Who is Gaming in India and Why?

The correct term is “playing video games” rather than “gaming” which mostly refers to poker or casino games.

Before we start to discuss who is playing video games in India and why, lets understand which platforms are there and which type of gamers are there.

In IndiaAndroid OS is becoming very popular with the release of cheaper android phones and PC gaming and Online games (flash games) are huge.

The number of people playing games on Console, hand held’s and tablets are lot less as those compared to PC.

Consoles Handhelds Desktops Tablets Online Mobile

Nintendo WiiXBOX 360

Playstation 3Playstation 2

XBOX Kinect

Nintendo 3ds

Nintendo DSSony PSP

PS Vita

PCMac

iPad Tablet

Android tablets

FacebookFlash games

Online downloadable

games

iPhoneAndroid

Smartphone

Platforms

Types of Games&

Time needed

Type Of Gamers• Casual gamer: A player whose time or interest in playing games is limited. They

prefer simpler games where they can spend 5-10 minutes of their time.

Favorite game: Angry birds, words with friends or any games on miniclip.com

• Mid-core gamer: A player with a wide range of interests and enthusiast toward creative and diverse games but doesn't have time for long games.

Favorite game: Farmville/Cityville or casual games like hidden object games or time management games like gardens of time.

• Retro Gamer: A gamer preferring playing older retro or arcade games.

• Newbie: Someone who is new to video games and has started playing recently.

• Pro-Gamer: Professional gamers play video games for money.

• Girl Gamer: any female who regularly engages in playing video games.

Favorite game: Sims, games on Wii, dress up games or casual games.

• Hardcore Gamer

Hardcore gamers prefer to take significant time and practice on games, and tend to play more involved games that require larger amounts of time to complete or master.

Favorite game: Call of duty modern warfare, Halo, Assassins Creed or Final Fantasy .

Who is Gaming?

Who is playing games in India?

Pretty much everyone? Not yet!

• In the United States, the average video game player is 35 and has been playing video games for over 12 years.

• In the UK, the average video game player is over 23 years old, has played video games for over 10 years, and spends around 12.6 hours a week playing video games.

• Even though games have been available in India since 1990’s, it has recently picked up since last 2-3 years but still has a long way to go till it can match the US, UK or even China.

• In India, children as young as 4 to adults as old as 40 play games.

No exact concrete data yet: depending upon what you read and which survey you look at:

• The most typical video game players in India are between 14-25 years of age and while they would most likely buy the latest consoles or handheld, majority of them are dependents.

• Roughly 80% of gamers still come from the Top 8 metros. The top 4 metros especially account for 59% of these gamers which indicates that availability of games and reach to target audience is still limited.

• Gamers who are going to school account for 72% while 28% go to college. More than half the participants said they play daily, 36% play weekly and 18% play three to four times a week.

• A recent survey of Assocham reveals that over 82% of teenagers spend on an average 14-16 hours a week playing such games. And 7% qualified as being pathological video gamers since they played more than 20 hours a week.

• Most of the teens (80%) are boys. Female gamers spend an average of 30 minutes playing on weekdays and one hour playing on the weekends. Male gamers spend an average of 50 minutes playing on weekdays and two-three hours playing on the weekends.

• 90% of kids between 8-14 years old go online to play games.

• Facebook is one of their favorite websites. The social networking games are probably a big part of their gaming habits.

• 23% of teenagers feel “addicted to video games”, with about one-third of males (26%) and a little more than one in ten females (11%) feeling “addicted.” On the other hand, 44% of teenagers said that their friends are addicted to games.

• The most popular games played by teens today span a variety of genres and ratings. The five most popular are Guitar Hero, Halo 3, Madden NFL, Solitaire and Dance Dance Revolution.

Does it help?

Why do People Play Games?

1. Fun: It’s fun2. Challenge: The challenge of defeating the opponent or fulfilling the quest .3. Skill Test.: It tests your skills.4. Failing: if you could not pass a certain level or score you try harder to pass it.5. Escapism: The users explore new worlds or connect with the characters and

want to figure it out what happens next. It’s the closest we’re ever going to get to the Ashes or saving a Princess or saving the world.

6. Stimulation: clearing the mind after clearing a level / feeling better about themselves.

7. Friends: Their friends are playing so they start playing8. Time with friends: Spend time with friends: Multiplayer games - Build teamwork

and camaraderie. 9. Bored: Bored from work and need a 5 min break10. De-stress / Relax: Games help people to relax and de-stress. You kill 100

zombies and you discover kung fu panda’s inner peace.11. Guns n Rockets: We all love blowing stuff up.12. Addictive: It is addictive.13. Parents: The parents have games on their mobile and the kids start playing it.14. Nuclear Families with parents having lesser time for kids15. Lesser open spaces for physical activities.16. Increase of internet usage and awareness of media and new games. 17. Availability of cheaper smart phones, better tablets and computers.

Why connect with gamers?

1) Emerging and prospective audience.

2) Less competition. Your brand gets noticed as there is no other brand competing.

3) All future updates of the product/brand can be made directly via the game. The brand can sell the same merchandise in the game as well as the real world.

4) Traffic: Divert traffic from the game to your website or online store or latest product page.

5) Monetize: You can..yes you can monetize your brand in the game or the advergame and make it work for you, your company and the brand.

How can you connect?

Just some quick ideas:

1) Showcase your product through in-game ads on popular games.

2) Create a game which promotes your brand. E.g. Axe or a crazy idea like Harpic.

3) Put your brands inside of games and highlight the brand. E.g. EA boxing game which had burger king themed boxing ring.