India’s sport market may develop from $3.8 billion in 2024 to $9.2 billion by 2029, in response to a report by Lumikai.
That represents a 20% compound annual development price. Lumikai, a enterprise capital fund in India centered 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 (based mostly on the fiscal 12 months intervals ending March 31). Total, the brand new media market is rising at a compound annual development price of 16%, mentioned Salone Sehgal, founding normal accomplice at Lumikai, in an interview with GamesBeat.
Such development is just like China’s development in gaming a few many years in the past, making India the subsequent scorching market that sport buyers ought to comply with, 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 development has mirrored the Indian gaming market’s development. Again in 2020, when it began, there have been 25 sport firms in India. However over the course of 5 years, Lumikai has evaluated greater than 2,300 leads with Indian sport 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 overall 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 video games emerge to faucet into that very massive mid-core urge for food within 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, according to 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 based mostly in-app purchases.
By way of cell platforms, Android is about 90% of the market in India, the place smartphones might value $200 to $400. Most video games are performed on smartphones, with PC and console video games a couple of 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 consists of major analysis protecting practically 3,000 cell customers throughout India. And it was developed with Google and Deloitte. Lumikai’s evaluation relies on third occasion analytics knowledge suppliers, secondary analysis, Lumikai proprietary knowledge, major survey and professional interviews. The gaming estimates embrace subscription, in-app purcahses, and advert revenues.
“We perceive each the city markets, the agricultural markets and the gender demographics as nicely,” Sehgal mentioned.
Lumikai’s development
Lumikai has backed a few of India’s main interactive media firms together with, Elo Elo (India’s reside 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, personalised 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 kids), Mayhem Studios (constructing Indian battle royale sport) amongst others.
The Mayhem Studios sport is fascinating in that it’s a battle royale sport centered on Indian setting and tradition. Such tendencies towards culturally related video games for sure areas are on the rise, in response to Matthew Ball, gaming analyst and creator of The Metaverse.
“These sport sort of video games take time to construct. What Battleground Cellular India (previously PUBG Cellular) taught us is that there’s a huge (alternative) out there,” Sehgal mentioned. “Our technique to again Indian video games (resonates) as we more and more right here individuals saying they need to play IP which displays our tradition.”
Despande mentioned, “There may be extra variety by way of indigenous video games making an attempt to tackle world giants. It’s a matter of simply improvement cycles. So loads of these video games at the moment are within the technique 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 loads 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 buyers who’re India as the subsequent huge main market. Over time, this could result in a wholesome acquisition market in India.
“The smartphone has fully revolutionized the sort of video games individuals play,” mentioned Deshpande. “Nearly two thirds of the inhabitants that we surveyed consumes one or two gigabytes of cell knowledge a day, and that’s as a result of we’ve one of many most cost-effective knowledge charges on the planet.”
Lumikai Insignia
The audio system on the Lumikai Insignia occasion embrace 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.
