By: John Braham

There has been an increase in gaming activities in India since 2016. This has led to growth in the gaming sector of India. This growth is a result of many factors including the fact that there are many internet users in India and the widespread adoption of digital payment methods in India. There are speculations that the India Gaming Industry is set to hit $1 billion mark by 2021 as a result of the growth seen so far.

Examples of Foreign Investment in India's Gaming Markets

Many firms are investing in games in India because the gaming industry is becoming a goldmine. These investors include top companies from around the world. One of them is RockStar Game, an American-based gaming company. Rockstar recently acquired an Indian Video Game Development Company in Bengaluru, Dhruva Interactive in 2019. Another American firm, Sequoia Capital has carried out various investments with Indian gaming Companies like Octro and Moonfrog La amongst others.

The investors also include top Chinese firms. Alibaba Groups, an AG Tech Holdings in Hong Kong partnered with PayTM, an eCommerce and payment firm in 2018 to launch a joint venture in 2018 named Gamepind. Gamepind is a platform that hosts popular sports games. Earlier in 2017, another Chinese firm, YouZu Interactive had entered the Indian gaming market partnering with gaming studios to develop local games.

French gaming firm, Ubisoft, also has gaming development studios in India. The first studios Ubisoft Studio is located at Pune while the other is at Mumbai.

Fantasy sports companies are not left out. About 4 million dollars was invested by a Singapore based organization in Indian online Fantasy firm, Ballebaaz. Dream II also got an investment of $60 million by Steadview Capital. Molale Premier League saw many investors like Go Venture, Sequoia Capital, Times Internet, and many others.

Localization is key

While the gaming industry remains on the rise, gaming companies and studios are starting to see the need to make games satisfy local needs. They do this by developing games that show special events that coincide with major Indian festivals like Delhi, Eid al-Fitr, Onam, Pongal, Holi, and many others. They also have been creating options to play games in Indian dialects such as Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Bangla, and many more. Popular games like PUBG have 10 Indian regional languages in it.

Also, Teen Patti, one of the most popular games in India has seen many foreign companies set up to develop it to meet players' needs. You can find many casinos where you can play online Teen Patti even in Hindi. A very good number of these casinos are controlled by foreign companies but the games are developed by Indians.

New regulations of online gaming are expected to be made

In a recent hearing, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court gave suggestions to pass a law to regulate online games, while considering the views from all stakeholders. Before this, many stakeholders have begun to deliberate on whether online gaming, especially skill games needs to be regulated properly under the law.

This is not the first time a Court is calling for online gaming regulation. And it further indicates the need to examine the pros and cons of online gaming that is being conducted in an unregulated manner, without making judgments with emotions.

There surely will be many benefits of providing regulations for online gaming. These include tax incomes for the state governments, more foreign investments, and employment opportunities. Introducing regulation for online gaming could also help India become a global authority in the gaming world.

The possible bad effects must be also considered. For example, the possibility of addiction, loss of interest in other productive or social activities, and unnecessary money loss could be bad effects of online gaming.

However, if the regulations are done properly, it could provide mandatory time and monetary limits. This will protect the vulnerable gamers like students and minors while ensuring the country enjoys the benefits of the regulation.

According to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), online gaming in India is expected to grow faster than the global online gaming industry. If this speculation is to come to pass, there is a need for online gaming to be legalized quickly. This will even help foster more investment in the gaming markets and thereby being about increased revenue for the State of India.

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