India is on top of the gaming market

Indian gaming firms are using smart technologies to enhance the playing experience

Over the last few months, India has been making a record in yet another market. It has emerged as the country with the highest number of games downloaded per month in the world. 

According to Sensor Tower research, the No. 1 market for global game mobile downloads was India, which accumulated 761.2 million installs, or approximately 16 per cent of total worldwide downloads in March 2022. Sensor Tower research shows that the United States ranked No. 2 for downloads at 8.7 per cent, followed by Brazil at 7.6 per cent.

India’s is emerging as one of the biggest markets for the gaming industry. The categories of games include mobile, fantasy, augmented reality/virtual reality, consoles and cloud-based. 

Several numbers point in the same direction. India is in the top 5 markets by share of internet users worldwide who play video games on any device as of the third quarter of 2021, according to Statista. There are over 834 million internet users in India. Of these, most play video games on some device or the other. 

It’s not just the size of the market; Indian gaming companies are also using smart technologies to enhance the playing experience. This is especially important in the category of fantasy games. 

“Fantasy Sports is emerging as a key driver for developing future-ready skills in fields such as digital, AI/ ML, cloud, and analytics and has had a multiplier effect on the growth of other ancillary sectors,” says a report by Deloitte and Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports. “India has already made significant strides in Fantasy Sports to become the largest FS market in the world with 200+ Indian operator companies and 13 crore Indian users, surpassing USA’s 50+ year-old Fantasy Sports market.”

Fantasy sports, as defined by the report, “are digital sports engagement platforms, based entirely on real-life sports matches, where users build virtual teams with proxies of real players participating in an upcoming match (or match-day) and compete on real-world statistical performances of these players.” There are already two gaming companies among the unicorns. While Dream Sports leads the field, recently Mobile Premier League has also grown to unicorn status. 

India is not among the top revenue generators for the mobile game market in the world. The average spend by India players is much lower than in other countries. However, it is still seen as a high-potential market from a revenue perspective. 

Revenue in the mobile games segment is projected to reach $3.83bn in 2022. The earnings are expected to show an annual growth rate of 7.01 per cent, leading to a projected market volume of $5.02bn by 2026. In the mobile games segment, the number of users is expected to amount to 243.8m users by 2026, according to Statista research. 

India is in the unique position where nearly all categories of games become most popular in the mobile version. Since the maximum growth of internet users is through mobile access, this is but natural. 

Gaming companies are also making a special effort to bring the latest technologies on mobile versions of games. The market for large screen- and console-based games or headset-based games will also grow along with mobile phones. “The domestic market for online skill gaming is estimated to grow from US$906 million in 2019 to over US$3 billion in 2025. Emerging technologies are being deployed to create new experiences for users and players,” says Roland Landers, CEO of All India Gaming Federation. 

The Indian gaming industry is pushing ahead to ensure that its products dominate the domestic market. Technology will be play a vital in this growth.