers and tablets have amounted to only 11.04% of the market share.
One of the prominent factors now in online gaming is the format through which the efforts in attracting the users becomes crucial. It transforms the patterns of playing games from prior arrangements to a newer method. The latest gaming formats possess an incredible potential for game developers and graphic designers to initiate the application of cutting-edge technology in the gaming production phase in order to accelerate the overall industrial growth process. They are capable of changing the entertainment zone which is now shifting from televisions to smartphones and tablets.
Another one of the factors on the growth spree is Fantasy Sports Segment in the online platform. It is a type of online game where different users are present forming teams in real-time and conduct it as a professional sport. Although the teams are virtual, the competition is taken very seriously as the game is based on the statistical performance of the actual players in a real-time environment. There has been a seven-fold increase in the number of fantasy sports enablers in the country since 2016. The growth rate from then has been recorded as more than seventy operators in 2018. The major big-league players in this segment are Dream 11, MyTeam11, 11Wickets, StarPick, and Fantain. Dream 11 is considered to be having the largest user base namely fifty billion as of February 2019.Â
AI & VR
One of the biggest trends in the gaming space today is Artificial Intelligence (AI). Information Technology is widely available everywhere, it has lowered the barriers not only in gaming but across various domains. Artificial intelligence is a great example depicting the change in the gaming industry and its evolution. AI-enabled games has been particularly enhancing the experience via the personalization of gameplay. The use of big data along with machine learning has been making the difference all this time. The game creators are getting more insights on players’ behaviour while learning to play and their specific tastes and preferences when it comes to character design and profile. AI-enhanced systems are helping the creators in adjusting the video games according to the skills and difficulty levels as per the players’ performance on the go. The collection of real-time data on players is making them understand the most preferred style to a particular game and this has been very beneficial in improving the game’s reactive power. When it comes to AI, the most important thing has been to maintain the balance which requires coordinated efforts. To streamline things, the big players in the league are taking this thing very seriously. They are proposing a set of governing policies to ensure that the efforts which need to be taken are made on every level, i.e – right from the collection of data to the development of the new models. When the decisions are made on every level, they need to be managed on every level as well.
If we consider Virtual Reality (VR), it is not confined to just mobiles or smartphones. It has a huge scope in PCs as well as home consoles. VR is not applicable to each and every game as it consumes a lot of space digitally and sometimes physically according to its hardware requirements. In terms of specifications, the smartphones are matching any given PC peripherals and it can be said that the world will get to see more of these games making headlines. Along with their applicability in devices on hand, it’s not just limited to Xbox and PS4 any more. Now, these types of games can be recognized as Real World Games. The whole experience in VR builds a world around the player and the gameplay becomes relatable. The customizable colors, size of the objects and textures of the frame in VR speaks and connects to the player to a new digital space altogether.
Gaming on SmartphonesÂ
Accessibility in playing games was difficult before. The whole process included the installation of games on consoles or desktop computers. From two decades though online gaming has been revered due to its user-friendly approach. With the increased usage of smartphones, online games are becoming easily available to download with lots of new platforms rising to deliver an eventful gaming experience on the go. Also, downloading the games has been user-friendly activity nowadays due to the availability of Wi-Fi and mobile data networks from anywhere. Therefore, it won’t be wrong to say that the emergence of smartphones has only led to the expansion of the gaming industry in a smart and swift manner. It has changed our surroundings into virtual and digital playgrounds everywhere.
The dynamics of the gaming industry is estimated to capture new horizons. This entitles to growth opportunities for the youth of the country and the adoption of technological advancements. All the more reasons for the new avenues to open up for game streamers, game developers and professional e-sports players. It can be said that the extraordinarily good era for millennial gamers has just begun!
– Darshan Parmar
