82% gamers interested in Indian mythological games; 64% paying gamers make in-app purchases: Report According to the report, average time spent per week was highest in mid-core games (3.4 hours/week), followed by hardcore and real money games (RMG) (3.3 hours/week).

When it comes to gaming, India throws some very interesting statistics. In 2022, Indian gamers spent an average of 8.5- 11 hours per week on gaming. Of which, women spent more time per week playing games (11.2 hours/week) as compared to men (10.2 hours/week).

These trends were revealed in the 'State of Indian Gaming Report' released by Lumikai, India's pioneering gaming and interactive media VC fund, in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

According to the report, average time spent per week was highest in mid-core games (3.4 hours/week; BGMI, Clash of Clans), followed by hardcore and real money games (RMG) (3.3 hours/week; DOTA 2, Genshin Impact).

The survey further revealed that 48% of non-gamers chose casual games (Ludo King, Candy Crush) as their most preferred game category to play in the future, with 35% of gamers acknowledging that they have increased their time spent gaming in the last 12 months.

64% of paying gamers make in-app purchases

The report highlights that 64% of paying gamers make in-app purchases, followed by subscription payments at 57%.

59% of payers have started paying for games in the last 12 months. The trend further shows that 50% of paying gamers are willing to pay for casual games, followed by 48% for mid-core and 39% for hyper-casual and RMG. Though 45% of paying gamers are incentivized by the potential to make money, willingness to pay is also driven by new content/levels (43%) and better in-game items (44%). Relaxation emerged as the top motivator for gamers for over 50%, followed by making money (13%), killing time (12%), and socializing (11%).

Justin Shriram Keeling, Founding General Partner, Lumikai said, "Indians download more games than any other country on earth, and this is translating to a host of white spaces on the consumer demand side including a largely young, professional gamer category who are increasingly paying for in-app purchases, an untapped audience of female gamers, and strong interest in games with Indian cultural resonance. It's truly an exciting time to be building for India's wide variety of gaming demographics."

82% keen on Indian-themed games

An interesting highlight of the report is that Indian-themed video games are becoming more popular.. A whopping 82% of gamers are interested in playing games based on Indian mythology, and even 43% of non-gamers are more inclined to start gaming if games are based on Indian themes like Ramayana. 79% of gamers are interested in playing games based on Indian themes and history, whereas 78% gamers are interested in playing games based on Indian celebrities.

E-sports industry to grow at a CAGR of 32% by 2027

The report also threw light on the Esports industry, which is giving traditional sports a run for their money. Numbers substantiate this. According to the report, there were merely 0.15 million esports gamers in 2021, which grew to 0.6 million in 2022. It is an increase of 4x. Over the next five years, it is expected to further grow 2.5x to reach 1.5 million. Overall, the Indian e-sports industry grew to $40 million in 2022 and is expected to reach $140 million by 2027, at a CAGR of 32%. E-sports revenue at $0.04 billion is a small segment currently but is fast growing at 32% CAGR through to 2027.

According to Amitabh Nagpal, head of Startup Ecosystem, AWS India (Amazon Web Services India Pvt. Ltd.), gaming has emerged as one of the most engaging forms of entertainment today. Startups are at the forefront of the rapid growth of the Indian gaming industry, and use cloud technologies to build, run and grow their games.

"AWS provides Indian gaming startups with the services and solutions they need to develop high performance games, across all categories. AWS is designed to help gaming startups provide a seamless gameplay experience to their users by delivering single-digit millisecond latencies. Using the broadest and deepest capabilities of cloud, AWS enables Indian gaming startups to deliver and scale the next generation gaming experience to millions of users worldwide."

Over 2,240 smartphone users across multiple demographics and geographics were surveyed for the report. 56% of gamers surveyed came from non-metros, while midcore and hardcore categories provide the highest percentage of metros users at 53% and 59%, respectively. 60% of gamers surveyed were men, with 40% being women.