Far from being a fringe market, India’s mobile gaming industry is fast becoming a powerhouse tech sector. That might surprise you… but it’s true. With a projected market size of $9.2 billion by 2029, mobile gaming across the country is experiencing exponential growth. We’re now at the point where the question isn’t if India will become a global leader in mobile gaming, but when.
Are we watching the rise of the world’s next gaming superpower? Well, with its unique digital infrastructure and an increasingly digital-savvy population, India is certainly well-placed to take a dominant position in the space.
Let’s explore further by taking a deep dive inside the country’s flourishing gaming-on-the-go scene.
What’s Driving India’s Mobile Gaming Boom?
Much like mobile gaming itself (how times have changed!), the gaming sector in India was once dismissed as a niche market. For years, the blossoming consumer tech scene in the country has been overshadowed by PC and console-dominated regions like the US, Japan, and Europe. Since 2022, however, India has emerged as a major player in the mobile space.
Are you reading this article on a smartphone? Then you’re one of an estimated 1 billion mobile users in the country. With such a staggeringly high user base, it’s clear that there’s a substantial demand for mobile experiences among the population.
Demand would be nothing without access, though. Luckily, major global brands—we’re counting Samsung, Xiaomi, and Realme among many others—have flooded the market with budget devices that are packed with gaming-ready hardware. With even entry-level smartphones now boasting powerful chipsets and silky smooth refresh rates, the barriers to entry have crumbled.
Core Mobile Gaming Sectors
This rapid move to innovative mobile tech is also reflected in the core mobile gaming sectors that are helping to boost the demand side of things. Millennials, Gen Z, and the more youthful generations are seeking engaging and interactive experiences on their smartphones, hence the popularity of global titles like Call of Duty: Mobile, Free Fire, and Temple Run.
But, India’s mobile gaming boom isn’t all battle royales and free-running hits. One sector that’s been making quiet, yet rapid, gains is the mobile iGaming market. While real-money gaming has long been associated with territories like the UK, US, and parts of Europe, India’s digital economy is creating new avenues for its own growth in the space. In the long-established iGaming markets, we’ve seen how platforms with mobile casino features offer players a unique experience where they can engage in various slots, poker, and roulette games from their smartphones.
Their accessibility, combined with mobile-first payment options, makes them a natural fit for India’s evolving gaming culture. What’s more, with the local industry still being in its formative years, there’s ample room for innovation from homegrown developers who have greater insight into regional preferences.
There are already millions of gaming options in this space to attract people to try out mobile casino options for the first time, so no matter what games people want to play, they’re likely to find them in this world. Mobile gaming is ideal for casinos for a whole range of reasons, not least that many casino games are well-suited to quick-fire play and short sessions that can be slotted into busy lives.
India’s Mobile Infrastructure
It takes a pretty sophisticated infrastructure to support the daily gaming habits of one billion smartphone users, and this is where India really comes into its own. With such a huge demand for data, the market has become well-saturated. This increased competition means that providers have had to significantly lower their costs just to gain a foothold in the market.
While that may not be great for their bottom line, for the average Indian mobile user, it’s a dream come true! Konvoy VC’s research suggests that data in the country averages at $0.68 per Gigabyte (GB), which is less than 20% of the $4 per GB global average. It’s no wonder, then, that the country has such high mobile data consumption.
Additional support for India’s domination in the mobile-first category has come from the government itself. Launched in 2015, the Digital India project has systematically improved internet access throughout the region, with a particular focus on mobile connectivity. With better connectivity, residents have been able to access smoother gaming experiences, further increasing the demand and interest in mobile gaming.
What’s more, dedicated programs under the Digital India banner are facilitating India’s growing presence in the global gaming market. Through programs like Startup India and Make in India, local game developers and tech companies have been able to access support across key areas like innovation and audience development.
What’s Next for Mobile Gaming in India?
As far as the industry in the country has come, India does have more growing to do before it can claim the title of the mobile gaming capital of the world. However, with the help of a few emerging trends in the market, there’ll be plenty of momentum to capitalize on.
Chief among these trends is the 5G rollout. While affordability and accessibility have driven India’s mobile gaming rise, the next phase of growth requires something that really packs a punch. 5G, with its lower latency and ultra-fast speeds, has the potential to transform cloud and multiplayer gaming across mobile devices—hello mobile eSports!
