Great Opportunity For Indian Gaming Startups During COVID-19 Lockdown

With plenty of hours at disposal, individuals in India are spending a larger part of their day playing various games during the lockdown. This has prompted flooding of a client’s commitment to gaming businesses in India.

In the time of coronavirus, away from the despair and sadness, lies the universe of 'quarantine and chill', where individuals, who have bound themselves to their homes, are presently discovering approaches to kill time. From playing music in their balconies to Instagramming dalgona coffee to uncovering overlooked hobbies, individuals are taking the necessary steps for days to pass. In any case, it is the cell phone games that have taken a jump start.

According to a report by Google-KPMG, the online gaming segment was pegged at $1.1 billion by 2021. India was amongst the top five mobile gaming markets in the world and was said to be amongst the 300 million gamers in FY19. However now, with the COVID-19 lockdown, the online gaming market in India is witnessing a skyrocketing increase in user engagement.

Worldwide games, for example, Houseparty and Psych have risen as one of the most used around during the isolation period. Their client commitment has arrived at a level that clients are encountering slacks in the interface of Psych. In India, the periods of gaming startups are reaching new heights. “The surge for us came suddenly. On the weekend of March 15, there was a 3x increase in gameplays and 30% higher traffic. As the country locked down, this grew every single hour,” said Paavan Nanda, Co-founder, WinZo.

“Our app sees more than half a million daily active gamers on the platform spending anywhere between 30 to 45 minutes,” said Sudhanshu Gupta, COO, Paytm First Games, adding that more than 75,000 new users have appeared in the last few weeks.

Paytm First Games, which offers over 100 popular games including Ludo, Rummy, Teen Patti, and Fantasy Cricket, among others, has witnessed maximum traction for Rummy with Sudhanshu claiming that the number of games being played is getting doubled every week. “A majority of users who joined our platform during the lockdown fall in the age group of 18-45 years,” Sudhanshu said. "60% of the individuals who play our games originate from the age-gathering of 18 to 25, for the most part. In any case, in the midst of the lockdown, we see an expansion in clients from the age gathering of 25-35. A minimal increment in female rush hour gridlock has additionally been watched," he said.

The significant client base is mostly from UP, Bihar, MP, Delhi, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh. Other gamer’s clients are from different pieces of the nation, for example, Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala.