Industry experts believe mobile games to be the fuel for a larger gaming industry in India

The Indian gaming industry has witnessed raid growth in the past few years, specifically in 2018 with the release of PUBG Mobile. Thanks to its free-to-play model and an impressive port of the original PC game, it was a massive success, especially among the Indian gaming community, which did not have many means to play video games.

Thanks to that, the market kicked off with players starting to explore even more titles. Documenting the growth of the gaming market, GamesIndustryBiz, in a recent feature, talked to various industry experts who highlighted the growth points and other factors boosting the growth.

“That game really changed perceptions and even the market entirely because before that, gaming had been very polarising,” said Sameer Desai, an independent consultant. Explaining that games like Angry Birds and Temple Run were also popular, but PUBG Mobile kicked off the gaming era.

Prior to PUBG Mobile, video games were a niche hobby, especially PC games, which have grown a lot over the last few years but are still very much in their infancy. This was due to games costing money, which not many people can afford. Here, mobile gaming came as a solution; with most games being free and having much cheaper in-app purchases compared to full-priced games, it blew up quickly.

Cheap smartphones and mobile data was also a huge factor, Desai further told. Whereas, playing online games on PC usually requires much more investment. “It was a luxury, but now gaming is becoming a hobby, and people are even looking to make careers out of it,” he added.

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PUBG and BGMI inspiring local developers

Founder of 4WD Gaming, Sharmilee Daru, also spoke with GamesIndustryBiz, revealing that the popularity of games like PUBG Mobile and BGMI has encouraged Indian developers to also step up and make their own games.

Over the years, Indian developers made a decent number of games in both the multiplayer and single-player categories. Games like Raji, FAU-G Domination and most recently released Indus Battle Royale are a great step towards game development.

“I hope there's going to be a local game that does well soon. India is nearly there. You never know which game it could be, but once a great game makes it to the top, the entire ecosystem will benefit,” she said, talking about games developed within India.