The mobile gaming in India has been growing leaps and bounds thanks to the innovative and enhancing features that the game developers are able to come up with frequently. The emergence of mobile gaming has thus been successful in making all your missed dreams come true in the last decade or so providing you non-stop action plus adventure 24×7. Presence of new and advanced gaming platforms, increasing penetration of gaming hardware companies in the country, increasing urban income levels are some important factors that contribute towards the rapid growth of mobile gaming industry. Let us see where the mobile gaming industry stands as of now and how it is expected to emerge in a few years’ time along with the factors responsible for it.
Factors responsible for the growth of mobile gaming:
There are various factors that contribute towards the growth of online gaming. The availability of smartphones at a reasonable price and the lucrative offers by 4G internet service providers like Jio and Airtel have contributed to its success. Also, the growing youth population and the rising per capita expenditure on one hand and the deployment of latest technologies and the government welfare policies and initiatives on the other hand have resulted in its surge too.
Platforms that support mobile gaming:
The online mobile gaming industry gets its boost through certain important dynamics called hardware, software, publishers, services and infrastructure, out of which the first two are majorly responsible. The mobile gaming industry has grown rapidly thanks to the advent of many hardware companies. They have come up with technologies like 3D and virtual reality which the gamers have found irresistibly appealing. The companies like Nvidia, ASUS and ATI are contemplating invention of various products dedicatedly to match the gamer’s ever-growing enthusiasm. India has been constantly performing well in the field of software development where the availability of software game developers are uncountable. Macromedia Fireworks, Freehand, Adobe Photoshop are used for the development of mobile gaming in India very meritoriously, being one of the most dependable outsourcing destination.
Status of gaming market in India:
The gaming market in India is becoming stronger thanks to Augmented reality and Virtual reality. Techsci Research report states that in 2016, Indian gaming market has made a whopping progress achieving as much as 540 million in terms of USD. Driven by attractive technologies and consumer landscape, it is expected to grow even bigger and cross USD 1.1 billion by 2020 (Source: The Indian Express). The 2G/3G/4G services offered by mobile service providers have really paved way for mobile gaming to taste incredible success, keeping pace with the technologies. Some of the games are suitable to be operated even through 2G.
Marketing trends:
The following marketing trends and developments show a clear indication of the boom that the mobile gaming world is going to experience in the years to come.
Freemium models:
Freemium is a business model through which the basic services will be provided free of cost but at the same time they are charged for using advanced features. This is because the gamers are still reluctant to pay despite the fact that the internet plans are very cheap in India compared to the other parts of the world and the games are available at a lesser rate. By providing freemium model, the gamers, through in-game purchases, can customise their experiences. Freemium games continue to grow and remain popular, especially in the mobile market. Some popular games that use freemium model are Clash of Clans, Candy Crush Saga, Rummy games etc.
Augmented reality and Virtual reality services:
The focus of the gaming industry in India is nowadays more towards Augmented reality and Virtual reality which is sure to boost the growth of India’s gaming market in the next five years. This is because such services are providing enhanced gaming experiences through head mounted displays, head up displays, etc. So, the number of gamers is expected to grow manifold which will in turn generate huge revenues in the years to come.
India as an outsourcing station:
As has been stated earlier in this article, the emergence of India as an outsourcing station for developing games across the globe, has really improved the image of the gaming Industry. Since the cost involved in developing the games are very high, the world is shifting its focus on India to get them outsourced at a nominal charge. By tying up with game creators all over the world, Indian game developers will be able to provide better gaming experience in the next five years or so.
Thus, Indian gaming market has a bright future ahead with new varieties of games getting developed more often. The game developers, since their focus is more on the games Indians are traditionally aware of like say for example Indian Rummy, Ludo King, Poker, etc., the gamers get hooked to them, paving them the way for getting introduced to many more games.
