The revenue from operations for FY22 of Head Digital Works (HDW), which owns A23 brand of games, saw a slight decline of 13.5% going down to Rs 721.8 crore from Rs 819.2 crore in FY21. The profit also dipped by 17.9% to Rs 17.8 crore in FY22 from Rs 21 crore in FY21, according to the data accessed by market intelligence firm Tofler.

Siddharth Sharma, SVP of business strategy at Head Digital Works, recently talked about a host of things relating to his company. The current player base for HDW stands around 55 million. Sharma, however, asserted that the business grew significantly over the previous fiscal year.

“We are almost close to Rs 1,100 crore gross revenue, and we aim to target over 50% growth to maintain profitability in our business,” said Sharma as quoted by The Financial Express.

According to the company, there is anywhere between two and six people on a single table in a single game with the maximum bid going up to Rs 15,000 on their rummy platform. The current male to female player ratio is 9:1 for A23 rummy, Sharma stated.

Sharma further added that games over Rs 10 crore a day have also been played on the platform with Rs 20–30 crore being put in. The customer acquisition cost currently sits around Rs 4,000 per player.

The company stated that they have spent around Rs 550 crore on marketing in FY22 which matches the ad spend trend as per the recent report by Fintrackr. According to Sharma, the company is planning to spend Rs 600 crore in FY23, of which around 75% will be spent on digital ads. Furthermore, the digital ads will account less than 5% for influencer marketing.

Notably, HDW has recently been promoting their responsible gaming campaign. These ads aim to prevent people from overspending.

According to a recent joint report by FICCI and Ernst & Young (EY), the online gaming sector grew by 35% in 2022, reaching a value of Rs 13,500 crore and will reach Rs 23,100 crore by 2025 at a CAGR of 20%.