Mobile Game Downloads Continue to Project 5.3 Billion by 2020: The Indian Game Market – Series 1
Over 244 million people will own smartphones in India by 2017. This factor has heavily influenced India’s rank which is now in the top 25% of countries globally, for paid app install retention after a 14-day period. This is one of the factors that make the mobile gaming market in India an attractive investment for mobile game developers. The aggressive growth patterns and paid app retention rates represent a real opportunity. Globally, Indian users make up 30.1% of paid acquisition, as opposed to the global average of 24%. These numbers support the industry forecasts that the mobile gaming market in India is an up and coming market worth the time and attention of both foreign and local app developers.
Google Play Game Downloads on the Rise in India
VMAX reports that Indian Google Play had 492,553 apps as of March 2016, and over 29% of those apps were games. With the number of game apps available, the downloads continue to climb the charts making the market ripe for app developers based upon the demand. The forecast is that India’s current fifth place ranking will climb quickly, eclipsing both Russia and Brazil, who currently hold the 3rd and 4th place positions for gaming downloads. Over 300 million games were downloaded on both iOS and Google Play in 2016 and although Google Play downloads were 13 times more prevalent than iOS downloads, the combined total of both reveal that game downloads have more than doubled over the past two years.
Smartphone Users in India Game Regularly
Tune has reported that over 84% of all smartphone users in India play at least one game regularly. These habits reflect a 30% increase in time spent gaming by smartphone users. The increase in smartphone gaming continues to drive revenues that explain the 80% increase since 2014. The demand alone represents a salient opportunity for app developers to plug into the mobile gaming trend in India.
Multiple Payment Methods Have Increased the Prevalence of Gaming
The growth in both game downloads and revenues can be explained in part by the many payment methods that have made gaming readily accessible to many people. The launch of Google Play prepaid vouchers, carrier billing, and lower IAP tiers have all made mobile gaming more accessible to the Indian masses. The ease and convenience that multiple payment methods have created have produced an upward spike in mobile gaming, revenues, and downloads and these trends are nowhere near slowing down. App developers have the opportunity to readily take advantage of India’s mobile gaming market because it’s poised for global ascension.
Mobile gaming in India could represent a golden parachute for many app developers, should they choose to take advantage of this rapidly growing market. With smartphone users in India reporting that they game on a regular bases and game downloads reflecting this growing trend, the market continues to rise to such a degree that it will soon surpass both Brazil in Russia in downloads. With multiple payment methods now more accessible than ever before, the market is projected to continue its meteoric rise to the projected 5.3 billion in downloads by 2020.
