Mumbai: India’s gaming market is set to grow three times in the next five years and become $ seven billion in FY2026, said Lumikai and Redseer in their latest report – ‘India Gaming Report 2021.’
While in-app purchases remain the fastest-growing revenue stream of the market with an increasing number of paid users, their growing propensity to pay is driving the growth. According to the report, paid gamers in India are set to touch 235 million in 2025, from 80 million gamers in 2020 which will drive the growth of paid gamers.
Real-money games are the largest source of revenue for the market, but IAPs will grow faster for the next five years at 30-40 per cent with the rise of paying users in casual and hyper-casual gaming. Further, non-RMG gaming segments are expected to grow faster than the market growth rate, with eSports and streaming are expected to grow at 40-45 per cent CAGR for the next five years.
"We at Infinix are dedicated to providing the best gaming experience to our customers with our value driven product offerings. To empower gamers and make gaming-focused smartphones available for everyone, even for those from the remotest areas of the nation, we have been focusing on R&D like never before and are constantly trying to improve ourselves with each product that we bring to the market," stated Infinix CEO Anish Kapoor. "Our indigenous DarLink game-boost technology is just one example of our efforts in this direction. With this partnership, we aim to open doors and give new opportunities to the growing gaming talent in India. We are confident that Indian players will not only win but will also encourage the Indian gaming pool in a global platform like WEC."
An average gamer spends $16-a-year on gaming, and it takes around one week to start paying to play games, as per the report.
Apart from the increasing maturity of gamers and their propensity to pay, gamers are embracing the trend of playing “India-first content” games. Over 60 per cent of gamers are willing to play games with an Indian central theme or characters like from mythology or celebrities, showed the report.
“This is an exciting time for the gaming ecosystem in India. Access to gaming is democratised with increasing participation from Tier-2 cities and beyond, gamers are maturing in the way they play different gaming genres, and unprecedented growth in new-paying users (NPU) to drive the overall gaming market to become three-times in the next five years,” said RedSeer engagement manager Mukesh Kumar.
Lumikai Fund general partner Justin Keeling said the inaugural report represents the most in-depth analysis of India's gaming market ever undertaken, and the goal was to face the core assumptions on the true potential of the market.
“What has emerged is a picture of the market that already exceeds preconceived notions around size, growth, sophistication, and most importantly propensity to pay. India’s gaming market is due to three times in value to over $ seven billion by 2025, driven by a healthy diversity of monetisation mechanics that indicate plenty of white spaces for new investment, and massive potential for a new generation of leaders across the gaming value chain. We are excited to continue being at the forefront of India’s gaming investment landscape as the market matures and evolves to the next level,” he added.
