Growth of the Indian Gaming Industry
Sports
Did you know?
The highest selling media title in the world is a video game; Grand Theft Auto V which has fetched $6 billion alone!
Gaming has recently slipped into the spotlight, being featured in the news for its massive prize pools, huge viewership numbers and a plethora of investments made by popular celebrities and investors.
And while gaming is the “new kid on the block” for most Boomers & Gen X folk, the gaming industry is actually decades old and its size can only be described as enormous. So what is the current state of the gaming industry?
Global
The revenue from gaming, globally, is currently worth an estimated $159 billion and projected to grow year-on-year at 9%. This dwarfs the revenue from traditional media industries like Box Office and Recorded Music which stand at $43 billion & $19 billion respectively. The Indian gaming industry is still in its early stages and is estimated to be worth just over $1 billion.
India
Despite its relatively small size, gaming in India is growing rapidly at a meteoric pace of 24% YoY. With mobile gaming leading the charge, spends per mobile gamer grew by 75% between 2017–19. In the last 6 years, more than $350 million has been invested into India’s gaming industry. Let’s take a look at the factors driving this growth.
1. Internet Cost & Consumption
Data prices in India are very cheap as compared to the rest of the world, with an average India paying only 3% of the world’s average to consume 1 GB of data
Cheap data price has fuelled increases in internet consumption which grew 5,600% from 2014–2018.
2. Smartphone Penetration
Through technological advances, good phones have gotten cheap and cheap phones have gotten good. India is projected to have 859 million smartphone users by 2022 and data shows that at least 60% of all smartphone users are gamers, which would put Indian mobile gamers at over 500 million.
3. Largest Population Under 25
The key demographic for gaming, and especially, mobile gaming has been the youth population, with 55% of casual gamers and 66% of heavy gamers being in the under 25 age demographic. India has the world’s largest young population over 600 million people below 25 year of age.
Support from Stakeholder
In conclusion, the gaming industry has seen astronomic growth in India and the country is poised to become one of the top investment destinations for organisations across the world. However, if India truly wants to become an international gaming powerhouse, we need support from all stakeholders — whether it’s the government or the parents of an aspiring pro-gamer.
Focus on PC and console gaming
Furthermore, mobile gaming very much dominates the space in India whereas maximum commercial opportunities lie in PC & console gaming. As India’s economy grows, more people would be able to afford gaming consoles and high-end PCs, which is necessary for sustainable growth of the industry.