In today’s hustle-bustle world on one hand where technology is rising at a very velocity rate while on the other it has caught up the population worldwide. And the Internet has broken the geographical boundaries when it comes to connecting anywhere around the globe.
As per the reports, Smartphones and Tablets contribute about half of the internet traffic worldwide. And there’s more to the story, more than 64 per cent of smartphone users consume the internet who have some online games on their mobile phones.
A smartphone is just an empty box if it doesn’t have apps in it. “Apps k Bina, smartphone smart Nahi,” because today the smartphones are not only used to make and receive calls but have become a prime source of information and entertainment. 55% of people spend their time on entertainment and 7 times more while consuming it on mobile phones rather than watching TV.
“Online Gaming Booms worldwide”
And when we talk about how the internet has changed stuff, no sector of the online industry remains left out where the growth hasn’t hit them up. However, the sector which has seen a significant shift is ‘Online Gaming.’ New ideas, interactive features, high-end graphics and declining data prices of video games have opened gates for online platforms. The device on which they are played and it’s element shares the global gaming market to influences the adoption irrespective to the platform; be it smartphones, PlayStation, Laptops or PCs.
While computers and tablets accounted for a mere 11.04% market share. Mobile phones are recorded as a major contributor to online gaming revenue in India with a market share of 85%.
But when a person invests so much time in playing mobile games, is it worth at all? Nowadays, online gaming has shifted to social gaming more likely to be multiplayer games. And money-making apps have become a real thing now because not only they provide real-time money but also social interaction among the players.
Social casinos are one of the biggest branches of social gaming which enable gamblers to play and wager online. In 2017 it was estimated that the social online games market in the United States was worth 2.15 billion U.S. dollars and sources predict this figure to surpass 2.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2020.
Online Games growth in India
The Indian online sports gaming industry is witnessing a boom which shows no sign of slowing down, with the rapidly growing digital infrastructure and emergence of new sports leagues. The industry is already worth INR 43.8 billion and is said to reach INR 118.8 billion by FY23 with a growth rate of CAGR 22.1%.
The Indian Federation of Sports Gaming (IFSG), India’s first self-regulatory industry body for the sports gaming sector, and KPMG India Private Limited (KPMG) launched a report on the ‘The Evolving Landscape of Sports Gaming in India’ at its second flagship event – GamePlan 2019 with the theme ‘Economy of Sports Gaming’. With a focus on fantasy sports and eSports, this report provides an overview of the online gaming industry.
Factors driving the fantasy sports market in India
But when we talk about fantasy sports, it is still a debatable topic whether it is a ‘game of skill’ or the ‘game of luck’ and it keeps on going. The fantasy sports genre has received an exponential growth over the past few years. In the genre there are two models which are offered by the developers, one is ‘free to play’ and the other one is ‘pay to play.’
But when we talk about fantasy sports, it is still a debatable topic whether it is a ‘game of skill’ or the ‘game of luck’ and it keeps on going. The fantasy sports genre has received an exponential growth over the past few years. In the genre there are two models which are offered by the developers, one is ‘free to play’ and the other one is ‘pay to play.’
Digital Infrastructure Growth:
The country has witnessed exponential growth in its digital infrastructure. The reasons behind are – increase in smartphone affordability, the entrance of new companies and expansion of internet users with a decrease in data prices. So according to the report, the internet subscribers grew from 368 million in September 2016 to 560 million in September 2018, helping fantasy sports gaming to enter the digital platform speedily and smoothly.
Investor’s Participation has increased:
One of the primary reasons behind its growth is the offer of content in native languages which increased the user engagement in a couple of years. Now the leaders like Tencent & Nazara are also investing in fantasy sports gaming.
Sports League Evolution:
The primary reason which is driving the fantasy sports gaming in India by users is the consideration of being fun and excitement. Since the audience is very wide in India and each one of them has a distinct choice for the sports gaming, therefore multiple sports leagues have risen up in the recent past, including those for kabaddi, football, basketball, and volleyball.
Improved Transparency and Legality:
Fantasy sports’ legality rests on the estimation of whether its results are determined often by chance (gambling, therefore illegal), or the personal skillset of participants (contests, therefore legal).
For instance, Punjab and Haryana High Court have declared that fantasy sports game like Dream11’s format as ‘a game of skill’ and not as a ‘game of luck’. This clarification for the legal status offered by Dream11 has helped in expanding the comprehensive fantasy sports market for similar startups into entering the market and also driving to widespread user adoption.
