Niche to mainstream: Mobile gaming surges in popularity

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : After years of catering to niche audiences with limited return, India’s mobile gaming industry, comprising developers, streamers, esports platforms, and more, is gaining wider popularity. This shift is fuelled by mainstream broadcast deals and growing user willingness to pay for games.

Consequently, leading gaming firms are now looking at India not only as a hotspot for download numbers, but as a more significant player. On 19 May, Korean gaming major Krafton had relaunched Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), following a clearance by the ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity).

The game, which was launched as an India-specific title after the erstwhile PUBG Mobile was banned, was suspended in July 2022. Soon after, Free Fire, which also has a significant active gamer base in India, was relaunched.

Developed and published by Singapore’s Garena Free Fire, along with Krafton’s BGMI, have also given competitive gamers a tool to professionally stream their gameplay to audiences, and compete with international teams at global esports tournaments. “A lot of excitement was seen as part of our esports tournaments, where eight teams from India faced off against eight teams from Korea.

With overall gaming skill between gamers in India and those abroad now being at a similar level, the level of competitiveness was great to see from India," said Sean Hyunil Sohn, chief executive of Krafton India, in an interview with Mint. A large part of it, Sohn said, is being driven by the amateur gamers entering professional tournaments to gain exposure, transforming the industry from having a a select few professional gamers to a more democratized industry. “This maturity of the esports ecosystem is coming through