The gaming industry in India has exploded over the last handful of years. Where once it was an afterthought for console producers and even PC gaming companies, now, India is a most coveted market. This is largely down to the advent of the smartphone, the growing reliance on these devices in everyday life, and the subsequent ease of access to free and competitive forms of gaming through the app stores.
Continuing to gain momentum, 2024 saw a 20 per cent uptick in revenue, with the average revenue per paying user surging 15 per cent to $22, according to this report from Inc42 Resources. With the government backing the industry via its Startup India and Digital India Programme, the industry will only continue to build from within, and without now that overseas parties are actively working to improve gaming standards in India.
Building Better Options, from Live Casino to Premium Devices
Gaming operators are now going all-in on delivering the best possible experiences to Indian gamers. Being such a vast market, the number of premium players is significant, even if not the largest portion. Thanks to the increase in premium devices, too, more expansive and tech-forward gaming options have now risen to the fore.
A prime example of this is the Casino Days casino live dealer suite. Using a live stream, players can enter the game and see it being played out in real-time. While doing this, players can bet on classic table games card games, and even partake in TV show experiences. Everything that happens live in the studio with the professional croupiers is seen and can be bet on by the players. Live casino gaming has grown alongside the increase in smartphone quality, internet penetration, and streaming adoption as a whole.
After all, there are said to be some 547 million paid subscribers to streaming platforms, while over 900,000 people in India reportedly use the live-streaming platform Twitch. YouTube is also wildly popular, sporting over 450 million users in India. Seeing the demand increase for top-class smartphones to appease these entertainment demands, the smartphone maker Xiaomi has pivoted from quality to quantity in the market.
Old Standbys Continue to Rule the Charts
The Indian gaming industry is flying, but a lot of the growth and increases in spending is funnelled into a select few mobile titles. As it goes, many of these titles are ones that the Indian government has either banned before and seen a return in a new form or have threatened to ban multiple times. This was the case with Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), which returned as Battlegrounds Mobile India, and the Free Fire battle royale app.
What was Garena Free Fire is now Free Fire MAX, and alongside Battlegrounds, it continually stands atop the top-grossing charts for Android mobile games in India. On iOS, Free Fire doesn’t have a footprint, allowing the smash-hit AR monster-catching game to nestle in at number two. Under Free Fire and Battlegrounds on the dominant Android system, there’s slot-based app Coin Master, Candy Crush Saga, and eFoootball.
All of these games are made overseas but at least two of them have been strong-armed into being more tailor-made for the audience in India. Still, the growing, ever-popular scene has encouraged local talents to start making more localised games. Arjuna Studios, Dunali Games, Niku Games, ReDimension Games, and Shura Games are all indie studios looking to develop the market further with better localisation, links to the culture, introducing high-class narrative games to the mobile space, and, of course, weighing into the eSports scene.
Gaming in India is flying right now, and as more local developers rise to the fore, it’ll only become a bigger and more enticing space for smartphone users. As the superior devices become more widely available, there’ll be even more potential for even better games.
