Since the pandemic lockdown, there have been around 50% growth in the gaming industry’s turnover. The national average gaming time spent by users has reached 4.1 hours post covid from the pre-covid average of 2.5 hours. With this growth, the share of real money games has escalated manifold as suggested by the statistics collated by gaming companies.

In 2020, the month of May saw over 150 million downloads and since the pandemic, there has been a major increase in the number of real money game (RMG) gamers in the 35+ years age bracket. However, there has been a decrease in younger age brackets (18-24 yrs) from over 55% to 51% as 25 years-plus are participating more.

Overall, the participation of youths from smaller towns and rural areas is much more than those from bigger cities, the data revealed. According to the survey conducted during the first week of a nationwide lockdown, mobile gaming apps witnessed a spike in usage. Games like Ludo King, Rummy 13 Cards, and Bubble Shooter were popular and did see a surge in usage in the initial weeks of lockdown.

However, post lockdown, in June 2020, there was normalization in both the revenues and time spent on mobile gaming, but the new normal was still higher than the pre-Covid-19 levels by almost 15-20%. This was not just a boom, but the Indian gaming industry developing. Since close to 80% of the Indian population is yet untapped, the Indian gaming industry is merely witnessing now what would have eventually happened.

The pandemic did set off the phenomena early. Games like rummy, poker, and call break have seen major traction since March 2020, with the user base rising from 5 million in Mar 2020 to 25 million in Mar 2021! Even this number is expected to cross 50 million by the end of this year. Online gamers have been growing every year, with gamers that are older than 30 years of age increasingly navigating the world of real money games since the pandemic hit.

Credits: TimeOfIndia