MxMIndia

Tag: Gaming

  • Presenting the executive summary of a KPMG-Google overview of online gaming market in India

    Khelo, India, Khelo!

     

    Republished from a KPMG-Google report on online gaming titled ‘Online Gaming in India: Reaching a new pinnacle’

     

    The advent of India’s online gaming industry can be dated back to 2000s, when console and PC gaming brought several middle-income group Indians on digital gaming platforms. During mid 2000s, online gaming was largely in the form of social games. This adoption was facilitated primarily through global games by international developers. Indian development ecosystem acted primarily as service providers for international developers. Since then, India has been a volume based story enabled by rise in internet penetration and increase in smartphone user base.

     

    Online gaming market realised impressive volumes with 120 million online gamer(s) and market value estimated at ~ 290 million USD in 2016. The key driver of market volume was proliferation of low cost smartphones amongst urban and rural population. The monetisation is realized through revenue streams like in-app purchase, pay per download, subscription service etc. by gamer(s) and in-app advertisement, incentive based advertisement etc. by ecosystem. Today, monetisation is dominated by advertisers and publishers.

     

    However, challenges like limited local games development and monetisation of gamer(s) are still restraining the high potential. In recent years, local internet ecosystem has initiated the course correction by end to end local game development and adoption of digital payment solutions.

     

     

    The online gaming consumers market, characterised by large volumes, is rising fast in terms usage and monetisation. The local development is characterised by highly skilled manpower and expertise.

     

    In the future, India is expected to move towards value driving consumption and comprehensive local development. The industry is expected to gain momentum and reach a market value of 1 billion USD and ~310 million online gamer(s) by 2021. This ~28% CAGR growth will be driven by:

     

  • From keyboard to keypad, it’s a quiet little revolution

    The Anchor: 5 reasons mobile games will take over from PC games

    By Deepak Abbot

     

    #1 Mobility: One of the major reasons for mobile games to take over is the ease of accessibility. You don’t need to depend on a computer to provide entertainment. Mobile games offer you engagement on-the-go and instantly. So, while you are travelling or commuting you can still play games on your mobile unlike PCs.

     

    #2 Reach: The reach of a mobile phone is far better than that of computers. Owning a mobile phone is a common trend because of the range in terms of price. Not everybody owns a PC. Therefore, the reach of mobile games because of accessibility is much better.

     

    #3 Cost-effectiveness: India is a very price-sensitive nation. PCs are still a niche market. They are not present in every household. Whereas a mobile game comes for as cheap as Rs 5 a game, and with the current ad wrap models most popular games are available free to the consumer. This is not the case with PCs.

     

    #4 Content type: The content available on mobile phones is very snappy and snacky. Gamers have a variety of options to choose from. Also, the games available on mobile are easy to use and do not require the user to be very tech-savvy.

     

    #5 Internet and technology explosion: With the current 3G and 4G boom, everything that you could once access on PCs or laptops can now be accessed on one’s mobile. Also, with technology being on an all-time rise, the handset and smart device rates have become extremely affordable.

     

    Deepak Abbot is Head – Product, Reliance Entertainment Digital

     

  • The slow death of console gaming and growing dominance of mobile gaming was among the issues discussed at the session on Gaming.

    @FF12: ‘Console gaming in India is in big trouble’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Console gaming today has become only an urban phenomenon, in the small towns it is the mobiles which has become a primary source of entertainment. Women too in large numbers are exploring gaming and access to mobile gaming in India is expected to further increase. In a country like India, content needs to be contextually and culturally relevant. These were some of the points raised at the Day 2 session of FICCI Frames 2012 – ‘From East to West: The Next Big Thing in Gaming.’

     

    This session was moderated by Mr Rajesh Rao, Founder and CEO, Dhruva Interactive. The panel members included, Mr Jithin Rao, Producer with Ubisoft; Mr Ray Sharma, Founder and CEO, XMG Studio Inc;  Mr Howard Donaldson, President, DigiBC; Mr Vishal Gondal, Founder and CEO IndiaGames; and Mr Ninad Chhaya, COO, Playcaso.

     

    One of the heated topic during this session was the slow death of console gaming and how mobile gaming will play a dominant role. Unlike Mr Ray who strongly believed that the Console market was in deep trouble and that there is a massive value shift happening from console to mobile gaming, his co-panelists Mr Jithin Rao and Mr Howard Donaldson believed that console gaming was here to stay and could still play a dominant role in the Country. “I don’t see the console market going away, it may still have a dominant presence despite the ongoing digital revolution” said Mr Donaldson. Mr Rao of Ubisoft said, “I don’t see console gaming going away even in the next five years because there are still hard core gamers in India. In fact we believe that every platform has its own experience to share with the consumer whether it is big screen or small.”

     

    Another interesting points raised during the session was the importance of mobile in the rapid growth of gaming in India. According to Mr Chhaya, “The change has been that phones are getting smarter. Consoles have become more of an urban phenomenon but, in smaller towns it is the mobile phones which have become major source of entertainment. The people in small towns are fast adapting to mobile internet. Internet on access through mobile is fast growing and the change which has come is that people have not only become more aware but, the fact that the apps system has also changed the entire environment. I would say for the better.”

     

    Mr Gondal observed, “Even women are exploring gaming in a big way. We are expecting four to five million Indians accessing Internet from mobile and expecting atleast 50 per cent of them playing games. In a market like India, local IP will do much better that global. On the production values, consumers are looking at higher production values with the best of the breed of contents and I believe that the consumers will not settle for anything less.”

     

    Mr Rajesh Rao summed up the session stating that while there are many ideas and lots of opportunities and potential in the market, the industry needs to explore them.