Revenue for Indian gaming market likely to double to $6 billion by 2028: Report

India, the fastest growing market in terms of mobile gaming, expects annual revenue of the overall Indian gaming industry to almost double to $6 billion by 2028, up from from $3.1 billion in 2023, according to a joint report by Interactive Entertainment and Innovation Council and online gaming firm Winzo.

Paying gamers are estimated to reach 240 million by 2028, up from 144 million paid users for games in 2023, the India Gaming Report 2024 based on an analysis by Interactive Entertainment and Innovation Council (IEIC) analysis and secondary data suggested

"The Indian gaming industry comprises over 1400 gaming companies, including 500 gaming studios. The annual revenue for gaming is projected to reach USD 6 billion by 2028," as per the report.

The number of professional players will go up by 2.5 times over the next five years from 500 in 2023 owing to the government recognising e-sports and initiatives taken by various state government for the development of talent around e-sports.

"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 per cent in 2023, followed by Brazil and the US with 4.5 billion (7.6 per cent market share) and 4.4 billion (7.4 per cent market share) downloads, respectively," the report said.

India has a consumer base of around 568 million gamers, as per estimates, and is home to about 15,000 game developers and programmers. 

An estimated 40 per cent of the gaming natives in India consist of women, which has gone up from 20 per cent or one in five gamers three years ago.

"Mobile gaming contributes to 90 per cent of the gaming market in India as compared to around 37 per cent and about 62 per cent in the US and China, respectively," the report said.

Close to 50 per cent of gamers come under the 18 to 30 years age bracket. 

The segment represents a tendency for mid-core and hardcore gaming genres, particularly those characterised by fast-paced gameplay such as shooting games.

On the other hand, about 30 per cent of Indian gamers were in the age range of  31 and 45 years, with their gaming preferences leaning towards strategy games. 

The key growth drivers for the gaming industry include the boost in smartphones to over 820 million accelerated by affordability, increase in phone memory by 3-4 times in the past five years and low cost of data.

India's online gaming industry will add 2.5 lakh more jobs in the next 10 years, as per the report’s projections, which currently are gauged to employ 1 lakh skilled gaming professionals directly and indirectly.

"On average, game development costs in India can be up to 50-60 per cent lower than those in Western countries, making it an exceptionally attractive outsourcing destination," the report said.

There is a surge in demand for talent in the Indian gaming sector, with job openings ranging from 50,000 to 60,000 across various roles including developers, programmers, testers, artists, and customer support, as per the report.

(With PTI Inputs)