Insight into the Indian online gaming industry

Indian gaming industry started around the mid-2000s and grew from social games to adventure, sports, puzzles, and other games. With international games coming to India, the gaming industry saw an increase. Even the gaming job searches increased from March to June 2020, then declined sharply from July to September 2020, and have steadied at a level slightly higher compared to January.

New Delhi: The Indian gaming industry is witnessing a spike in hiring activity and in January, both gaming sector job postings and searches were up 13 percent and 15 percent, respectively, from the same period last year, a new report said.

As of January, the number of job postings was still twice the number of job searches on Indeed, indicating a significant gap yet opportunity for India's vast talent pool, according to leading job website Indeed.

"Our data forecasts the growth of India's gaming industry which will have a substantial impact on the jobs of tomorrow," said Sashi Kumar, Managing Director, Indeed.com.

"With a ripple effect across sectors such as technology, telecommunications, marketing, or events, the gaming industry has the potential to generate massive employment in India," Kumar added.

The gaming job searches increased from March to June 2020, then declined sharply from July to September 2020, and have steadied at a level slightly higher compared to January.

A recent report pegged the gaming industry in India at $2.8 billion by 2022.

As per Statista, the market value of India’s gaming industry was around 90 billion Indian rupees in the financial year 2020. This is estimated to go up to over 143 billion rupees by 2022. The industry has been evolving at a rapid pace in the country, and analysts predict over 40 thousand new job opportunities by 2022.

As per KPMG, India is moving towards improved age and gender parity among online gamers. The majority will continue to play on mobile devices in 2021. The online gaming industry in India can be dated back to the mid-2000s, when largely social games were played. However, with the growth of international games, the Indian online gaming market also saw an increase.

In a report by KPMG, it is also mentioned that the profile of an average gamer is generally below 24 years of age and is a male. Puzzle, Action, and adventure games are generally preferred across age and gender groups. Friends, family, and peer groups play a critical role in the discovery and download of a new game. In the future, India is expected to move towards value-driving consumption and comprehensive local development

KPMG also predicts that 2021 will be a year where the freemium games will create better economies for the game developers and companies. There will be a rise in a lot of new technologies and which will become a commercial reality. 2021 will also witness local games. E-Sports to augment engagement levels in online gaming. Improved age and gender parity in the online gaming population will also be seen in 2021.

Another 2020 survey showed that a majority of Indians played some type of digital games daily. While shooter and sports games were popular among men, Indian women preferred strategy and adventure games.

"In 2020, our headcount grew by 110 percent as we hired personnel across our offices in Bengaluru, Pune, Jakarta, and Singapore," said Naman Jhawar, SVP, Operations and Strategy, Mobile Premier League (MPL).

E-sports and mobile gaming platform Mobile Premier League is now valued at $945 million after raising $95 million (approximately Rs 693 crore) in a Series D round earlier this month.

"The sector is booming and we are looking to expand rapidly this year," Jhawar added.

As per the KPMG report Indian online gaming industry to add 190 million gamer(s) and become a USD one billion opportunity by 2021, from USD 290 million today.

(Inputs from Agencies)