'India's mobile gaming market to cross $400 million by 2022'

New Delhi: India's mobile gaming market is poised to top USD 400 million by 2022, driven by growing adoption of freemium and virtual reality games in the coming years, a report has said.

Freemium is a business model where basic services are provided free of charge but one has to pay for using the more advanced features.

According to the CII-TechSci Research report, revenues from mobile-based gaming stood at USD 265.8 million last year and is forecast to touch USD 286.2 million in 2017.

The number of mobile gamers in the country is also expected to grow substantially from 198 million in 2015 to 628 million by 2020 and further to 1.16 billion by 2030, it added.

"Gaming industry in India has witnessed a shift from console gaming to mobile gaming, with growth and improvement of wireless connectivity in the country. Ease of playing mobile games coupled with rising mobile phone subscribers has fuelled growth of mobile gaming in India over the last few years," it said.

The report added that increasing number of mobile internet users, coupled with development of new and advanced games, has also boosted mobile gaming market in the country.

Overall, the Indian gaming industry was valued at USD 543 million in 2016 and is projected to grow to USD 801 million by 2022.

"In 2016, India accounted for a share of 0.55 per cent of the global gaming industry and this is anticipated to grow significantly over the next five years, on account of macroeconomic factors such as improving demographics, rising disposable income, changing gaming preferences of the consumers, etc," it said.

Moreover, increasing focus of gaming companies towards Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) related games in the country is expected to boost India's gaming market in coming five years, it added.

Console gaming accounted for the second largest share of 35.51 per cent in India's gaming market in 2016, followed by computer gaming (15.54 per cent share).

"The procurement cost associated with console games is very high in the country, due to which the console gaming market in India has witnessed a sluggish growth over the past decade," the report said.

Rising demand for evolved gaming consoles such as PlayStation 4 and Xbox One is being witnessed in urban areas of India.

Core gamers, who do not intend to move to console gaming and make additional investments, are driving computer gaming industry in the country, the report said.

Besides, rapid changes in the gaming industry are expected to offer new opportunities for developers, publishers as well as technology partners in the future, and this is anticipated to boost growth in India gaming market through 2022.