These days, gaming has thrived to become a $120 billion industry. And thanks to technological advancements, gaming has spread from desktop devices to smartphones, further increasing its popularity. While many still think of the US as the most developed market for gaming, there’s another country growing strongly: India.
India now has 30 crore gamers
With a population of 1.3 billion, 50 percent of Indians are young people under 25 years old. The country is shaping up quickly to become the next gaming epicenter of the world. In India, there are 30 crore gamers, who make up 43 percent revenue growth of the global industry. However, that’s not the only impressive thing about the Indian gaming industry, here are four lesser-known facts about this fast-growing country.
Mobile gaming is the most developed sector
You cannot access the gaming world in India by skipping mobile gaming. Mobile games account for up to 40 percent of the global gaming revenue, and in India, this proportion is 85 percent. The reason behind this cheap data along with increasing smartphone use. With 62.8 crore users, Indian has the second most smartphone users in the world, after China.
eSports is growing
Apart from mobile gaming, eSports is another major maker driver in the gaming industry in India. The country is now the world’s largest market for eSports games like LOL and PUBG, especially with PUBG developers deciding to open a Mumbai-based office in January 2020.
Not just that, eSport is so popular that online bookmakers like Comeon even offers the latest odds on tournaments for Indians, such as the FIFA eSports Liga. Betting in eSports is huge in India.
There are more and more home-grown developers
As of now, there is an estimate of 275 full-fledged development studios operating in India, as opposed to 25 studios in 2010. One of the biggest names is 99 Games, the developer of Dhoom:3 – the most downloaded game ever in India, and Star Chef – the highest-grossing game in the country. Other major studios are CreatioSoft, Nazaro Technologies, and Dream11.
India is an investor magnet
The growth of India’s gaming industry has caught the attention of international investors as well as gaming titans. They have set up shops in the country, such as Ubisoft with two offices in Mumbai and Pune. At the same time, Rockstar Games have opened a big office in Bengaluru, employing over 500 people. Besides, Youzu Interactive and Tencent have also invested tens of millions of dollars into local game development.
The future of India’s gaming industry looks really bright, we look forward to seeing more and more development in the coming time.
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