Annual in-app gaming purchases hit $250 mn

livemint.com:

online games. While many platforms witnessed rising interest during the covid-induced lockdowns, Loco and its competitors, such as Rooter, suffered setbacks in the form of bans and suspensions. For instance, the ban on the popular game PUBG in 2020 by the ministry of electronics and IT, citing security concerns over its Chinese origin, led to a temporary 40% decline in traffic on the Loco platform, he said.

Krafton, which owns PUBG, navigated the ban by publishing Battle Royale with a new identity—Battlegrounds Mobile India—and publishing the game from Korea instead of China. This, too, got suspended for 10 months, at a time when gaming entities were reeling under the impact of the ban on Free Fire in 2022. Loco, which hosts videos, connects players and gaming content creators and organizes tournaments, has secured $51 million in recent years displaying confidence in the growth of India’s gaming sector following the increasing willingness of gamers to spend significant amounts on transactions.

In its recent round in March 2022, it raised $42 million following a seed round led by Korea’s Krafton in 2021. “Gaming influencer fans are far more loyal and stickier than other medium. We are building a video streaming platform and rely on it to grow the user-base.

Now, we are giving YouTube a run for its money. Our next target is to monetise the platform, considering that an average user spends at least 60 minutes on the platform, far more than other gaming businesses," Suresh said. According to a 2022 report by Dentsu, the pandemic acted as the biggest recruiter for gaming and around 45% of the Indian population started playing games during this period.