No matter how much a common man might underestimate the Indian market, big companies know how big deal that is. Over the past few years, India has undergone a drastic transformation; thanks to digital penetration, better digital payment infrastructure, and higher disposable income.
Buoyed by these factors and easy availability of user data, the online gaming industry is all set to zoom past the $1 billion mark by 2021. Don’t take our word for it. Trust Google.
| In the first half of 2018, the online gaming industry saw 2.8 billion game downloads in India alone. That is more than 10% of the global game downloads in the third quarter of 2018! |
This surge did not happen all of a sudden, especially when the history of online gaming in India dates back to the early 2000s. The craze started with social games like Farmville, Candy Crush and even some online casino games like voodoodreams, and soon the app distribution platforms were inundated with GPU intensive games.
The average user, at this time, was still reluctant to pay-to-play models. However, with improved digital payment infrastructure and comparatively more alluring features to unlock, online gaming companies began to generate good revenue.
This happened largely due to the Freemium model and in-app purchases that allow users to get a sneak-peak into the game, get a taste of it, and then pay at will to gain access to advanced features or characters.
This clicked with the Indian audience since the newer models offered a greater degree of freedom and allowed users to gain access to basic features without paying for them upfront.
The Online Gaming Ecosystem in India
The availability of low-cost smartphones has contributed significantly in the proliferation of online game industry in India. Add to that ever-improving internet connectivity and cheap data packages, and you can expect the Indian gaming market to go berserk in the years to come.
The success of the online gaming industry can be attributed quite a lot to the customization for Indian audiences. Over the past couple of years, apps related to locally-popular games, such as cricket, teen patti, and rummy have gained popularity among Indian gamers. Now that users are able to even win real money playing their favorite games, there is no dearth to the monetization opportunity for both gamers and the developers.
Rich Data Availability Presents Brighter Prospects
The Indian smartphone market is dominated by Android phones. With most smartphones running on Android, Google Play receives a near endless amount of user data and becomes the biggest distribution platform for game developers.
This allows game developers to gain insight into user interests and target gamers effectively with games and offers that stand a higher chance of converting.
As a matter of fact, online gaming is one of the biggest revenue generators for web giants, such as Amazon, Microsoft, and even Google. The rise in technology and growing GDP, backed up increasing content consumption, has provided an impetus to the gaming industry in India. And, trust us, this is just the beginning.
