Mario, Contra, Tetris, Nintendo. Each of these words are likely to evoke immense amount of nostalgia for you and others reading this piece.
It¡¯s also likely to evoke memories of parents saying, "Don't waste your time playing video games." But things have long since changed.
The gaming industry in India has come a long way since the early 2000s. According to a CII report, the Indian gaming industry was valued at USD 543.08 million in 2017 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.61%.
India had 198 million mobile gamers in 2015, and this number is expected to grow to 628 million gamers on multiple portable devices by 2020. Out of close to 15 million PC and console gamers in the country, two million are eSports gamers and nearly 1000 pro gamers in India; making PC and console gaming the next step in the evolution of a gamer¡¯s life cycle.?
Factors such as increased broadband penetration in the country; smartphone boom; and social media have played a significant role in this massive growth. Smartphones have enabled gamers to play on the go. The laptop gaming sector has also seen a growth because of the performance leap in recent years. Then there is social media which has played a huge role in building awareness and a feeling of community.
There are close to 1000 pro gamers in India and this number is only going to increase, owing largely to the increasing internet penetration and availability of 4G/5G connections. Per IAMAI and IMRB, the number of internet users in India is expected to reach 500 million by June 2018. Pairing this with the growth of disposable incomes, allows gaming enthusiasts today to access and experience a rich variety of games at their fingertips.
Another key insight, parents today have grown up experiencing wonderful, albeit nostalgic, PC games like Half- Life, Wolfenstein 3D and Pac-Man. Their exposure to gaming allows them to be more open to their children pursuing gaming on both fronts - as a hobby and as a career. This fundamental shift in the culture and mind-set of parents today is further augmented by social media.
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Like any other sport, these gamers are dedicated, disciplined, have a regular team, manager, participate regularly in high profile tournaments and practice many hours in a day. There are organized tournaments that take place today like any other sport along with monetization avenues. eSports companies like CobX, ESL India and UCypher organize professional gaming tournaments in multiple cities across India, with the aim to expand the scale and reach of pro-gaming.
These tournaments come with a lucrative prize money which has been growing rapidly over the last five years, reaching up to one crore today. Gaming might not be considered an orthodox career, although it is one that is seeing continued growth and interest. Teams like Brutality and Signify have seen fruition of their hard work and have represented India in global gaming tournaments.??
Pro-gaming isn¡¯t the only opportunity to monetise in the gaming industry. Gaming has evolved into a spectator sport today, with many gamers boasting large audiences logging in to catch their live streams. This allows game streamers to monetize their content on platforms like YouTube and Twitch. Gaming Cafes are lucrative and have potential in India, especially in Tier 2 cities where large a number of gamers don¡¯t have access to proper hardware.
NVIDIA estimates that there¡¯s potential for 10,000 to 15,000 Gaming Cafes in India in the next three years. These cafes can potentially employ around 75,000 people. Then there are the graphic designers, game developers, hardware sellers, solution providers for custom games, shoutcasters and influencers who are on the rise because of social media.
Furthermore, eSports can garner a lot of visibilty for companies to advertise with about two million eSports viewers in India which is expected to grow five times by 2021. Also, gaming is no longer limited to being a form of entertainment - the growth of virtual and augmented reality gaming can also aid in healthcare and as a teaching aid in education.?
Companies in the gaming space are not only instrumental in building a comprehensive gaming ecosystem, but are also working with entrepreneurs who want to invest and build gaming cafes, thereby helping in expanding the reach of pro-gaming across the country.
Events like NVIDIA Gamer Connect where gamers can come to experience cutting-edge hardware in gaming and see what the latest the industry has to offer.?
Clearly, the gaming industry is far more evolved from the time a lot of us were growing up.?
The next step is showing folks like Sachin Bansal what they¡¯ve missed out on all these years.
About the author: Currently serving as Consumer Marketing Head for NVIDIA South Asia,?Vamsi¡¯s 19 year career includes extensive experience in product marketing, technical marketing, and pre-sales with leading IT-Hardware/Software companies in India.?Prior to this, Vamsi was associated with Microsoft as Director for Windows Consumer Marketing where he played an instrumental role in marketing of Windows Client for Consumer segment for India. In his earlier days, Vamsi has worked with Advance Micro Devices (AMD) & Wipro.