Indian Online Gaming Market on the Verge of a Takeoff:IDC

Bangalore, Nov 15 (UNI) The Indian Online Gaming Market is on a growth track, with the key players pursuing well-defined positions for the long haul.

According to a latest study by IDC ''from about 1.3 million online gamers in India in 2006, the number is likely to grow 11 fold to more than 14.9 million gamers in 2011''. This represented a healthy growth at a CAGR of around 63 per cent, IDC said in a release here.

The total subscription revenue was US dollar 1.22 million in 2006 and this was expected to be around US dollar 72 million by 2011, which is a CAGR of slightly above 126 per cent Mr Deepak Kumar, Head of Communications Research, IDC India said in the release.

From a couple of significant active players in the Indian market in 2005, the number of Online Gaming Players has risen to at least four in 2006. Significantly, as more and more players were offering MMOG (Massively Mullti-player Online Game) and MMORPG titles (Massively Mullti-player Online Role-playing Game), the market now had the competition it needed to expand in early stages.

MMOG and MMORPG games increase the incidence of serious gamers versus casual gamers. The lives of casual games were very short, as gamers tend to migrate from one game to another, and from one service provider to another. There was more stickiness in case of MMOG and MMORPG, due to more attachment with the characters and also due to community developed around such games.

Online Gaming service providers were also realising the importance of communities around games and were paying attention to the development of game-specific communities.

"India is on the verge of a takeoff, with the groundwork by the players nearly over. The new genres of games and the development of a gaming ecosystem and culture, supported by a rise in gaming cafes, will be the key to market growth. The entry of big players will help grow awareness and expand the market, associated with a rise in promotion spend," according to Kapil Dev Singh, Country Manager, IDC India.

UNI