FUTURE OF GAME DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA
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THE FUTURE OF GAME DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA
In 2020, as a part of the Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat mission, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized the country’s need to tap the huge potential and lead the international digital gaming sector. He further discussed the need to develop games inspired from Indian culture and folk tales. Less than five years later, Statista projected a revenue of $3,172.00 million in 2024 from the Video Games market in India. The number along with the government’s interest in India’s gaming industry, is reason enough to discover the game development industry in India. This page will give you an overview of the Game Development industry in India, its present, and its future scope.
Statistical Highlights of Indian Game Development Market
The Indian Game Development industry has seen extraordinary growth in the past few years thanks to the rise of new game development ventures, both individual and organization level. The gaming market in India went from $0.8 billion dollars in 2019 to $2.6 billion dollars in 2022. Moreover, it is projected to reach $8.6 billion dollars by 2027.
Let’s look at a few key highlights from Statista’s insights about video games in India:
- Online Games, with a market volume of $1,467 million, is the largest market segment within the Video Games market in India in 2024.
- The Indian Video Games market revenue is expected to reach $3,172 million by 2024.
- By 2027, it projects a volume of $4,420 million by 2027.
- The Video Games market is expected to have 167.7 million users by 2027.
Although India still struggles with limited access to high-speed internet and a liking for mobile gaming, there has been great movement in the direction of collaborations between studios in the Indian gaming industry. As a result, the future of gaming infrastructure in India looks positive.
Indie Game Development Scenario in India
Independent game development companies are experiencing exciting transformation as the gaming market continues to expand both in popularity and demand. Indie games are created by small teams or even independent developers and are known to explore innovative gameplays. As a result, games like Among Us and Stardew Valley have gained much popularity among young players.
Many game development studios in India are also a part of the indie game development landscape. As of 2020, there were at least 300 game companies in India and these were not just testing games, but also making games for MNCs. Pyrodactyl Games’ indie game Unrest from 2014 that was set in a fantasy Indian setting and focused on everyday life characters from rural areas.
Dominance of Mobile Gaming in India
While it is true that playing on a gaming console or a PC offers smooth and unparalleled gaming experience, mobile gaming has been on the rise in recent years. According to the 2023 India Games Market report by Niko, India was the fastest growing video games market in Asia in 2023 both in terms of gamers and revenue. With a CAGR of 10.1% over a five-year span, the Indian gaming community is expected to grow to 641.2 million by 2027, and mobile gaming will have the most to contribute to the figure. The report highlighted that India is a mobile first market with 96.8% of total gamers playing on a smartphone or tablet.
Honor of Kings is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game that recorded a revenue of more than 103 million U.S. dollars through just in-app purchases in 2023. Although the game is only available in China, it was the top-grossing mobile worldwide in November 2023.
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Government Initiatives for the Game Development Market in India
With the Indian Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) industry gaining healthy momentum in the recent years, it has become crucial to develop an ecosystem for the industry to boost domestic game building, collaborations with academia, co-production, technology, and promotes policy and research.
As a result, the India government announced the formation of the AVGC Task Force during the Budget Speech 2022-23. The task force aims to offer employment and support to the youth in the AVGC sector in India. Let’s look at the key highlights of the recommendations given by the AVGC Taskforce.
The AVGC Sector in India
- The AVGC Taskforce Report for 2023 indicates that the Media and Entertainment (M&E) Industry is expected to grow at a CAGR OF 8.8% by 2026, and within it, the AVGC sector can grow between 14-16% in the next 10 years. The sector is emerging as an important growth engine of India’s economy. The Indian Animation and VFX industries have been consistently creating animated features and series that have attracted global attention. Approximately 50% of Indian Animation and VFX studios will adopt real-time technology or virtual production by 2025.
Gaming Sector
The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst to the already growing gaming segment in India. The reports suggests that India is expected to become one of the world’s leading markets in the gaming industry.
Educational Initiatives
The rising popularity of gaming and the AVGC sector in India has made it imperative to increase investment in AVGC education, which at present has no apex institute in India. Although there has been in increase in university courses, there are very few colleges (only 139) across India for students to access knowledge easily.
