The owner of highly popular free-to-play mobile game Ludo King, Gametion Technologies, on Friday stated that it has generated $20 million in revenue in the year 2020, making most of the rise in downloads & user interest in online gaming induced by the Covid-19 pandemic. Ludo King, which claims to be India’s first gaming app to cross 100 million downloads, reached the milestone of 500 million downloads globally in the month of December.

“We have witnessed 4X growth in revenue in 2020 especially after the sudden interest in mobile gaming during the lockdown induced by covid 19 pandemic. We are targeting 5X growth in revenue this year aiming to touch $100 million mark, heavily focusing on growing in-app purchases by launching new features,” said Vikash Jaiswal, Founder of Gametion Technologies.

Jaiswal stated that albeit its users from international markets like Australia & Singapore tend to spend an average of $3‐4 on in-app purchases, the number is very low for the India market which needs to rise. Gametion Technologies is also in the process of introducing casual gaming tournaments (both physical & digital) that will open the door to sponsorship opportunities. Presently, the bulk of the company’s revenue comes from advertising.

“In the last two years, we have realised that advertisements shouldn’t be the primary source of revenue for a gaming platform. Currently, only 30% of our revenue comes from in-app purchases which we want to grow. Also, in-app purchases in Indian mobile gaming platforms are not well implemented which we are trying to improve upon by launching engaging features,” said Jaiswal.

Even though Gametion Technologies has Carrom & Sudoku King games among its various offerings, Ludo King is its flagship game. Over the course of the past 9 months, Ludo King witnessed its daily active users (DAUs) rise from 15 million to 32 million daily, with its monthly average users (MAUs) growing from 110 to 142 million. An average user spends around 32 mins a day traversing 2-3 sessions. Currently, Ludo King is played in 30 nations & available in 14 languages.

Nevertheless, as businesses & offices started becoming operational in the past few months, it led to the stabilisation of the time spent on the platform from the incredible levels of the lockdown days. Subsequently, Gametion Technologies has launched Quick Ludo mode which is a rapid-fire version of the original game, taking only 5 minutes for a game to complete as opposed to the standard Ludo King game which concludes in the space of 15 to 40 minutes. Additionally, Ludo King has released five & six-player online feature & the company is working on introducing video & audio chat in the game.

“I’m expecting that this feature will become popular among young users. It can be played while travelling, in short breaks or anytime for some quick gaming fun,” said Jaiswal.

For the uninitiated, the spike in usage of online gaming across genders has resulted in freemium apps experiencing a 20-50% rise in ad revenues. Brands from categories like fast-moving consumer goods, technology, automobile, smartphones, apparel & e-commerce marketplaces are making use of a multitude of advertising formats to engage with users on these apps.

As per a KPMG & Google report, India’s online gaming is forecasted to climb to a market value of $1 billion with around 310 million online gamers by 2021.

“The entry in the casual gaming segment is low which requires a mobile device and data connectivity. Therefore, the number of casual gamers as well as the growth prospects in this segment are huge. The pay to play casual gaming market is booming in the country. The overall casual gaming segment to grow at 25 to 30% this year,” said All India Gaming Federation CEO Roland Landers.