Online gaming market ripe for innovation, fueled by youth and mobile gaming, says Siddharth Patel of CVC Capital Partners

The Indian gaming market is set to witness as many as 10 unicorns and 5 decacorns by 2028. The sector has already witnessed the successful listing of Nazara technologies and as many as 5 companies are IPO ready.

India’s ascent as a preferred location for gaming companies and its emergence as a game export hub will contribute to the national economic growth. India’s large player base, skilled talent pool, robust legal regime for intellectual property (IP) protection, and government initiatives is making India the preferred hub of global gaming market. The Indian gaming industry comprises over 1400 gaming companies, including 500 gaming studios. The annual revenue for gaming is projected to reach $6 billion by 2028, stated the India Gaming Report 2024 by Interactive Entertainment and Innovation Council and Winzo.

"We perceive India’s online gaming market as ripe for innovation, fueled by its increasing youth population, rising penetration of the internet and a growing preference for mobile gaming. The rise of vernacular and culturally resonant content presents a significant opportunity for deeper market penetration," said Siddharth Patel Managing Partner, CVC Capital Partners.

India’s total mobile game downloads exceed the total downloads of the next two Markets – the US, Brazil – Put together.”14 India boasts a massive, engaged consumer base of ~568 million gamers.15 India is home to approximately 15,000 game developers and programmers.16 144 mn users paid for games in 2023 and the number of paying gamers is expected to reach 240 mn by 2028.

The exponential growth of India’s gaming industry is evident in the download statistics. In just four years, from 2019 to 2023, game downloads in India soared from 5.65 billion to a staggering 9.5 billion. This growth propelled India’s share of global game downloads to a substantial 16% in 2023, followed by Brazil and US with 4.5 billion (7.6% market share) and 4.4 billion (7.4% market share) downloads, respectively.

Over the coming years, online gaming in India will continue to benefit from the Government of India’s initiatives of ‘Make In India’, ‘Digital India’, and ‘Production-Linked Incentive’ schemes. The recommendations of the Government constituted Task Force on Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic (AVGC) provide a conducive environment for the long-term growth of the online gaming industry.

The key recommendations of the AVGC Task Force included 1) developing domestic industry for global access (such as launch of national mission on AVGC-XR, ‘Create in India’ campaign, Establish a National Centre of Excellence) 2) Developing talent (such as leverage National Education Policy, launch courses on AVGC-XR) 3) enhancing Technology & Financial Viability for Indian AVGC Industry (such as leverage Start-up India, increase Ease of Doing Business) 4) Raising India’s soft power through inclusive growth (such as target skilling and industry outreach for youth in Tier 2 & 3 towns).

Multiple states in India have either launched or are in the process of launching their respective state-level policies for the AVGC sector. Few states have even launched their own fund to promote the growth of this sector, specific courses for talent development, and have announced their own Centres of Excellence.

This state level promotion of the sector comes on the back of Government of India’s focus on this sector through multiple interventions. The Central Government Task Force on AVGC catalyzed the state level awareness and support for this sector. The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY)’s Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules for online gaming released in 2023 have also recognized the role of legitimate online gaming platforms to safeguard the interests of the users and lays out the legal pathway for long-term growth of the sector.