Maple Capital Advisors says that gaming start-ups in India have attracted $1.6 billion in the nine months to 30 Sept 2020, exceeding the total value of investments in the sector in the past five years.
Gaming industry in India and has generated US$ 1.5 billion in net revenue during the pandemic and is expected to surpass US$ 5 billion by 2025. India has experienced a 22% rise in the adoption of mobile games in 2021. Internet affordability and growing smartphone penetration are indicators of bright prospects for the industry.
India also has ademographic advantage as 46% of the population is under 25 and 67% are in the working class (ages 15–64). Nearly 75–80% of the respondents between 18–24 and 25–36 play at least one to three times a week.
Indians are increasingly getting acquainted with more sophisticated games amid the rising availability of triple-A titles (first-tier) games such as PUBG and Fortnite. Indian games such as Ludo King, Dream 11, and MPL registered over 100 million downloads.
There are 920 gaming start-ups in India from whichg Dream11, Nazara Technologies, and Halaplay are the standouts. GameEon Studios which is working on the first triple-A title Mumbai Gullies, received funding of US$ 320,000 recently.
Dream Sports and MPL aren’t the only companies that have received investments. Top venture firms such as Accel, Matrix Partners India, and more have invested millions of dollars in firms, including PlayShifu, Zupee, and Winzo. South Korean gaming firm Krafton Inc., which makes popular battle royale games PUBG Mobile and Battlegrounds Mobile India, also invested $22 million in homegrown Nodwin Gaming.
“We expect investments to increase in the sector in the next 12-18 months,” said Pankaj Karna, founder and managing director of Maple Capital Advisors. “Consumer traction on the back of greater awareness and engagement is likely to accelerate,” he added.
According to Salone Sehgal, general partner at Lumikai, a “massive amount” of money is being invested in gaming globally, and India is benefiting from the same. “India has been a beneficiary of the fact that capital inflows to China have slowed due to the strong stand China has taken against gaming,” she added.
