India’s gaming industry powers up

India is the largest gaming market in the world, boasting a user base of 568 million gamers and over 9.5 billion gaming app downloads in 2023, a recent report has revealed.

The report, titled ‘Robust Fundamentals to Power Continued Growth’, found that India contributes approximately 20% of the world’s total mobile game downloads, surpassing even the combined download totals of the next two: The US and Brazil.

Here are some more interesting findings as per the report: The sector is growing rapidly at a 14 per cent CAGR, on the back of the mobile-first phenomenon. Mobile contributes to 90 per cent of the gaming market in India as compared to about 37 and 62% in the US and China, respectively.


Introducing gaming to a non-english audience

The introduction of vernacular languages and Indian themes on various apps and games are expanding the addressable user base to non-English speaking clusters. Current internet growth in India is driven by new users from rural areas (13% as compared to four per cent urban), who predominantly prefer vernacular content.


Who is the Indian gamer?

Approximately 40% of the gaming populace in India comprises women and this demographic demonstrates a predilection towards casual and hypercasual gaming experiences. Until three years ago, only one in five gamers in India was a woman.


Gaming in India — by revenue streams

Around 20% of gamers in India are paying users, with pay to play, casual and core games being the most popular among the paying user base. In-app purchases are projected to grow at the highest rate at around 35% CAGR, with the rise of paying users being across casual and core genres.