With the surge in popularity of playing online games and e-sports in the past few years, Accenture, a Fortune 500 consultant firm, claimed this year that the total value of the video game industry now surpasses $300 billion globally. With a projected 2.8 billion gamers worldwide in 2021, more energy is devoted to online gaming than it has ever been. The gaming industry is larger than the combined music and entertainment markets, with growth driven by more engagement in digital products as a by-product of COVID-19’s global limits. This ongoing expansion creates a major opportunity for commercialization and higher revenue opportunities for the industry’s creators, marketers, content producers, and game platforms.
Gaming is one of the fastest-growing sunrise industries in India, clocking 40 percent growth in 2019–20. According to Statista, the market value of the Indian gaming sector was over 90 billion INR in the financial year 2020. The study further states that the market value is expected to reach 143 billion INR by the end of 2022. Thus, the exponential growth of the market is playing a pivotal role in rapidly increasing the breadth of the overall gaming culture as well.
Market Drivers
The total number of Indian online gamers surged by 8 percent from 360 million in 2020 to 390 million in 2021. Experts predict that this number will hit 450 million by 2023. Currently, most of the gaming companies in India from Esports to fantasy gaming companies and hyper-casual gaming companies, along with card-based games, have been declared skill-based games.
Access to affordable & high-performance smartphones & high-speed internet on the go has been a blessing for all, be it users or businesses. Evolving technologies have accentuated the viewing and gaming experience on mobile devices. Smartphones are not only coming with bigger screen sizes & resolutions but also enhanced computing ability to give the users an optimum gaming experience. The improvisation in smartphone performance and hardware capability is one of the critical drivers for the fast development of the gaming industry.
One of the primary drivers for the worldwide in-game promotional market growth is the growing number of video game players and the rise in collaborations between video game businesses and advertisers. With complete digital access, games are bolstering the gaming business. As a result, marketers are motivated to increase their investments in in-game advertising, which will allow them to reach a wider audience and accelerate product demand during the projection period.
In-Game Advertisements
The worldwide in-game advertising business is highly concentrated, and suppliers are employing various techniques to compete, including heavy engagement in joint projects and mergers in order to capture substantial market shares and grow their global footprint. Vendors are compelled to use various growth methods such as marketing campaigns and advertising to increase the exposure of their services as the market becomes more competitive. Various other industry competitors are turning to mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and bilateral agreements with advertising entities to expand their business reach and client base.
Balance between user experience and advertising
It is expected that India will touch more than 70% Smartphone penetration by 2023. Hence, the gaming industry is on everyone’s radar for the huge potential and business growth it has to offer in the recent future. Game monetization is still fairly young. Trying to establish the correct balance between effectively advertising on the gaming application and not swamping users with adverts is always a tricky task for app publishers. The user experience is pivotal to the survival of games. As a result, a harmful, interruptible, or insulting advertisement might completely derail the user experience. In the end, presenting safe, relevant, and brand-appropriate adverts to your consumers is the goal of in-app advertising. The fact of the matter for app developers is that as long as advertising offers value to the game, gamers will accept it. Ads can then complement rather than distract from the gamers’ experience.
In addition, gamers are happy to watch advertisements in return for in-game items like infinite lives, power-ups, additional elements, and in-game currency. These advertisements assist game developers in making money from their games. They do, however, make the game more addictive, encouraging gamers to play for longer and more frequently.
How the gaming industry goes forward
In recent years, the gaming business has progressed efficiently. Mobile, video, or console gaming keeps developing because of technological leaps forward, such as 3D illustrations, Virtual Reality, and Artificial Intelligence, as does the equipment to play them.
The All India Gaming Federation, said, “The online gaming industry is growing at an impressive CAGR of 25 percent – 30 percent and holds significant potential for overall economic growth, job creation, and contribution to the government’s vision of a trillion-dollar digital economy by 2025.” The new digital shelf for commerce will be the ecosystem propelled by gaming. Paid gamers are forecasted to reach ~240 Mn (3x) in the next 5 years.
It would be appropriate to say that the market will grow exponentially in the times ahead and digital adoption will play a major role in the same.
However, as we keep on developing new things, players will be able to appreciate all the more realistic, vivid, and engaging experiences. Given the current rate of technological advancement and the anticipated evolution of futuristic things, gaming experiences are expected to improve and, over time, assist the gaming industry in reaching exceptional heights.
About MOCA
MOCA is a global OEM aggregator and advertising innovator, focusing on the Asian market. MOCA is collaborating with global top publishers for user acquisition, branding, and re-engagement advertising solutions. MOCA is dedicated to providing a cost-effective and customized solution for advertisers to maintain top-of-mind awareness within their target audience