GAMING BUSINESS THE OF - Khanjan Patel
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
THE
BUSINESS
OF
GAMING
INDUSTRY
-by Khanjan Patel
Executive Summary The concept of gaming has been ingrained in the human history with the forms and platforms of games varying. Right from gladiators in the Roman Colosseum and horses on track to modern day ju-jitsu fighters in UFC rings and speed cars racing down the circuits, the way in which humans have perceived games has changed, but the fundamental emotional connect and hormonal rushes still remain the same. However, there has been a slow and gradual shift of gaming from outdoor to indoor and then onto our fingers thanks to the advancements of digital gaming. The evolution of digital games has been very interesting especially in the recent times of rapid technological advancements. The growth curve has been nothing but exponential and it seems to be touching the crowds now. What started off as a kiosk in public places quickly converted to video games for TVs and then to high-end PlayStations. But with the entry of smartphones, these games are now available right in the mobile devices of people causing an explosion of games and game producers jumping into the market. This research report aims to study the present scenario of the gaming industry, its revenue model and the future of the same. It dives deeper into this business by looking at the various stakeholders involved. It analyses the processes carried out during the pre-production, production, and post-production of the games. The study of the revenue model throws up interesting insights as the previous models are giving way to new, smarter and disruptive ways of earning revenues, be it through in-app purchases, freemium games or subscription models. Digital games in India have gone through a similar trend but a quicker one thanks to western influence. The present Indian gamer demographics can be compared to a 24-year-old male from an urban city. But this is quickly going to change. Due to the high penetration of smartphones in Indian houses, improved internet connectivity because of 3G/4G and rise of mobile wallets, the Indian gaming industry is all set to thrive at a very high rate. The future outlook of gaming industry shows how it is set to enhance its reach further into the market by setting up good parity, be in terms of gender or the age of the players. With the freemium model on the rise, the Indian gaming industry is reeking in high revenues allowing it for more variations in the game development. Adding local flavor has been in demand as more and more Indianized games are coming in. Given the highly fluid nature of this industry at present, the game makers are in a constant search for innovation and keeping the user hooked on to the games. Along with this, more inventive forms of revenue generation models are being used which has allowed this industry to grow at such an exponential rate.
CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 04 THE HISTORY OF VIDEO GAMING INDUSTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 05 THE FUNCTIONING OF MOBILE GAMING INDUSTRY . . . . . . . . . . . 08 STAKEHOLDERS IN THE GAMING SUPPLY CHAIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 THE MONETIZATION OF GAMING INDUSTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 MOBILE GAMING INDUSTRY IN INDIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 CONSUMPTION PATTERN OF INDIAN GAMERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 CONCLUSION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Introduction
Human evolution has been distinct and multi-pronged. It started with food and security
forming the base, while slowly and gradually moving towards community interactions, self-
realizations behavioral changes. While, it is a matter of great study and debate, as to which
sapiens reached first, not getting into the intricacies, if we just hover our thoughts around
how drastically and unscrupulously we are moving ahead on the evolution curve in a
technologically-dominant world, then the results shall astound us.
Starting from the wheel, the first invention by the humankind, the most primitive
technology that we can boast of has now evolved into technological inventions ranging from
wi-fi networks, cloud computing, atomic fingerprinting, hybrid-driving flying robots to the
latests most talked about Elon Musk's immortalizing-human-Neuralink project. Whilst on
the parallel sides, the evolution of literature, media, films and entertainment as a whole has
not only been haphazard and berserk but has got integrated with technology completely.
The analysis brings out that the vitality of entertainment that has started is been
predominated by the gaming industry as it manages to reach our phones, TVs, consoles and
more. A majority of video games across the world are purchased and played by adults. The
presumption of this industry fostering out of kids' hobbies is no more a fact. The
astronomical amounts of money that the cinema industry across the globe has been easily
surmounted by some of biggest franchises from the gaming world. Many games are
produced and made by multi-billion dollar MNCs that employ thousands of people from
across the globe.
There are games like 'The Last of Us' and 'Bioshock' that have extremely powerful
narratives, even better than any Oscar-winning movies dominating the cinema world.
These games have millions of people hooked, millions of them crying and hooting for more.
Considering the power that such games can have on human psyche, it will be interesting to
see what goes behind the making and the proliferation of these games. More so from the
perspective of business and economics. It shall India be exciting to delve deep into the
'gaming industry'. According to a Global Games Market Report, in 2016 alone, the
worldwide video game industry managed to generate a revenue of $99.6 billion. If you
compare it to movies, Hollywood managed to rake in only $36 billion in 2016, which is quite
trivial when compared to the insane amount of cash games raked in. Bollywood doesn't even
come close to this.
More than the moolah that the industry is raking, what becomes more interesting is to study
how this industry operates and functions. From professional gamers to advertisements, it is
fascinating to study where the money power gets into the games. The more one
understands this industry, the more one starts getting bonkers over the numbers, the
revenue model and the entire business as a whole.
4
The History of Video Gaming Industry
Gaming Industry or Video Games industry Around the same time during 1971,
to be precise is the economic sector Atari Inc launched Pong, a commercially
involved in the development, marketing and successful video game which also boosted
monetization of video games. There was up the sales of arcade cabinets. This soon
no commercial angle to the video saw the introduction of video games to the
game industry until 1970s. However, home market with the release of early video
advancements in computing were creating game console, the Magnavox Odyssey. Pong
a base for the future advent of gaming clones rocked the market up and down, both
commercialization. in arcades and home-based consoles. No
sooner than later, a creative void was faced
The Beginning (1940s – 1970s) and the video gaming industry hit an all-time
low. The release of Taito's Space Invaders in
The idea of games being a source of mental 1978 sparked a renaissance for the video-
stimulation and eventually entertainment game industry which started the golden age
was picking up. Many scientists in lieu of of video games. Space Invaders would go on
cracking codes and letting people solve to sell over 360,000 arcade cabinets
problems used to program computers and worldwide and by 1982, generated a
series of algorithms (games) that would act r eve n u e o f $ 2 b i l l i o n¹ i n q u a r t e r s ,
as challenges and fascinate people's minds. equivalent to $4.6 billion in 2011². By the
On record, the first computer that allowed end of 1970s, personal computer game
people to play the first game called Nim, was industry began taking a leap.
made by American nuclear physicist
Edward Condon, around 1940s. Thousands
played this game, although the computer
would win 90% of the time. This was
followed by Claude Shannon who, after a
decade, wrote the programming guidelines
for a chess-playing computer. Yet another
decade passed by and a war game known as
STAGE was created by the US Department
of Defense. However, the idea that video
games could be played on television was
conceived by Ralp Baer, an engineer by
profession. He created two TV games in the
1960s of which Computer Space became
first video game to be released. And this
video game also started the typical arcade
game frenzy typically defined as machines
deployed in malls, public spaces,
¹ Making millions, 25 cents at a time". The Fifth Estate. Canadian
restaurants etc and are coin-operated. Broadcasting Corporation. November 23, 1982. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
² "CPI Inflation Calculator". Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved March
22, 2011.
5The Golden Age (1980s – 2000s) dominated by Japenese companies such as
Nintendo. During 1987, Blockbuster
The beginning of 1980s witnessed a golden Entertainment led the enabled games
age of video arcade games reaching its peak. rentals similar to movies rentals which was a
By 1981, the arcade video game industry game changer again.
was generating an annual revenue of $5
billion in North America, equivalent to The Maturing Phase (2000s)
$12.3 billion in 2011, which soon reached
$8 billion in quarters in 1982, the equivalent In 2000s, the video game industry
of $18.5 billion in 2011. Along with this, witnessed technological advancements
around $3.8 billion was generated by the which were then used by other industry
home video game industry the same year. sectors. Though maturing, the industry was
Collectively both the arcade and home volatile because of third-party video game
markets added up to a total revenue of developers quickly cropping up and
$11.8 billion equivalent to over $27.3 billion disappearing also. Game development for
in 2011. This was the era when Namco's mobile phones and social networking sites
Pacman was released in 1980, which would emerged, owing to smartphones, virtual
go on to sell over 3,50,000 cabinets, and reality and augmented reality acting as
within a year generate a revenue of more major drivers for game hardware and
than $1 billion in quarters in total. PacMan development.
grossed over 10 billion quarters ($2.5
billion) during the 20th century. Formation of Industry (2010s)
Games from independent video game
developers continued to rule the industry
also exceeding millions of dollars and over a
million users. The 2010s witnessed a larger
shift to casual and mobile gaming wherein
the mobile gaming market is estimated to
have taken $38 billion in revenues,
compared to $6 billion for arcade/console
market and $33 billion for personal
computing gaming3. It also witnessed the
professional gaming rise. In late 2000s,
eSports centered around professional
This was followed with the rise of 8-bit players in organized competitions and
home computing and home-made games, leagues for prize money, drawing hundreds
especially in Europe and Asia. In 1983, the of millions of viewers reaching nearly $500
North American industry crashed due to the million in revenue by 2016. This is expected
production of badly developed games. to break the $1 billion mark by 20194.
However, soon it got revitalized by release
³ van Dreunen, Joost (October 24, 2016). "Welcome to the New Era:
of Nintendo Entertainment System, which Games as Media". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
4
Riddell, Don (May 29, 2016). "ESports: Global revenue expected to
resulted in the home console market being smash $1 billion by 2019". CNN. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
6Today – The Mobile Gaming Era create a whole new level of gaming
experience. More so, the development of
The video game industry is evolving rapidly cross-platform frameworks and apps has
while getting integrated with the new made it possible to play mobile games on PC
age computers, handheld devices as and vice versa. In fact, some of the popular
well as smart phones, all at once. Some arcade/console based games have already
technologies are aiming at erasing the gap undergone successful mobile porting such
between video gaming and mobile gaming. as Carmageddon, X-COM: UFO Defence,
In past few years, the processors of mobile Tomb Raider, Dragon's Lair, Baldur's Gate,
devices have undergone notable changes Heroes of Might and Magic III, Star Wars:
5
with the processors becoming more Knights of the Old Republic . This list has its
powerful and RAM sizes increasing at warp own nostalgia which we can now carry in our
speed. Mobile screens are also improvising phones and move along. Other titles have
continually in terms of size and resolution. gotten special mobile versions, refreshes or
Those games that were playable only on games set in the original universes some
computers years ago can now be played on them are Grim Fandango Remastered,
smart phones easily. The integration of 4K XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Titan Souls,
technologies in latest monitors and laptops Raiden Legacy, Minecraft: Pocket Edition,
has not only increased vivacity, but is also Pokemon GO, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath,
making mobile devices ready to give the Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes, Hitman
same computer games kind of experience. GO, Need for Speed: No Limits, Rayman
Jungle Run, Pacman 256, Bioshock 2D
Lately, most of the mobile devices are among others. Integrating into one another,
compatible with 4K resolutions. Employing this is the rise of the new Digital Gaming era.
the latest trends, such as augmented reality
and virtual reality, it becomes possible to
5
https://www.innovecs.com/ideas-portfolio/mobile-gaming-vs-pc-gaming-tendencies-in-game-industry-development/
7The Functioning of Mobile Gaming Industry
A typical gaming development process can the test plan, finalizing on the right art-style
be classified into three phases viz. pre- as well as sorting out the flow and
production, production and post- wireframe document. As enumerated in the
production. It is important to understand table, a typical gaming production stage
these phases because in this regard, we can involves development of the elements,
understand the stakeholders in the supply designs, effects, audio, modules, objects and
chain. As the table states, a game in its pre- other such things in actual. Post the
production stage revolves around analysing development and testing of the games, the
the game concept, preparing the game post-production stage typically looks into
design document, listing the software integration of software, user acceptance
requirements specification (SRS), breaking testing, monetising the game and eventually
down the project plan into milestones, leading to the appstore submission.
designing the architecture plan, developing
REVIEW
Pro
e ts g ra
ss
m
t-A
mi
Ar
ng
PRE POST
DEVELOP PRODUCTION OPTIMIZE
PRODUCTION PRODUCTION
Mo
du
o
di
le
Te
Au tin s
g
ADJUST
SPRINT 1 SPRINT 2 SPRINT 3 SPRINT N
8PRE PRODUCTION
GAME GAME PROJECT-PLAN
SRS ART-PIPELINE
CONCEPT DESIGN WITH
DOCUMENT MILESTONE
SET-UP
ANALYSIS DOCUMENT
GAME TECHNICAL FINALISING
ARCHITECTURE
DESIGN DESIGN – DESIGN
TEST-PLAN THE RIGHT
DOCUMENT DOCUMENT ART-STYLE
PRODUCTION
START PRIORITISE THE
DEVELOPING START
MOST CRUCIAL GAME
ON THE PARTS AND
CREATING BACKGROUND
THE ART- OBJECTS /ENVIRONMENTS
GAMING MOVE IT ON TO
MODULES EARLY SPRINTS. ASSETS
UI – GAME
ANIMATIONS VISUAL – ELEMENTS BALANCING &
EFFECTS LEVEL-DESIGN
CREATIONS DEPTH
REVIEW ON START
AUDIO EACH SPRINTS & OPTIMIZATION INTEGRATION
DEVELOPING ON
WORK ON THE & MODULE OF ALL THE
CREATION TESTING MODULES
THE GAMING
FEEDBACK MODULES
POST
PRODUCTION 3RD PARTY
SDK'S
QA &
TESTING
INTEGRATIONS
FINAL APPSTORE SUPPORT &
UAT GAME MONETISATION
SUBMISSIONS MAINTENANCE
DELIVERABLES
9When it comes to the stakeholders involved in a gaming process, there are
investors/publishers, pre-producers, developers, post-production service providers,
distribution channels, along side the internet service provides and advertisers.
INVESTOR/
PUBLISHER
Validates the concept,
identifies the target
market and invests
capital
PRE
DEVICE OEMS PRODUCER
Original Equipment Manufacturers
Creates the concept,
Mobile, PC and Laptop
characters and story
Manufacturers
board. Decides on the
Game engine.
THE GAMING
CONCEPT
ONLINE DEVELOPER
DISTRIBUTOR Programming, Coding,
Distribution Channel 3D Assets building and
more.
POST
PRODUCTION
SERVICE PROVIDER
Sound recording,
testing, special effects
addition and
hardware porting.
ADVERTISER / INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER
ADVERTISING PLATFORM
Enables distribution and consumption
Advertises through gaming platforms of online games
10Stakeholders in the Gaming Supply Chain
THE GAME PUBLISHER
Mobile game development is a hot market & promises a huge amount of money if your
game works for the gamers. A game publisher provides platform to the game developer,
looks after a long range of tasks that includes negotiating distribution deals, designing
advertising campaigns, conducting market research & clearing any licencing issues a game
has. But in the initial stage a publisher finances or invests in the video game development.
THE PRE-PRODUCERS
Gamers like challenging games, the once that stimulate thrill or other such emotions in
their mind. Therefore, strategizing the game's story, the genre, levels & characters is the
most crucial step of the game development. Here the game designers and strategists both
sit together and form a story board of the game, keeping the target audience in the mind. In
the same way, playability is another aspect that is to be decided by the game designers.
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Developing a game requires a set of talented people. The development team is a set
of designers, artists and programmers. It works in designing the gameplay, charac-
ter modelling, coding and programming the game. It takes a lot of time to design
and develop the mobile game and involves a great deal of money.
POST PRODUCTION
The post production stage mostly involves marketing and selling of
the video game. This typically also involves sound recording,
testing, special effects addition and hardware porting. Once off this
stage, the game is ready to be launched in the market.
ONLINE DISTRIBUTORS
The distributors typically look in to the viability of different distribution
channels charting them against the profit and loss analysis so as to make the
product available in the market.
ADVERTISER
An advertiser looks into popularizing the game across the target audience
through its communication efforts at regular intervals.
11The Monetization of Gaming Industry
After understanding the stakeholders and game milestones, they come across new
the channels, the picture of the gaming products and services. Most of the game
industry that monetization models paint is developers turn to this form of game
important to know. With increasing monetization to earn revenues. As a larger
internet penetration, Indian mobile gaming number of people are turning to mobile
industry is seen as an opportunity with gaming, many brands find great scope in
great potential. Revenue that was a huge advertising their products in the mobile
challenge in the past, a has got varied forms games. This gives game publishers greater
today. There was dependency on the chances of earning money by advertising
investment firms, but now there are various brands in the game.
alternatives that are helping the industry
earn handsome revenue. Some of the In-Game Product or Brand
revenue models of the gaming industry are Placement
discussed here ( Refer Figure below )
Brand integration has come a long way.
In-App Advertisement From cinema to television, it has dominated
the audience for decades, and so has been
A very popular model, this works akin to the with the mobile gaming industry. The Red
TV commercials that dominate the Bull cans that a runner sees while playing his
television industry. An age-old way of game is a classic example of branding of the
advertising, this works on the principles of product subtly yet effectively. Needless to
cost-per-click via strategic placement of say, it works the best for both the product
banner advertisements. When gamers click and the audience.
the banners/pop-ups spread across their
Monetisation models
Paid by Ecosystem Paid by Online gamers
In-app In-game product Incentive Purchase / Freemium / In-app Subscription
advertisement or brand based pay-per- upgrades purchases
placement advertisment download
Banner Popular brands or Virtual objects / Upfront charge Free download, Gamer(s) pay to Monthly or annual
advertisements products placed in game-play for download or but a charge to purchase virtual subscription for
based on Cost- the game-play requisite or access access to the get full access to objects or access to a package
per-click (CPC) or to the game by game characters, levels, currency (vitual objects,
Cost-per-mile watching an equipments etc. extended access to
(CPM) metrics advertisement the game or a
combination)
12Purchase/Pay-Per-Download format, the game developer strategically
changes the behaviour of a player within the
Putting a price tag to the game right before game so that a player tends to buy new
the experience or the download is the most levels or features, characters, equipments
upfront way of raking in some revenue. This or in-app currency.
also helps in putting the game in a premium
category. However, in a country like India, In-App Purchases
this model has not worked very well.
In-app purchases are those in the form of
Incentive-Based Advertisement virtual objects and in-app currencies which
are placed in the mobile game. These virtual
Virtual objects or game-play requisites or objects can be unlocked or gained only by
access-to-game by watching an advertise- paying money. This pay-to-win model helps
ment are different incentives that lure the the game developer earn their revenue. In
gamers into spending some money. Such 2016, apple users spent about 38.5 billion
incentives not only keep the audience dollars on in-app purchases, while android
engaged but work as an incentive every now users spent nearly 20 billion dollars.
and then for gamers to achieve.
Subscription
a)Rewarded Video: In this format, gamers
are made to watch few advertisements to Subscriptions can be monthly/annual and
earn rewards or unlock new levels. work as a profitable model. They can be
extended to develop a loyal database of
b)Non-rewarded video: Publishers put quality gamers. However, interesting
advertising videos in the middle of the game gaming prepositions should be brought
for a few seconds at certain pauses in the about in this.
app's flow. They are full screen ads which
offer users the option to exit and skip. In-app purchases are the most popular
mode of earning in the developed countries.
c)Display Banners: We do observe ad On the other hand, in countries like India,
banners while playing a game. They aren't gamers are quite conservative about
for free. Publishers charge a good amount of spending money for mobile games. This
money for the brand promotions and leads the game publishers to adopt the
advertisements through display banners. freemium models and in-app advertising.
This includes standard banners, interstitials
and native ads.
Freemium/Upgrades
In this model, the mobile game need not be
bought but the levels inside the game have
to be unlocked by paying money. In this
13Mobile Gaming Industry in India
7
The term 'video gaming' is evolving projected to cross the 628 million mark .
continuously. Technically video gaming was
d e fi n e d a s a c o n c e p t o f i n t e ra c t i ve This rise is evident owing to ease of
entertainment where video signals are accessibility, where public can download
transmitted to create an image on a CRT any game at tap of a screen on their smart
monitor or television. This however devices. More over, owing to hassle-free
precluded early computer games and payments, cheap data availability, slashed
electronic games where output was seen on smart phone prices and localized content,
a teletype display. However, now it can be the market is growing seamlessly.
associated with any device that uses
electronic circuit to give the player's output The Mobile Gaming Business
results on a display and is interactive in
nature. And hence for understanding of the With India getting tapped over its increased
audience, this Video Gaming / Digital potential, there is an increase in overseas
Gaming industry has been referred as investment and partnership, mostly from
Mobile Gaming Industry throughout China. There is more money moving
the report. through the industry as giants like Alibaba-
backed digital-payment-startup Paytm and
The Indian mobile gaming industry is H o n g ko n g ' s AG Te c h H o l d i n g s h ave
growing exponentially with industry giants launched a gaming platform called
such as Paytm, Tencent, Youzu and Nazara Gamepind. Others like Tencent having
investing big time into it. Featuring in one of stakes in legendary games like League of
the top five countries for mobile gaming in Legends, Call of Duty and World of Warcraft
the world, the industry is already worth are planning to invest in gaming in India this
6
over $890 million . India is also witnessing year along side the Chinese gaming
atleast two startups coming up every month company Youzu which has already launched
in this industry, apart from more than 250 locals casual strategy games.
game development companies already in
the sector. This is 10 fold an increase since On the other hand, between 2014 and
2010. It is suggested that Indian mobile 2016, game downloads in India has more
gaming market will be worth $1.1 billion by than doubled because in terms of
2020, and the number of users are
6
https://www.forbes.com/sites/suparnadutt/2018/03/09/how-online-gaming-in-india-is-growing-fast-into-a-billion-dollar-market/#5b5e73b955b6
7
same as above
14downloads, casual and sports genre games championship held in China and India.
perform very well. In fact, a survey reveals
that mobile gaming is part of daily lives of American gaming technology company has
more than one-third Indians. (40% men and also organized some GamerConnect
35% women play mobile games at least five symposiums across India. Such is the fan
days a week.) following of eSports that there are
thousands turning out to watch gamers play
According to the KPMG, mobile gaming live and millions more watching on the
revenue is estimated at Rs 4380 crores in internet. That day is not far that eSports
the year 2018, which will be tripled in next shall become a daily dose for the TV Sports
five years. The booming smartphone channels. Esports plays a huge part in
market, cheap mobile internet data and the gaming with $696 million market and
increasing audiences are the key drivers whopping 385.5 million viewers watching
behind the flourishing online mobile game their favourite teams and players fight for
market. glory. That's thrice as many subscribers
8
Netflix has .
eSports (Gaming Tournaments)
Gaming as a Career
The business of mobile gaming has become
serious. Gamification has brought about a Though, India may be slow in catching up the
new trend on which firms are capitalizing bus of the much buzzing mobile gaming
quickly. Nazara Technologies, a mobile industry, it is managing to catch up well. As
game publishing company, has seen growth on today, India has 253.2 million gamers of
in eSports and has acquired a 55% stake in which 81% belong to the age group 16-30.
gaming solutions company Nodwin Gaming. Not only this, there are professional teams
It plans to invest $20 million to develop in India who compete globally. There are
eSports over next five years. eGamers many who are making a career out of gaming
Arena, a start up on eSports also runs Indian in reality. They have taken game streaming
League Gaming, partnered with World as their jobs and are giving tough
Cyber Arena to host qualifiers for a competition to the people around.
8
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/313541
15Game Localization: That Indian fans could result in major implications on the
sales. Also the mobile games that bring
Taste
nostalgia are the most downloaded ones by
We remember playing Bollywood Version the Indian gamers.
of Street Fighter on our gaming consoles?
For instance, Ludo King was the most
That's game localization. A video game that
popular game of 2017. According to POKKT
is built on the Indian entertainment brands
Research, Ludo King beat Subway Surfer
does well in the Gaming market. Indeed,
and Temple Run by almost 50% more
99Games holds a specialization in
downloads. Ludo king was downloaded by
developing such mobile games. Dhoom 3:
10 million Daily Active Users (DAU) while
The Game by 99Games was a big hit in the
Subway Surfer and The Temple Run were
ye a r 2 0 1 3 by a c h i ev i n g 1 0 m i l l i o n
downloaded by 5 million DAU and 2.5 DAU
downloads in just 3 months.
respectively.
This explains that there is lot of scope in
Though published by an international Game
India for game localization, a mobile game
p u b l i s h e r, L u d o K i n g w a s a b l e t o
with local Indian language works well! The
immediately catch the attention of the
idea of building on local entertainment
Indian audience, because it could offer a
brands to grab the attention of local Indian
sense of nostalgia to the gamers. Teen Patti
and Rummy are the most downloaded and
popular mobile games for the India Players.
OCTRO
Launched in 2006, Octro is the fastest growing
mobile gaming company in India, their online
games viz. Teen Patti, Indian Rummy and Tambola
are topping the charts on various platforms.
NAZARA TECHNOLOGIES
With its Headquarters in India, Nazara is a well-established game TOP
developer with its offices in Dubai, London, Africa and Singapore. It is a
pioneer of e-Sports in India. It bought the major stakes of Nextwave who
is the developer of the most popular world cricket championship.
GAMING
COMPANIES
DREAM 11
IN INDIA
Sports is the only genre of games developed by Dream 11. With 3 crore plus users
playing Fantasy Cricket, Football, Kabaddi, and NBA; Dream11 is India's biggest
sports game developer.
99 GAMES
It has published over 18 game titles since its launch and has clocked in 50 million
downloads globally till date.
It's Dhoom:3 The Game is India's most downloaded game.
CREATIOSOFT
It has developed a wide range of games serving all the genres of the mobile games.
16Different Genres of Mobile Games basic rules of the sports with football, tennis
and lastly cricket being some of the most
There are different types of games that are popular games. With the aim of making the
popular with the gamers and give us an gameplay easy, lot of tweaks are made to the
insight on the thriving variety and way of playing as compared to the real
positioning of games in the country. game. Another version of sport game is
betting, which one rather termed as fantasy
These game genres are driven by the offline league tournaments. They get more popular
gaming industry and certainly by the board during when world cups or other major
games, street games, sports, mind games etc tournaments.
that ruled our childhood. These genres
range from puzzles based on language, One of the easiest gameplays is offered by
maths, science, logic or for that matter any racing games. Be it Need for Speed or
other mental-stimulation that keeps the Asphalt or MotoxGP, their popularity is
gamer occupied. It works on providing boosted by the fact that they are easy to
instant gratification and timely play and they give an adrenaline rush. While
achievements to the gamer. the major players have been continuously
upgrading themselves, smaller players are
Action-based games, needless to say are also coming up with niche racing games.
powerhouses of adrenaline rush and uses
the psycho-motor skills of the gamer. These Skill-based games have picked up lately
games are popular with youth and bring out given their short game span. At the same
the competitive spirit in them. time these games tend to be quite
interesting with the inbuild puzzles. On the
Games involving strategies work as mental other hand, chance-based events are more
stimulation and enhances the decision- prevalent as they do not require much
making power of the gamers. These games brainwork from the players and stir their
are the best when it comes to online gaming gambling instincts.
competitions and eSports.
Adventure games got popular for inducing
the spirit of survival instincts and breaking
free from the mundane life. They transport
the gamers to another world and hence
remain popular once and always.
Arcade games are more person based as
they include short levels, spontaneous
control schemes and generally an increasing
difficulty level algorithm. They tend to be
more addictive than the other games as the
player gets a sense of victory at all levels.
Sports game are generally based on the
17PUZZLE
Problem-solving skills including logic, pattern recognition, sequence
solving, word completion etc.
ACTION
Physical challenges including hand-eye coordination and reaction time
STRATEGY
Gamer(s) uninfluenced decision making skills have high impact on
outcome of the game
ADVENTURE
Interactive story based games, usually played as an individual protogonist
ARCADE
Mostly single player games with short levels, intuitive control schemes
and increasing difficulty levels
SPORTS
Sports based simulations
RACING
Racing competition with land, air or sea based vehicles
SKILL BASED
Games in which outcome is dependent on a gamer’s mental skills
CHANCE BASED
Games in which outcome is determined by chance
18Consumption Pattern of Indian Gamers
A recent survey conducted by KPMG players. However, experienced gamers
regarding the Indian gaming pattern had generally shift to larger screens for
brought out interesting insights. According better gameplay experience. The recent
to the report, the average Indian gamer is a development of online wallet system has
below 24-yearsof age male who plays facilitated the purchases of these games.
mainly for stress relief and social These systems are providing a very
interaction. His initiation to gaming is out of conducive platform for in-game purchases
peer pressure from friends or family. Word and making the market flourish a lot. While
of mouth is found to be the most effective playing the game, the users are in a good
way of marketing the games apart from flow and it gets easy for the game publishing
doing it through in-app ads of relevant to sell them their packages. Mindshare and
applications. Wallet share are some of the payment
portals that have witnessed high growth
Puzzle, action and adventure are the most over time.
preferred genres in India across
demographics and engagement levels. In terms of maximum downloads, Subway
Female players prefer puzzle games while Surfer, Candy Crush Saga and Temple Run 2
action and adventure genres are preferred have been the top games in that order.
by male players. Maybe this is the reason While in terms of revenue, Clash of Clans,
why they are always concerned about Clash of Kings and Candy Crush Saga
data and memory consumption while dominate the industry. All of these games
playing the games. Thanks to a better have been 'freemium' which is a revenue
set of smartphones, this worry is slowly model quickly picking up in the industry. The
decreasing. Female players are generally catch is that these games are free to
concerned about getting regular updates download from the relevant app store and
and upgrades of the game. many of the levels are free to play. But the
game then pushes users to buy certain
The most preferred device is still mobile products/services within the game and this
phone as this is most used by average game is how they generate their revenue.
This also goes out to show that a casual
gameplay, along with free access, can easily
drive volumes but the revenue is largely
driven by engagement levels of the games.
Designing the hook which keeps the players
engaged with the game has always been the
heart of freemium games. Along with this,
keeping the game system requirements to a
minimum so that the games can run on any
GAMES 19
smartphone is also a strategy used by them
to drive volumes.Conclusion
If the present trends are to believed, the days as this model is proving its worth in the
future of gaming in India seems to be very western countries. People would be
bright. Apart from the evolution of the allowed to download the game for free and
gaming industry worldwide and in India, play it and then as soon as they get used to
there are external factors which are going to the game and its features, they would be
act as a catalyst for the growth. The deep asked to do in-app purchases. This revenue
rate of penetration of smartphones is model will see a good growth in India. This
increasing the potential user base for the has been possible due to the convergence of
game makers. A gradual shift is visible from technologies for mutual growth.
urban market to rural market, as game
downloads are picking up in all parts of the Though betting has not been legalized in
country. Another major factor is the switch India, gambling and sports-betting games
to 4G networks by majority internet users. with no monetary implications are on a rise.
This allows speedier downloads along with Game makers have always found a way
possibilities of frequent updates. At the around in this by providing various types of
same time data heavy games are also finding virtual currencies to attract more and more
takers because of this. players. E-Sports will emerge as a good
sector for developing games. Given the fan
Mobile wallets are being extensively used in following of cricket, occasions like Indian
India today. Post the demonetization drive Premier League and world tournaments will
in India, the government itself has been further boost the use of these games.
pushing hard on online transactions. This
has allowed major players like Paytm, More emphasis will be laid uponn
Mobikwik and other mobile wallet “Indianizing' the game by adding local
companies to grow at a stupendous rate. flavors in the gameplay, be it through maps
This provides a high ease for the user to or characters or even music. There will be a
carry out online transactions for either rise in such games which will attract urban
purchase of games or in-game purchases. as well as rural markets. All in all, the Indian
All these factors have been facilitating the gaming industry is looking forward to a very
mobile gaming industry in India. bright future given the current trends and
the facilitating factors for it.
Going forward, there will be an improved
parity in terms of age and gender in the
gaming population. With more puzzle and
arcade type games, the female ratio of
players is also increasing. Games like Candy
Crush have found their way in the mobile
phones of people above the age of 40 given
the simple gameplay. Freemium games will
be attracting more traction in the comingFreemium Convergence of
games to stakeholders
create better economics to drive
for gaming companies adoption and stage of
mobile internet
Content Emerging
customization for technologies
the ‘Indian’ taste: to become a
Local brand commercial reality
in India
Enchanced e-Sports
customer lifecycle to augment
at every stage: engagement
Power of data levels in online gaming
Improved age and Gamification
gender parity to offer opportunities
in the online across business
gaming population functions and sectors
21You can also read
