A report published by app intelligence firm Sensor Tower has once again brought to light the significance of the Indian gaming industry to the international ecosystem.

According to the firm’s latest study, from April-June of 2020, Indian users accounted for 2.7 billion app downloads from a worldwide total of 15.1 billion app downloads.

To put it precisely, India alone contributed 18% of all downloads – approximately in proportion to its international population percentage. Having said that, this number seems much more monumental when you take into account the fact that India possesses only about 400 mn smartphone users & a smartphone penetration rate (30%) which is significantly lower to that of China & the USA.

The honour of the most popular app was bagged by Ludo King which was miles ahead when it comes to the most downloaded app during the April-June period, racking up close to 48.3 mn downloads, rising from 29.5 mn downloads in the Jan-March timeframe.

“Ludo King has fared particularly well during the Covid-19 pandemic, with downloads increasing dramatically. In February, the title generated 10.8 million downloads, while in April it accumulated 26 million downloads, an increase of 140.7%”, said Craig Chapple, Mobile Insights Strategist at Sensor Tower told The Times of India.

Globally popular games like PUBG (under threat of being banned in the country) & Call of Duty remain hugely popular in India, but extensive analysis indicates that locally-created games are rising in popularity.

Besides the success of Ludo King, Nextwave Media’s World Cricket Championship witnessed a 25% surge in daily active users, a 25% rise in new users, and recorded around 2x in-app purchases during the pandemic.

Manish Agarwal, CEO of Nazara Technologies, which owns Nextwave Media, has claimed that “the green shoots started pre-Covid and Covid has accelerated the growth.” He foresees India to develop from being just a huge consumption market of users downloading apps, to a bigger market for monetization via in-app buys.

During the last few months, Glaws has reported multiple times on how the Indian gaming industry has profited from the lockdown, with gaming platforms witnessing massive traffic & predictions from investment banks estimating the total value of the Indian gaming market at US3.75 billion by the year 2024.

Taking into account the country’s rising appetite for online & mobile gaming, the All India Gaming Federation strengthened its advisory panel with the addition of 3 new experts.