Launched just three years back, the game Angry Birds has spread like wildfire and has set standards and achieved targets that its developer would have never imagined. Crossing the 1-billion-download mark last year, the game, which was initially introduced only on Apple iOS, is now available across all platforms. Figures show that Angry Birds games have so far been played a total of more than 200,000 years, with 300 million minutes of playing time daily. Even today, when a new version of the game is launched, it sees 10-20 million downloads in a week. Some other examples of popular games are Fruit Ninja, Parking Frenzy, etc.
So what does this all indicate? The success of these games has proved that gaming is no longer confined to consoles and PCs but has now moved on to a smartphone or tablet. These games have added a new dimension to the smartphone by making it a popular gaming console. World over, mobile games are capturing the imagination of casual gamers and India is no different. It has given developers the opportunity to reach out to a larger audience across all income brackets.
The Indian gaming sector, comprising all forms of gaming including console, mobile, PC and online, was estimated to be R19 billion in 2012. Mobile gaming, which currently captures 36% of the market, is witnessing tremendous growth in India and is expected to become the largest segment of the gaming industry in the coming years.
India has a huge potential as it is a young nation with 50% of its population under the age of 25. A steady rise in the number of wireless subscribers along with increasing usage of data enabled handsets is providing a strong base for the gaming industry. India, with its 900 million mobile users, has one of the world?s largest mobile consumer bases. There are about 210 million mobile handsets sold in the country every year, out of which the majority are either feature-rich or smartphones that are internet capable. India, with its 44 million smartphone users, is the fifth largest smartphone market globally which is growing at a rate of 17% annually. Not only is the mobile phone user base huge, the number of internet subscribers has also grown at a rate of 16% over the last one year to reach 140 million in 2012. Mobile phone is emerging as a major avenue for internet access with more than 80 million subscribers. In addition, India which was about a decade late in launching its 3G services, has leapfrogged in the last couple of years and is now at par with the global market when it comes to 4G. As a result, the mobile phone has become a major source of entertainment for a larger section of the society and gaming is emerging as one of the major contributors to data revenue. Games now account for a large percentage of the data downloads by consumers.
Another important factor that is contributing to the growth of mobile gaming in India is the launch and the increasing popularity of tablets. The tablet market in India has grown at a rate of 40% over the last year. Also, the initiatives taken by the Indian government to manufacture a tablet that costs sub-R2,000 would help make these devices easily available to the common man. All these have made it easy for people to play games on the go.
This potential that the Indian market has to offer has led to the proliferation of many small developers and multinationals entering into distribution agreements with some of the big game publishers in India.
Hyderabad has come up as one of the hubs for the Indian gaming segment. Since mobile phones give the developers greater reach, it has helped bring about localisation of content. Developers are looking to connect with the Indian consumer by choosing themes such as Bollywood and cricket. Numerous mobile cricket games are released every year, especially around the time of big tournaments such as World Cups, Indian Premier League, etc. Many mobile games have been inspired by movies such as Ra.One, Don 2 and Agneepath. Developers are innovating by building games on various platforms such as Interactive
Voice Recognition (IVR). Games are also being developed for kids that are inspired by Indian cartoon characters such as Bal Hanuman, Chhota Bheem, Tinkle, etc.
Most of these games which can be downloaded effortlessly are available on multiple platforms: Android, Apple iOS, Nokia, Windows and Blackberry. These attract both avid gamers and non-gamers as they usually involve 4-5 minutes of game play and help bring about engagement.
Various pricing and revenue models have come into place as the market is growing. Due to the low penetration of credit cards and mobile banking in India, developers and publishers have to co-operate with telecom operators. Most games are available as game app downloads from app stores or websites at nominal prices ranging from R25 to R50. The telcos have also introduced the concept of ?game clubs? to which consumers can subscribe to by paying as less as R10 per day and play upto three games. Another concept that is catching up is micro transactions, wherein the gamers have options of buying virtual goods such as better weapons, extra lives, etc., to move onto higher levels or increase their scores.
Brands are also looking to associate with games and are willing to adopt in-game advertising. Various revenue models such as Freemium and advergaming are being put into place. Freemium helps people to download a game for free and these free versions have advertisements embedded in them. One successful example of this is the close integration of Parle-G brand with the game Ra.One Genesis. Under these models brands are able to achieve effective engagement as they are closely integrated in the games’ ecosystem through banners and virtual goods. Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), travel, food and beverages are the key sectors that are increasingly adopting in-game advertising.
Gaming companies are betting big on the mobile gaming market. Farmville and Cityville maker Zynga, which recently set up operations in India, is also now focusing on the mobile space and trying to increase its mobile game portfolio. India is definitely becoming an interesting destination for all game publishers and developers with its given landscape and the increasing popularity of mobile devices as gaming consoles.
Suheil Murgai is associate director at Ipsos Business Consulting while Prerna Kumra is associate consultant at Ipsos Business Consulting
