The State of India Gaming Report 2022 predicts that the Indian e-sports market would increase from $40 million in 2022 to $140 million by 2027.

According to report by gaming and interactive media venture fund Lumikai, the number of gamers in India have crossed 600,000 in 2022 and is set to reach 1.6 million by 2027

Founding General Partner at Lumikai, Justin Shriram Keeling said, “Indians download more games than any other country on earth, and this is translating to a host of white spaces on the consumer demand side including a largely young, professional gamer category who are increasingly paying for in-app purchases, an untapped audience of female gamers, and strong interest in games with Indian cultural resonance,” according to Economic Times.

The report also revealed that female gamers are spending more time playing games every week compared to male gamers. Over 50% of the gamers hop on to play casual games in order to relax in their free time, followed by 13% playing for monetary incentives, 12% for time pass and other 11% for socializing online.

Casual games were preferred by around 48% of non-gamers as their top genre to play in the future, while 35% of gamers admitted that their game time have increased significantly in the previous year.

A previous report by TeamLease Digital back in November 2022 estimated that the growth of the Indian gaming sector and increase in number of gamers will also create a number of job in the gaming sector.

Indians spending over gaming and esports

Talking about the players spending money on video games online, it was revealed that around 67% of the players have done in-app purchase while 57% have taken a subscription. In all, 59% of players admitted that they have started spending money on games.

Around 40% of the gamers have shown willingness to spend of Real Money Games (RMG) while 50% of players are ready to pay for casual games if they are good.

Gamers also revealed their interest in playing games based on Indian mythology and characters. 82% of the gamers revealed interested in these games wile 43% of the non-gamers said they would consider playing games if they are based on Indian culture and epics.

The AVGC task force set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to boost the animation, visual effects, gaming, and comic sector have also suggested a “Create in India” campaign and develop further on promoting Indian culture and Heritage with high quality content be it in gaming or any other sector globally.