Mobile gaming has taken off around the world and is set to eclipse other forms of gambling at some point in this decade. Mobile gambling has grown in popularity in part because digital infrastructure has improved to a level where data services are now more reliable and accessible than ever before – this holds true both for the world and for India.
Mobile game developers have also improved with time. It is now an industry that does not have a very high barrier to entry as it has become easier and easier over the years to develop, produce and launch mobile games. Even students can now launch their own successful games as part of school projects.
As the popularity of mobile gaming continues to increase in India and the industry looks set to break every possible revenue record, the world is looking on in interest to see what happens next.
Mobile gambling in India
It is indisputable – mobile gaming in India has exploded in popularity. According to market analysts, mobile gaming is one of the fastest growing entertainment sectors in India. This sector currently stands at over $1.2bn and analysts are predicting that the industry could easily expand to $3bn by 2023. This level of growth is virtually unheard of and is a sign that mobile gaming has reached an entirely new, previously untouched sector of the population.
Part of the reason why there is such a huge expansion is because India has an incredibly young population compared with some countries in the Global North. In India, nearly a third of the country’s population fits into the Gen Z age demographic.
The growing population and significant number of young people serve to expand the pool of potential online gamers. On top of that, increased accessibility to mobile technology, together with a greater amount of digital adoption, has greatly expanded the number of gamers in the country. Finally, the global health crisis that has rocked the world for the last 18 months led many young and middle-aged Indians to try out mobile games for the first time ever.
The rise of mobile platforms
The development and popularisation of mobile technology has generated mass interest in a number of different sectors other than video games. There is now a much greater interest in mobile payment platforms and banks, along with e-commerce, healthcare and media. Truly, the rise of mobile infrastructure and accessibility has touched nearly every industry.
One prime example of a mobile platform growing in popularity and becoming a veritable economic titan is online gambling. Many gamblers were initially sceptical of online gambling and instead preferred to visit brick-and-mortar establishments to play the slots, place bets or enjoy a few rounds of their favourite casino table games.
However, over the course of the last five years or so, there has been a massive shift in India away from land-based casinos to online, mobile gambling platforms. Online casinos have improved massively over the last decade and now have state-of-the-art graphics, exceptional usability standards and very high digital security measures in place.
These days, the online casino industry is particularly competitive according to the sports betting portal BetFromAsia.com, and the top online casinos attract new users through the use of competitive registration bonuses, extensive libraries of digital casino games and impressive usability standards.
The biggest players in the market
India has an incredibly entrepreneurial energy and this spirit is reflected in the gaming industry. There are several major game development companies in the Indian gaming sector, including companies such as Dream11, Nazara, Niantic, Games24x7, Paytm First Games, Mobile Premier League and JioGames. Many of the companies are fairly young but are already finding a great amount of success in the sector and are partnering with major conglomerates such as Microsoft, Tencent and PUBG mobile.
However, that being said, there is also an extremely competitive and lively startup culture in India, which has generated a vast number of independent developers and games. There are now over 400 different gaming companies in India and 90 different game development facilities. This extensive growth is due to the great amount of support given to the sector by the Indian government’s Make in India initiative.
The number of different gaming companies and development facilities bodes well for the future. As more and more young Indians work at these facilities and learn how to make games, they will ultimately be given the chance to create their own startups and games, thus continuing the cycle and adding to the competition in the industry.
