Fantasy Gaming - The Game Has Just Begun

Fantasy Gaming may sound interesting to you as an ardent user of smartphone and a hardcore fan of sporting events such as Cricket or Football but, its ill-effects are also being discussed as the game progresses. The lawmakers, civil society, parents and other stake holders are having a tough task ahead as how to make it more useful for the generation to come without curtailing the essence of it.

- Haider Ali Khan

Fantasy Gaming is the next big thing after PUBG mobile that is going to bring new changes as how the aspirational youths may engage with a game. Gone are the days when people spent hours on a Sunday morning playing cricket or any other sport of their interest, having long hours of conversation with friends and family. The way we used to queue up at a stadium for a glance of our favorite player. Now, we can spend hours of Sunday or any other holiday submerged into our smartphones. That’s how our lives have transformed. The majority of our lives now just plays around a smartphone on which we talk, chat, interact, and transact, etc., without being physically present everywhere. Taking a cue of it, the new virtual sporting platforms have emerged which we call as Fantasy Gaming platforms where users can select their own set of players before the start of the actual game and based on the accuracy they are being rewarded with points and even cash if the selected team plays and win. Fantasy Gaming have provided users with a new platform to stay involve, interact and win, virtually. Even if they are into their offices or travelling they can stay hooked via their smartphones and can be a part of the game, virtually. Platforms like Fantasy Gaming are examples of pre-immersive era, where a user gets sentimentally into the tech platform, but would not get from experiential perspective.

Evolution

The concept of Fantasy Gaming might be new to India but, if we track down, it goes back to the era of World War II when the idea of Fantasy Gaming was first introduced in United States, and now in India the Fantasy Sports and the Gaming Industry is already worth Rs 43.8 billion and is said to reach Rs 118.8 billion by Fy23 with a growth rate of CaGR 22.1%, says a study done by KPmG India and Indian Federation of Sports Gaming (IFSG).