Gaming gets a makeover by COVID-19, creates strategic thinkers

High speed internet connectivity and access to smartphones, laptops and tablet devices, as well as falling data prices has made online gaming accessible to majority of the India’s population. And this has been propelled further by the outbreak of COVID-19. The pandemic gave a significant boost, hike in traffic on gaming apps and websites. And this is contributing to the economy as well.

KPMG in its 2019 report, An overview of online gaming in India, stated that revenues have nearly doubled over a period of four years, reaching Rs 43.8 billion in FY18, and are expected to grow further at CAGR of 22.1 per cent from FY18-23, expected to reach Rs 118.8 billion. Some of the most popular gaming genres with users are action, puzzle and adventure; these are most consumed among casual and heavy gamers. Mobile phones are the most preferred device amongst online gamers, this is owing to the flexibility the devices offer in terms of the potential anytime, anywhere usage.

Fantasy sports popular in India

Fantasy sports genre is picking up pace in terms of popularity. Fantasy sports players, as per NIKO, in India have grown from two million in 2017 to 50 million in 2019 and the number is expected to reach 100 million in 2020. Online Fantasy Sports Gaming (OFSG) is a form of skill-based online sports gaming where gamers can create their own team made up of real life players from upcoming matches and is widely played across cricket, football, kabaddi, basketball, rugby and other popular sports. The virtual teams garner points based on the actual statistical performance of players during the course of the real life match and winners are determined accordingly. Some popular fantasy sports apps are DraftKings, FanDuel, RealFevr, Fantasy Football Draft Wizard, Clash of Clans and PUBG etc. According to NIKO, Gamerji which is an e-sports platform registered a spike in its daily active users from 12,000-15,000 pre-pandemic to 40,000-50,000 during the lockdown. Gamerji conducts daily tournaments to allow its users to compete, communicate, share content and win cash prizes. Moreover, online gaming platform Adda52Rummy also experienced a surge in its traffic through people joining its platform from different localities in the country.

More platforms for gamers

Gamers now have a selection of platforms. In the past two to three years OFSG in India has witnessed stupendous growth. The number of fantasy sports operators has increased by seven times over 2016-18, whereas the number of users has grown by over 25x from June 2016 to February 2019. This has been pushed by growth in digital infrastructure. The option of playing the sport on a handheld device at any given point irrespective of location and time has significantly helped the user engagement around fantasy sports. This has brought about a well-rounded boost, notedly, online payments companies stand to benefit as fantasy sports only allows digital  payments, thus increasing transparency and traceability of funds. Fantasy sports also act as a revenue stream for the government through tax income and GST which is generated from users and platforms.