The online gaming industry has encountered vulnerability for nearly 10 years, yet keeps on making presentations to the governments, and industry bodies for an administrative structure.

The industry is additionally certain of the public authority taking a gander at online gaming, whether it is genuine cash gaming or casual games, to look at positively.

Shivanandan Pare, executive director, and CEO, of Deltatech Gaming (Adda52 and Addagames), sees that the innate to online gaming business is trust, which turns into the greatest element amid a no administrative structure. He likewise feels any advertiser or brand, which can crack the commitment code on gaming will be a victor.

Pare says the industry is ready for development from the ongoing pace of around 30-35% assuming that the administrative systems are set up, it can grow quicker.

Online gaming has seen considerable growth in India and the last two years have contributed much to it. How do you see this trend in the coming years?
The pandemic was a trigger point. Principally, the legwork according to a digitization viewpoint had begun on the ground. frameworks were at that point present there in the market. Assuming that components like mobile network, internet user base, UPI or digital payments and modest data packages were missing, I don’t think the pandemic would have given this kind of boost to digital businesses like online gaming, OTT, e-commerce, or any of the digital transactions. Indeed, even the number of stock trading accounts opened during the pandemic went through the rooftop and this could never have been conceivable without the basic infrastructure of the digital environment.

What are the challenges faced by the real-money gaming industry?
The biggest thing, we will unanimously say, is the clear regulatory framework.

Internationally, the web industry has forever been in front of the public authority guidelines. Take the Uber-Ola situation 10 years ago or e-commerce. In India online gaming, which is simply the situation with us, skill-based pay-to-play, is a state subject. There is no controller fundamentally.

Pay-to-play gaming is as far as consumer traction is under 10% of online gaming around the world and if we add fantasy, the number will go up by no less than two or 2x or 3x because cricket is the most famous game in the country. Fantasy sports rides on cricket dominatingly. From an online gaming point of view, the universe is a lot bigger than pay-to-play gaming.

The monetization of gaming is a promising area. How do you see advertising creating an impact for brands through online gaming in India?
Consumers playing or spending time on online gaming will continue to evolve because as they develop, they develop with mobile games, and they will keep on spending additional time. Prevalent time spent on digital media will be on gaming platforms which hurls opportunities and a challenge for all brands and advertisers. They can’t overlook this specific vertical any longer from connecting with customers or conveying their brand’s story.

2007 to 2010 is when consumers moved to social media. Brands embraced social media and digital incredibly by 2013-2016, where everyone’s plan had a social media financial plan as well as the digital financial plan or social media as a subset of digital.

The winning brands or successful marketers were those who cracked the engagement code on social media. This decade, say by 2024 or 2025, I predict that a substantial amount of the budget will go towards reaching out to consumers through online gaming platforms. Any marketer or brand, which can crack the engagement code on online gaming will be a winner.

During the day, a normal gamer is getting engaged with the decision of the game, right anywhere between 30 to 60 minutes. Now that one hour of consideration, on the off chance that your brand can get and have a presence there, will be precious.

Do you think online gaming will be relevant for brands to reach out in tier 2 and 3 cities of India?
Consumer traction is dependent on accessibility. When I say accessibility, access is internet access and device affordability. When access improves, consumers will move to digital. This shift is not limited to certain pockets of the country. It will be enmasse across the country irrespective of the city’s tier or socio-economic strata. The dominant growth is going to be from tier two, three, and four cities because that’s where the penetration is going to be from an accessibility point.

When the 5G is carried out, it could begin from metropolitan regions and 4G would have reached all over. 5G will take less time than 4G. I believe the kind of investments these companies are going to put in because of the amount they have spent on licensing or bid right, you will realize that they will try to push mass adoption for 5G.

The typical age in level two, three, and four urban communities is not exactly metropolitan from a web client’s point of view. That is the financially most dynamic populace fragment as in they will spend more, they will have more discretionary cash flow since they will have less liability regarding a family.

The industries which are focusing on this specific age bunch will benefit more.
How data protection is ensured in the gaming industry?
In the pay-to-play gaming industry, trust is the greatest component.

Each player in this gaming industry might want to keep on money management behind building this trust and holding this trust. Dissimilar to the banking industry or insurance, administrative bodies are attempting to secure or attempt to guarantee that specific standards are kept. We don’t have a regulatory body, but in the interest of our business, we ensure that there is absolute data protection. It is fundamentally required for the survival of each player that it focuses on data protection.

We go the extra mile to ensure that there is no trust deficit because of some data breach. So it is in our interest, we individually, each player do it.

Credit: Brand Equity