India’s recreation market may develop from $3.8 billion in 2024 to $9.2 billion by 2029, in keeping with a report by Lumikai.
That represents a 20% compound annual progress charge. Lumikai, a enterprise capital fund in India targeted on video games, additionally mentioned that India’s $3.8 billion gaming market is about 30% of its broader $12.5 billion new media market.
Gaming is India’s the fastest-growing new media section, and it’s simply shy of the $3.9 billion video and over-the-top media market (primarily based on the fiscal 12 months durations ending March 31). General, the brand new media market is rising at a compound annual progress charge of 16%, mentioned Salone Sehgal, founding normal companion at Lumikai, in an interview with GamesBeat.
Such progress is much like China’s progress in gaming a few a long time in the past, making India the subsequent scorching market that recreation traders ought to observe, Sehgal mentioned. Aditya Deshpande, senior funding affiliate at Lumikai, mentioned in an interview with GamesBeat. believes that gaming is within the technique of surpassing India’s vaunted Bollywood movie business.
Lumikai’s personal progress has mirrored the Indian gaming market’s progress. Again in 2020, when it began, there have been 25 recreation firms in India. However over the course of 5 years, Lumikai has evaluated greater than 2,300 leads with Indian recreation entrepreneurs, Sehgal mentioned.
The Lumikai State of India Interactive Media and Gaming Report is being unveiled on the Lumikai Insignia interactive media and gaming summit for Lumikai’s restricted companions.
Key statistics
The report discovered that out of the full of 591 million avid gamers (up 23 million from a 12 months in the past) in India, feminine avid gamers rose from 41% to 44%. And in fiscal 12 months 2024, greater than eight million new paying customers had been added, taking complete paying avid gamers to 148 million.
Sehgal mentioned Indian avid gamers have seen a 30% improve in common weekly gaming time to 13 hours. That was double the time spent on social platforms. Common income per paying person of $22, which was up 15% in a 12 months. About 66% of avid gamers had been from non-metro cities, with 43% of avid gamers being first-time earners within the 18-year-old to 30-year-old age group.
In-app purchases, propelled by mid-core video games, grew by 41% year-on-year, and continues to be the quickest rising slice out of the $3.8 billion income pie for fiscal 12 months 2024.
“The mid core games emerge to tap into that very large mid-core appetite in the India market,” mentioned Sehgal.
The report mentioned 64% of paying customers who play real-money playing (RMG) additionally pay for mid-core video games,
suggesting a excessive diploma of overlap in gamer personas and migrating preferences of avid gamers.
India is the world’s second-largest cell gaming market by way of downloads, with 15.2 billion, or thrice the mixed quantity of Brazil and the U.S. And 25% of avid gamers mentioned they’ve spent cash in video games this 12 months, in line with FY23, with 83% preferring UPI or digital wallets to make in-game funds.
India additionally noticed a 20% improve in time spent on informal video games in fiscal 2024. Customers spend 25% extra time on interactive social media/streaming platforms in comparison with passive social platforms. And 47% of customers are ad-tolerant to keep away from paying for subscriptions with choice for micro-transaction primarily based in-app purchases.
When it comes to cell platforms, Android is about 90% of the market in India, the place smartphones could price $200 to $400. Most video games are performed on smartphones, with PC and console video games just a few p.c of the market, Desphande mentioned.
As for esports, revenues are nonetheless a small slice of the general pie, however Sehgal mentioned viewership continues to rise quick.
Methodology
The report contains major analysis masking practically 3,000 cell customers throughout India. And it was developed with Google and Deloitte. Lumikai’s evaluation relies on third social gathering analytics information suppliers, secondary analysis, Lumikai proprietary information, major survey and knowledgeable interviews. The gaming estimates embody subscription, in-app purcahses, and advert revenues.
“We understand both the urban markets, the rural markets and the gender demographics as well,” Sehgal mentioned.
Lumikai’s progress
Lumikai has backed a few of India’s main interactive media firms together with, Elo Elo (India’s dwell social leisure platform), Bombay Play (hyper-social, informal gaming studio from India for the world), All Star Video games (informal sports activities gaming studio), Studio Sirah (mid-core technique gaming studio), Supernova (real-time, interactive, customized AI tutors disrupting edtech), Autovrse (India’s quickest rising AR/VR firm constructing options for industrial coaching), Vobble (India’s first interactive audio platform for youngsters), Mayhem Studios (constructing Indian battle royale recreation) amongst others.
The Mayhem Studios recreation is attention-grabbing in that it’s a battle royale recreation targeted on Indian setting and tradition. Such tendencies towards culturally related video games for sure areas are on the rise, in keeping with Matthew Ball, gaming analyst and writer of The Metaverse.
“These game kind of games take time to build. What Battleground Mobile India (formerly PUBG Mobile) taught us is that there is a massive (opportunity) in the market,” Sehgal mentioned. “Our strategy to back Indian games (resonates) as we increasingly here people saying they want to play IP which reflects our culture.”
Despande mentioned, “There is more diversity in terms of indigenous games trying to take on global giants. It’s a matter of just development cycles. So a lot of these games are now in the process of being made.”
Lots of the entrepreneurs are popping out of work-for-hire firms that took benefit of India’s low prices for improvement. Now these entrepreneurs are hanging out on their very own to make their very own video games. There are additionally lots of Indian diaspora founders who’re coming again to India to construct new firms of their homeland. And there are a wave of strategic firms and traders who’re taking a look at India as the subsequent large main market. Over time, this could result in a wholesome acquisition market in India.
“The smartphone has completely revolutionized the kind of games people play,” mentioned Deshpande. “Almost two thirds of the population that we surveyed consumes one or two gigabytes of mobile data a day, and that’s because we have one of the cheapest data rates in the world.”
Lumikai Insignia
The audio system on the Lumikai Insignia occasion embody Oscar-winner SS Rajamouli, Abdullah Alorainy from Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund (which is investing $37 billion in gaming), Crysis co-creator and Crytek founder Cevat Yerli, chip design veteran Raja Koduri who has led graphics/CPU design at Intel, AMD and Apple.
