The Rise of Mobile Gaming in India

Gone are the days of PC gaming and home-based consoles being the choice of gamers. Now, the dominance of both of them is slowly coming to an end and it’s replaced by the booming mobile gaming market. Mobile gaming is now the staple of the gaming market, overtaking PC gaming in revenues for quite a few years now.

One of the primary reasons for this is that mobile phones are easily available and the cost of it has greatly reduced when compared to the earlier years. This allows the players to play the game anytime, they want just by reaching their phones. The wonderful aspect about these mobile games is that some games are available to play offline and even those that can’t just need some public Wifi connection to run. This way of easy access has made the players who aren’t otherwise avid gamers also to try their hand playing these games. Most of the exciting games are available for FREE in Google Play Store and App Store. As easy it is to find them, downloading them and installing them is also a simple process unlike complex installation processes associated with PC games. It’s because of the alluring nature of these games; players from all walks of life are enjoying these games.  

Easy Availability

The success these games have enjoyed can be attributed to easy availability and portability.  Additionally, the sheer range of games that runs from shooting to strategy to puzzles to real money games like rummy and poker; there is a vast selection that leaves something for everyone.

Keeping this in mind, it is extremely easy to understand why mobile gaming has found a flavour with the audience. They can be accessed all through the day thus helping the players kick the boredom and also at the same time offer some quality entertainment. Whether they are waiting for flights, commuting to work or waiting in a queue, these games can be accessed anytime.

The growth of Mobile Gaming Sector in India

Countries like India are now in the top five markets for mobile gaming when taking the number of gamers in consideration. A few years back, India was not known for its gaming industry, but the proliferation of smart phones and the availability of cheap data plans has triggered a massive surge in the revenue of the gaming Industry. Many game developers are capitalizing this phenomenal growth by creating exciting games. The best part about gaming these days are that arcade games which we were enjoying in its brick and mortar form are now available online. This includes traditional card games like rummy, Teen Patti, and Satte Pe Satta that are now made available online, thanks to the explosive growth of websites offering card games. According to a report made available by POKKT, more than 222 million gamers in India are spending an average of 42 minutes playing mobile games. Estimates suggest that India’s mobile gaming market will be worth $1.1 billion and the number of users is all set to spiral to 628 million by then. It’s interesting to note that online rummy industry plays a major role in that segment, thanks to the ubiquitous availability of rummy mobile apps.  These are some staggering numbers considering our population. The indicators clearly point out that India is all set to become the focal point of mobile gaming in the future. Battleground Mobile India also regularly publishes BGMI Redeem Codes for India as a new version of PUBG Mobile for only Indian players.

Security in mobile gaming

One factor where people get really apprehensive about mobile gaming is that of security. Sharing details like Credit card, Photo/ID proofs, bank statement gets the players really jittery. However, you can set apart your apprehension aside as gaming companies have incorporated a lot of security measures to ensure you have a safe and secure gaming experience. Whether it is the protection of confidential information or preventing unauthorized access, these companies have enforced enough measures to earn the trust of the players. Anonymity is also retained to a great extent. A lot of rummy sites have enforced these measures thus allowing the players the luxury of playing rummy for cash anytime.

The challenge

The biggest challenge for the gaming companies especially the Indian ones is to be identified in the global market. Given the fact that the traditional gaming markets like US and UK have saturated, the momentum is swinging in favour of the developing countries like India, China, and other Southeast Asian countries. The challenge is to keep the audience glued at any expense. While the concept of localization has helped, but it’s still a tremendous task to get your game discovered. The mobile gaming arena is overly crowded with millions of games making their way into the PlayStore and AppStore every day, thus making it extremely difficult for the operators to become identifiable. It’s vital to have a strong acquisition strategy without which it might be impossible for your game to be recognized. The key challenge is to identify what the gamers want and provide to them in a neat package. When the players get what they want and could relate it to the lives, chances are very high that they will stick to the game.

The conclusion

The task is cut out for the mobile game developers. Mobile games will continue to grow and evolve giving the players a range of options to choose from. With Smartphone penetration at an all-time high and data operators involved in an intense tussle to acquire customers with cheap data plans, it is the gamers who are all set to benefit immensely.

 

Jack is a tech blogger and content marketer specializing in online security and privacy. He spends his time split between Western Canada and Asia Pacific.