Online Gaming: Show Me The Money

Stuck at home with limited sport and entertainment options, many are taking to online gaming, while companies hope to retain the surge in users, gaming is yet to make big money in india

- Rukmini Rao

Indians love anything that’s free. The number of cashback extended promotional offers and discounting by start-ups bear testimony to this. Online gaming, too, is no exception — most games are free-to-play mobile applications, part of subscriptions (bundled offering by telecom operators to existing subscribers), gaming events, and streaming e-sports. Subscription revenues, therefore, are way lower as a percentage of advertising revenues in India. Revenue Models

Globally, online gaming is a $150-billion industry with nearly two billion users across all forms. The gamers use mobile devices, personal computers or gaming consoles — Xbox, PlayStation, and others. Games on these platforms are either real money games (RMG), e-sports (tournament games) or casual games played on different mobile devices.

While companies in India are still largely dependent on advertising revenues, alternative models of monetization are emerging. “This year we are looking at launching a new monetization model. In addition to advertising, we are creating opportunities for users to pay on the app. They will pay for live sessions, for gifting subscription, which we believe will become a pretty formidable business,” says Piyush Kumar, CEO and Founder of sports fan community content platform Rooter.