HOW TO GROW YOUR VIDEO GAME IN INDIA
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PAYMENTS HOW TO GROW YOUR VIDEO GAME IN INDIA Find out how to successfully navigate one of the world's largest and fastest-growing gaming markets. India has emerged as a global gaming market that's ripe with promise for ambitious game developers and publishers. But to get the most out of this opportunity, it's important to understand the various distinctions that make gaming in India so unique. Let’s take a look at what India's gaming market offers, how gamers in India handle payments, the region's tax and compliance challenges, and some best practices to help your gaming business find an audience there and perform well. GLOBAL PAYMENTS MADE EASY payments@xsolla.com xsolla.com 1
PAYMENTS WHAT'S INSIDE: 1. Market overview 2. Payments trends 3. Taxes 4. Legal compliance 5. Best practices for performance 6. Next steps GLOBAL PAYMENTS MADE EASY payments@xsolla.com xsolla.com 2
PAYMENTS
MARKET OVERVIEW
India by the numbers
Population (2020)1 1.38 billion
Overall gaming market value (2020 year-end projection)2 $1.98 billion USD
Online gamers (2020 year-end projection)3 314.41 million
Online gaming market value (2021 projection)4 $1.1 billion USD
Average age of ecommerce consumer (2019)5 27.9 years
% of online gamers ages 18–24 (2019)6 60%
Internet penetration (2020)7 50%
Smartphone penetration (2020)8 31.7%
Bank account penetration (2019)9 79.9%
1 Newzoo International B.V. (2020) Newzoo Platform (Pro) - Explorer - India.
platform.newzoo.com/explorer/market/India/market-forecast. Accessed October 2020.
2 Newzoo, Newzoo Platform (Pro) - Explorer - India.
3 Newzoo, Newzoo Platform (Pro) - Explorer - India.
4 Mitter, Sohini. "[Year in Review 2019] 5 reasons why this was the ‘year of gaming’ in India." YourStory, December 2, 2019,
yourstory.com/2019/11/online-gaming-2019-fantasy-sport-live-quiz-pubg-startups. Accessed October 2020.
5 "E-commerce Payments Trends: India." J.P. Morgan, 2019,
www.jpmorgan.com/merchant-services/insights/reports/india. Accessed October 2020.
6 Mitter, "[Year in Review 2019] 5 reasons why this was the ‘year of gaming’ in India."
7 Keelery, Sandhya. "Internet penetration rate in India from 2007 to 2020." Statista, October 16, 2020,
www.statista.com/statistics/792074/india-internet-penetration-rate/. Accessed October 2020.
8 Asher, Vaibhav. "Share of mobile phone users that use a smartphone in India from 2014 to 2022." Statista, June 25, 2020,
www.statista.com/statistics/257048/smartphone-user-penetration-in-india/. Accessed October 2020.
9 "E-commerce Payments Trends: India." J.P. Morgan.
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Market size
India's gaming market has grown incredibly fast throughout the past several years.
In 2020, the overall value of the market is estimated to reach $1.98 billion USD
by year's end, with a staggering compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33.56%
since 20181. The online gaming sector alone is projected to generate $1.1 billion USD
worth of revenue in 20212.
While the average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) in the Indian gaming market
is low compared to more established markets, much of its growth potential lies
in the region's sheer volume of gamers. Currently, over 10% of the world’s gamers
reside there. It's estimated that there will be over 314 million online gamers in India
by year-end 20203, and as many as 628 million total gamers by 20214. So as more
of India's growing population of 1.38 billion citizens5 take up gaming, it will only
bolster the potential for the market's overall value to continue rising.
Early mobile dominance and fantasy sports gaming
Since 2010, the rapid growth of India's gaming market was predominantly led
by a massive spike in mobile gaming. The number of total gamers in India climbed
from 10 million in 2010 to 250 million in 20186 — but as of 2017, 222 million gamers
primarily played on mobile. That same year, mobile gamers' activity accounted
for 89% of India's total gaming revenue, with almost one-third of them playing five
days per week or more and nearly 40% playing for more than six hours per week7.
1 Newzoo, Newzoo Platform (Pro) - Explorer - India.
2 Mitter, "[Year in Review 2019] 5 reasons why this was the ‘year of gaming’ in India."
3 Newzoo, Newzoo Platform (Pro) - Explorer - India.
4 Mitter, "[Year in Review 2019] 5 reasons why this was the ‘year of gaming’ in India."
5 Newzoo, Newzoo Platform (Pro) - Explorer - India.
6 "The evolving landscape of sports gaming in India." KPMG/Indian Federation of Sports Gaming, March 2019,
assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/in/pdf/2019/03/online-gaming-india-fantasy-sports.pdf. Accessed October 2020.
7 Laghate, Gaurav. "India among top 5 markets for mobile gaming." The Economic Times, August 14, 2018,
economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/software/india-among-top-5-markets-for-mobile-gaming/articleshow/65396386.cms.
Accessed October 2020.
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Mobile gaming remains massively popular in the Indian market and continues
to gain traction, as the number of mobile gamers is projected to increase
to 368 million by 2022, with estimated earnings of $943 million1. And the market
has responded by delivering even more mobile games to choose from, as India
is home to over three percent of all game publishers on Google Play — who publish
five percent of all games on the service2 — all in a country where Android accounts
for over 95% of the mobile operating system market3.
Fantasy sports gaming (or fantasy gaming) has also quickly become part
of the conversation. Prompted by a surge of development in fantasy gaming
platforms — which, by 2019, had jumped from only a handful to as many as 70
in just a few years — the number of fantasy gamers in India climbed from two
million in 2016 to an estimated 100 million by the end of 20194. And India's most
popular fantasy gaming platform, Dream11, crossed the $1 billion valuation threshold
in April 2019, becoming India's first gaming "unicorn."5
1 Krishnaswamy, Anand. "Easy, affordable, and varied: how no-frills mobile gaming industry thrives in India."
Firstpost, July 22, 2020, www.firstpost.com/tech/gaming/easy-affordable-and-varied-how-no-frills-mobile-gaming-
industry-thrives-in-india-8598931.html. Accessed October 2020.
2 "India Mobile Gaming Statistics in 2020 for Android." 42matters, October 21, 2020,
42matters.com/india-mobile-gaming-statistics. Accessed October 2020.
3 "Mobile Operating System Market Share in India - September 2020." Statcounter,
gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/india. Accessed October 2020.
4 Mitter, "[Year in Review 2019] 5 reasons why this was the ‘year of gaming’ in India."
5 Ghosh, Sutrishna. "First gaming 'unicorn'? Dream11 joins $1B club with investment from Steadview Capital."
YourStory, April 9, 2019, yourstory.com/2019/04/dream11-first-gaming-unicorn-steadview-capital. Accessed October 2020.
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Key growth factors
Gaming's rise to prominence in India throughout the last decade can be attributed
to several key factors, including1:
• Age.
Gaming is more often pursued by younger, more technologically adaptable
consumers. The average age in India is estimated to be 28.4 years2.
• Income.
As India's average household income has risen, its middle class has grown
and consumers have gained greater freedom to spend more on leisure
activities3.
• Smartphone penetration.
Rising income and low ownership of desktop computers has prompted
a greater penetration of smartphones across India, totaling 468 million
smartphone users in 2017 and estimated to reach 859 million by 20224.
It should be noted that only a small percentage of these devices —
7.5% as of January 2018 — are "high-end" models, defined as those
with minimum specs that include 2 CPU cores, 2GB of RAM, 4G connectivity,
NFC, biometric identification (e.g. fingerprint, face ID), and a release year
of 2014 or later. The vast majority are "budget" devices that carry fewer
robust tech capabilities and features5.
• Internet penetration.
Improved online access and a steep drop in the cost of data has helped
elevate India to the second-highest internet usership in the world, touching
over 696 million users by the end of 2020 and projected to reach over
974 million by 20256.
1 Makhija, Sunny. "Investing in India’s Online Gaming Sector: Market Profile, Growth Drivers." India Briefing, May 20, 2020,
www.india-briefing.com/news/investing-indias-online-gaming-sector-market-profile-growth-drivers-20440.html/.
Accessed October 2020.
2 Plecher, H. "India: Average age of the population from 1950 to 2050 (median age in years)." Statista, September 22, 2020,
www.statista.com/statistics/254469/median-age-of-the-population-in-india/. Accessed October 2020.
3 Keelery, Sandhya. "Number of households by gross annual income brackets across India in 2010 and 2016, with a forecast
for 2025 (in millions)." Statista, June 26, 2020, www.statista.com/statistics/482584/india-households-by-annual-income/.
Accessed October 2020.
4 "E-commerce Payments Trends: India." J.P. Morgan.
5 Wijman, Tom. "The India Opportunity: Tapping into One-Tenth of the World’s Gamers." Newzoo, April 9, 2018,
newzoo.com/insights/articles/the-india-opportunity-tapping-into-one-tenth-of-the-worlds-gamers/.
Accessed October 2020.
6 Keelery, Sandhya. "Number of internet users in India from 2015 to 2020 with a forecast until 2025(in millions)." Statista,
August 3, 2020, www.statista.com/statistics/255146/number-of-internet-users-in-india/. Accessed October 2020.
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Source: Statista1
• Digital payments.
Higher incomes combined with greater smartphone and internet penetration
have made it easier for the average Indian consumer to make payments
across all sectors through digital payment methods. The Indian government
has also encouraged a shift to digital payment methods through their
Cashless India program, which began in November 2016.
• IT sector growth.
As the overall market has grown in value, more local studios entered
the marketplace in search of success. There were only 25 Indian online
game developers in 2010, ballooning to 275 by 2019. The region's wealth
of engineering talent has also made it a popular back-end development hub
for gaming companies2.
1 McCarthy, Niall. "The Cost of Mobile Internet Around The World." Statista, March 6, 2019,
www.statista.com/chart/17247/the-average-cost-of-mobile-data-in-selected-countries/. Accessed October 2020.
2 Makhija, Sunny. "Investing in India’s Online Gaming Sector: Market Profile, Growth Drivers."
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Demographic and behavioral trends
Localization
Because a large proportion of Indian citizens speak English, the Indian gaming
market is widely accessible for English-speaking developers and publishers from
other regions like North America (NA), the European Union (EU), Oceania, Southeast
Asia (SEA), and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). So for all such companies,
language is not a barrier to entry.
However, gamers in India have also heavily adopted games written in some
of its more widely spoken local languages like Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil,
and others. This is true whether the game was developed locally and written
natively in those languages (such as Teen Patti by Octro or Ludo King by Gametion
Technologies) or whether a AAA developer or publisher localized its content
for Indian gamers (such as Clash of Clans by Supercell).
In addition to language, content localization can also help developers and
publishers to appeal to Indian gamers' tastes. This includes running events
that celebrate popular holidays and festivals in India, such as Holi, Diwali, and Eid,
or creating specialized versions of games for the Indian market that employ colors,
patterns, or other elements that speak to local design aesthetics. Companies
that have successfully localized their games in this fashion include Zynga, with their
puzzle title Rangoli Rekha: Color Match 3, and Kiloo, a Denmark-based studio who
updated their Subway Surfers title with design details from the streets of Mumbai1.
It's expected that there will be greater crossover of localized content in years
to come, including popular Bollywood film franchises2.
Genre and Gender
Among mobile gamers in India, the fastest-growing genres are puzzle, action,
and adventure games. Also trending upward are fantasy sports and real-money
gaming platforms, which have seen a marked rise in popularity — particularly
for casual and localized card games3.
1 Silvandersson, Carolina. "Why You Should Localize Your Game For India ASAP [localization factsheet]." LocalizeDirect,
April 15, 2019, www.localizedirect.com/posts/indian-game-localization-factsheet. Accessed October 2020.
2 "2020: The up and coming year for Indian gaming industry!." Hindustan Times, July 10, 2020,
www.hindustantimes.com/brand-stories/2020-the-up-and-coming-year-for-indian-gaming-industry/story-
FZdh2XYuCVmXF5DoomuovK.html. Accessed October 2020.
3 Makhija, Sunny. "Investing in India’s Online Gaming Sector: Market Profile, Growth Drivers."
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Between male and female online gamers, there’s no measurable difference in how
much time they spend gaming per day. And while female gamers in India have
consistently shown interest in casual games, there has been a marked uptick
in competitive gaming interest as well1.
Monetization models
Indian gamers actively engage with titles that employ a range of different
monetization models, but free-to-play (F2P) and freemium games remain
the biggest draws in the market. Their low cost of entry makes them highly
appealing, and developers who've recognized this trend have responded
by launching more and more F2P and freemium games into the market. Games
in these groups can earn revenue from an assortment of streams, including
but not limited to:
• advertisements (banner and/or video), with an option to purchase
an ad-free version
• in-game purchases for game advancement, such as unlocking a character
or level
• ancillary in-game purchases, such as skins or other virtual goods unrelated
to game progress
• any combination of the above
Consequently, premium titles have become harder to mobilize in the region. Not
only do many Indian gamers feel that they deliver less value for the higher initial
cost, but the influx of available no-cost content has created a wealth
of competition for discoverability and attention2.
1 Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)/Ernst & Young LLP (EY). "The era of consumer A.R.T. -
Acquisition | Retention | Transaction - India's Media & Entertainment Sector." FICCI-EY, March 2020,
ficci.in/spdocument/23200/FICCI-EY-Report-media-and-entertainment-2020.pdf. Accessed October 2020.
2 KPMG/Google India. "Online gaming in India: Reaching a new pinnacle." KPMG, May 2017,
assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/in/pdf/2017/05/online-gaming.pdf. Accessed October 2020.
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PAYMENTS TRENDS
Indian consumers are increasingly making more purchases through digital payment
methods in every sector, including gaming. This has a number of drivers in common
with the growth of the overall Indian gaming market, including the nation’s young
average age, increased smartphone adoption, and increased internet adoption1.
India’s burgeoning fintech industry — whose fierce competition has helped to lower
fees while elevating service quality — and the government’s Cashless India initiative
have also contributed to this growing shift.
Source: J.P. Morgan2
1 "E-commerce Payments Trends: India." J.P. Morgan.
2 "E-commerce Payments Trends: India." J.P. Morgan.
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Credit and debit cards
For gaming purchases in India, credit and debit cards account for 29% of all
ecommerce transactions, the highest of any payment method category — though
debit cards are much more widely used than credit cards, with 64% and 2%
penetration per capita respectively1. And while global card issuers have some
amount of market penetration, 90% of credit card transactions and almost all debit
card transactions are performed through the use of domestic card issuers2.
Among the most successful local payment networks in this category is RuPay,
a credit and debit card scheme created by the National Payments Corporation
of India (NPCI). Over 500 million RuPay cards have been issued by over 1,100
international, regional, and local banks across India3, and as of July 2020,
RuPay processes 33% of all credit card transactions in the region4.
Digital wallets
Surging in popularity behind credit and debit cards are digital wallets, which
are responsible for 25% of all ecommerce payments in India. Despite the fact
that Indian consumers still use credit and debit cards more for digital transactions,
the impressive growth rate of digital wallets — bolstered by loyalty programs
that employ coupon- and cashback-style mechanics — suggests that it could easily
become the leading category by 20215.
The most popular digital wallet in India is the Paytm Wallet, which is widely regarded
to have had a revolutionary effect on the region’s overall ecommerce market.
Launched in 2010, Paytm had more than 140 million monthly active users by 2019,
and currently boasts over 350 million app downloads6 and 300 million registered
wallets7. It's also estimated that Paytm will reach 12 billion transactions annually
by the end of FY2020, more than twice the number from the previous year8.
1 "E-commerce Payments Trends: India." J.P. Morgan.
2 Jagadeesh, Jayanth. "Digital Payments - India embarking on another bold move." Finextra, September 23, 2019,
www.finextra.com/blogposting/17910/digital-payments---india-embarking-on-another-bold-move. Accessed October 2020.
3 Munshi, Suman. "NPCI celebrates 5th anniversary of Digital India Day." IBG News, July 2, 2020,
ibgnews.com/2020/07/02/npci-celebrates-5th-anniversary-of-digital-india-day/. Accessed October 2020.
4 Chaudhury, Dipanjan Roy. "PM Modi launches RuPay card in UAE." The Economic Times, August 24, 2019,
economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/pm-modi-launches-rupay-card-in-uae/articleshow/70816228.
cms. Accessed October 2020.
5 "E-commerce Payments Trends: India." J.P. Morgan.
6 Paytm - One97 Communications (2020). Google Play - Paytm - About this app.
play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.one97.paytm. Accessed October 2020.
7 "5 years of Digital India Mission: Our commitment to build an empowered India." Paytm, July 2, 2020, blog.paytm.com/5-
years-of-digital-india-mission-our-commitment-to-build-an-empowered-india-58b1471f39d. Accessed October 2020.
8 Nandi, Shreya. "Paytm looks to hit 12 billion transactions by end of FY20." Mint, June 5, 2019, www.livemint.com/companies/
start-ups/paytm-looks-to-hit-12-billion-transactions-by-end-of-fy20-1559758593578.html. Accessed October 2020.
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Other popular digital wallets include:
• MobiKwik
• PhonePe
• Freecharge
• PayZapp
Bank transfers
Bank transfers are another popular type of digital payments in India, projected
to jump from a 20% market share of ecommerce transactions to more than 30%
by 20211. Most of this growth can be attributed to the most popular payment
system enabling bank transfers today, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) —
a mobile-based real-time payment system launched in April 2016 that enables
inter-bank transactions of up to 100,000 rupees2.
1 "E-commerce Payments Trends: India." J.P. Morgan.
2 Vardhan, Yash. "Payments in India – Part 1: How do Bank Transfer Work in India?" Cashfree, 2019,
blog.cashfree.com/payments-in-india-part-1/. Accessed October 2020.
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UPI has demonstrated remarkable success with ecommerce consumers in India,
jumping from less than one billion transactions in April 2020 to more than 1.8 billion
in September 20201. Its increasing popularity can be attributed to a number of key
features, including2:
• More than 170 member banks as of September 2020, including the State
Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank
• Supported across multiple apps including Paytm Wallet, PhonePe, Google
Pay, and Amazon Pay
• Ability to add and make payments from multiple bank accounts in a single
app
• 24/7 real-time operation
• Convenient payment flow
• One-click, two-factor authentication
Cash-based payment methods
As would be expected with all of these developments in digital payment methods,
cash-based payment methods have steadily declined across the last several
years — owing largely to factors that we've covered earlier — but still comprise 17%
of all online payments in India. While this is a significant percentage, cash-based
payment methods should not be heavily relied upon by game developers
and publishers seeking long-term success in the Indian gaming market.
1 National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). "UPI Product Statistics." NPCI,
www.npci.org.in/product-statistics/upi-product-statistics. Accessed October 2020.
2 National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). "UPI Product Overview." NPCI,
www.npci.org.in/product-overview/upi-product-overview. Accessed October 2020.
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TAXES
The tax system in India is both elaborate and aggressive, with ecommerce
in particular drawing scrutiny from local tax authorities. Such taxes include:
• Goods and services tax (GST)1:
a consumption tax that’s levied in several parts — central GST (CGST), state
tax (SGST), union territory tax, integrated tax (IGST) — by each of India’s 28
states and their respective eight federal union territories, making it possible
to have significant total GST variances from state to state or territory
to territory, and depending on whether the payment is an intrastate
or cross-state transaction
• Withholding tax (WHT)2:
a tax obligation that payers of certain payment types must withhold
and remit to the government, with withholding rates that vary depending
on the type or purpose of the payment
• Equalisation levy3:
a levy that’s applied to specific “ecommerce operators” when goods
or services are provided to Indian residents or purchasers using an Indian
IP address
• Income tax4:
a more standard tax obligation, where the total yearly earnings
of an individual, firm, company, or other taxable entity determines the tax
bracket to which the entity belongs and their respective income tax rate
As with any tax code, it’s possible that some of these taxes may fluctuate
dramatically from state to state based on complex determinants, or the business
may qualify for specified credits and/or exemptions. Familiarity with the intricacies
of the Indian system is the only way to ensure that the correct amount of tax
is calculated and paid.
1 ClearTax. "Goods & Services Tax GST (India) What is GST? Indirect Tax Law Explained." ClearTax, Updated October 15, 2020,
cleartax.in/s/gst-law-goods-and-services-tax. Accessed October 2020.
2 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). "India - Corporate - Withholding taxes." PWC, Updated May 14, 2020,
taxsummaries.pwc.com/india/corporate/withholding-taxes. Accessed October 2020.
3 KPMG. "India: Digital taxation, enlarging the scope of 'equalisation levy'." KPMG, Updated March 24, 2020, home.kpmg/us/en/
home/insights/2020/03/tnf-india-digital-taxation-enlarging-the-scope-of-equalisation-levy.html. Accessed October 2020.
4 ClearTax. "Income Tax in India : Guide, IT Returns, E-filing Process 2020." ClearTax, Updated October 20, 2020,
cleartax.in/s/income-tax. Accessed October 2020.
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LEGAL COMPLIANCE
Gaming in India falls under one of two legal classifications: games of skill
and games of chance (which includes betting and gambling). The two central laws
that govern gaming are the Public Gambling Act (PGA), passed in 1867, and the Prize
Competitions Act (PCA), passed in 19551.
Per India’s constitution, each state has the right to pass their own gaming laws
within their jurisdiction, any of which supersede the PGA and PCA. Some states
simply adopted the provisions of the PGA, while others exercise their right to pass
individualized regulations. Under most of these state-level laws, games of skill rarely
receive additional restrictions, but games of chance are largely prohibited.
And to complicate matters further, the text of many laws on the topic refer
to gambling as “gaming.” Ultimately, game developers and publishers
are responsible for meeting the criteria of any and all state-level laws in order
to ensure that their games are legally capable of being sold, distributed,
and operated within each state.
To find out which laws apply — whether it’s those that refer to games of skill
or games of chance — each game must receive a determination by judicial
pronouncement on a case-by-case basis. Surprisingly, horse betting and fantasy
gaming are deemed games of skill, and online games that don’t award prize money
are usually not considered gambling. Rummy and poker are considered games
of skill within some states but games of chance in others, meaning that they’re
prohibited. Casino games like roulette, blackjack, and slots are ordinarily viewed
as games of chance.
Depending on a game’s content, laws relating to obscenity, violence, intellectual
property, and personality rights may also apply. Most of these laws predate
the internet, so they weren’t written to specifically address or account
for the nature of online game content.
Because of this, the ability to receive a license for an online game may be hindered,
or the process may become protracted. If a license is eventually issued, it will likely
classify the game as a game of skill under the PGA or equivalent law in most Indian
states.
1 STA Law Firm. "India: Video Game Industry and Censorship Laws." STA Law Firm, March 25, 2020,
www.stalawfirm.com/en/blogs/view/video-game-censorship-india.html. Accessed October 2020.
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No rating system nor any specific statutes exist which pertain specifically
to video game content in India. However, legal provisions related to video games
can be gathered from several articles in India’s constitution and sections
of The Cinematograph Act (1952) and the Indian Penal Code.
The provisions of these laws largely relate to freedom of speech, but also
designate its reasonable restriction on the basis of decency and morality. Other
protections are in place to ensure “public order,” protect “innocent children” from
“abuse or corruption,” and “shield them from exploitation and moral or material
abandonment.” According to the Indian Penal Code, representations that “deprave
or corrupt a person’s senses” may determine its creator or publisher to be guilty
of the crime of “obscene publication.”
In September 2020, India’s Ministry of Information & Technology banned 118 mobile
games and applications. According to an official statement, this decision was made
to “...ensure (the) safety, security and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace.”
So it’s important for developers and publishers to consider a game’s content
and onboarding policy before entering a stricter market like India.
BEST PRACTICES FOR PERFORMANCE
Considering all that we’ve covered, here are some best practices for developers
and publishers looking to get the most from entering the Indian gaming market:
• Because the development of the market was primarily led by mobile games,
mobile was many Indian gamers’ cultural point of entry into the hobby
and remains the platform where they feel the most comfortable. Also,
despite that other platforms have made some headway in the last few years,
mobile is still widely regarded as the most popular. Consider developing your
games natively for mobile before porting to other platforms.
• Most smartphones bought in India are “budget” devices, often not packed
with the most advanced technical specs or other features. Bear this in mind
when developing your game to ensure that consistent gameplay isn’t too
technically taxing on lower-end models.
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• Because premium titles operate at a disadvantage here, your monetization
strategy for this region should rely on a larger volume of smaller-increment
earnings and transactions, such as ads and in-game purchases —
but the key to achieving higher adoption rates is balancing access
to engaging gameplay with promoting primary revenue driver(s).
• If your game is F2P, consider implementing a subscription program that
offers additional or exclusive daily, weekly, or monthly drops in addition
to in-game purchases. Not only is the cost of a subscription still quite low
as compared to the cost of a premium title, but it can become a recurring
payment that helps to build a more dependable revenue stream.
• Last year, most of the top-grossing games in India were casual and local
favorite card games. However, research confirms that the market has
a growing appetite for mid-core titles, which may expand into a larger trend
within the next few years.
• Games developed natively in English will have no problem finding
an English-speaking audience in India, so this removes some barriers
to entry. But as you can guess, the more localized your content is, the more
accessible it becomes. Hindi is the most widely spoken of the 22 official
languages designated by the Indian Constitution, so start there and work
your way down the list.
• Make sure that your payments partner is primed to help you accept
payments from leading local payment methods in growing categories, such
as RuPay, Paytm Wallet, UPI, and others.
GLOBAL PAYMENTS MADE EASY
payments@xsolla.com xsolla.com 17PAYMENTS
NEXT STEPS
As you prepare to venture into the Indian gaming market — and as with any
adventure — it helps to have a guide. As your trusted partner, Xsolla can deliver
everything you need to level the playing field and improve your odds of success
in India, including:
• Access to local alternative payment methods, so you can reach more
gamers throughout the region no matter how they choose to pay
• The gaming industry’s #1 fraud prevention system
• 100% PCI DSS compliance on every transaction
• Handling of all licensing, publishing, and local requirements
• Knowledge of and adherence to local sales taxes, laws, and regulations
• Market and legal expertise, with constant analysis and reevaluation
• Payouts in one convenient financial stream
• Hands-off financial institution liability and risk transfer
If you’re not an Xsolla partner, contact us at business@xsolla.com to learn about
how we can help you break into one of the fastest-growing markets in the world.
If you’re currently an Xsolla partner, email your account manager and set up a time
to discuss how we can help you tap into this tremendous opportunity.
GLOBAL PAYMENTS MADE EASY
payments@xsolla.com xsolla.com 18You can also read
