Data from Statista confirms that the Indian gaming industry will reach a revenue stream of Rs 25,000 crore by 2024. In a sense, online gaming is expected to play a significant role in India’s economy in the future. With that context in mind, it was interesting to note the exchange of ideas at the Indian Gaming Summit 2021, to get a sense of where the industry was headed. The three-day virtual summit witnessed detailed deliberations among industry stakeholders to identify the concepts of content, monetization, regulation, advertising and a lot more.
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During the conference, Satrajit Sen, head, product and community, ET BrandEquity.com, a panel moderator commented, “who that consumer is, what defines him, what are his characteristics and demographics and eventually does the gamer eventually become an active professional gamer.”
Sen opened the platform to the panelists, namely Dr. Subi Chaturvedi, a chief corporate and public affairs officer for Zupee; Manasvi Dalvi, a gamer and Gaming YouTuber; Roland Landers, chief executive officer of AIGF and Shagufta ‘Xyaa’ Iqbal, a gamer and content creator, for their valuable insights and opening remarks on their definition of an Indian gaming consumer.
To this, Chaturvedi mentioned that “until recently, till the time we had AIGF as a structured self regulatory body as well as the voice of the industry, there was very little that was happening in terms of actually studying gaming as a segment.”
This segment change comes to the fore when one starts seeing voice, agency, ownership and start developing structured companies which are agile, inventive, mobile, and are communicating to customers without viewing them as a blanket mass of consumers. With this, Chaturvedi mentioned that media and entertainment focused OTT platforms don’t serve the same kind of content that one would see on 24/7 corporate programming.
According to Chaturvedi, there are many reasons that Indian consumers and Indian gamers come on the internet and it is success for companies who use smart platforms to give gaming access to anyone. “So using machine learning or AI to reflect this, is what’s unique. Gaming companies like ours are not just creating global games which are popular, they are re engineering games to suit the Indian palate. And second, bring in our understanding.”
Adding to the discussion, Iqbal confirmed that, “for me, the Indian gaming consumer would be one that likes expressing themselves, be it as an audience on a live stream, or as a protagonist of a game. I feel like they want to be part of a community of like minded people.”
Dalvi also agreed to this and stated that “He would like to actually just explore everything. It is just a matter of fact that they need access to it. And as soon as they get access to it, they would most likely go and actually explore it and consume it.”
Apart from the above discussion, the conference panelists also claimed that online and social friendships are developing as beautifully as physical friendships.
Dalvi and Iqbal have highlighted how gaming has also contributed some particular talents to their individual lives, how playing GTA Roleplay aided them on the business front and how gaming has taught them to not give up in general. Iqbal also talked about how her audience base expanded throughout the epidemic.
The panel also discussed women in gaming and how brands are looking for sponsoring female gamers. This panel discussion on the Gaming Summit 2021 was an amazing take on the booming online gaming industry and how stakeholders can brighten the future of the industry in an unfathomable way!