Approximately one in every five mobile game downloads worldwide is from India.
According to App Annie, in terms of downloads across iOS and Google Play, India was the leading country for the first half of 2021, reaching 4.8 billion downloads.
Following behind India were the US and then Brazil, which were the only other countries to reach over 2 billion downloads during this period.
Out of the top 1000 games downloaded in the country only 7.6 per cent were from Indian publishers, with the majority of games being developed elsewhere.
As India is the largest market for mobile game downloads this indicates a gap in the market for homegrown publishers to fill.
Additionally, the number of games utilising a hybrid monetisation strategy has seen an increase in the country.
Overall, 15 per cent more of the top 200 grossing games introduced in-app advertising to its monetisation model, alongside in-app purchases.
Bonkers for battle royale
The most downloaded game for the period was free-to-play tabletop game Ludo King from Gametion. Ludo King also ranked first with the highest number of monthly active users.
Battle Royale mobile games perform well in India, with Free Fire from Garena generating the highest amount of consumer spending throughout the period.
Free Fire was the eighth most downloaded game during the period and had the third highest number of monthly active users, following Ludo King and battle royale competitor PUBG Mobile, or its localised Indian counterpart Battlegrounds Mobile India.
Battlegrounds Mobile India was released on July 2nd, 2021, following a country-wide ban of PUBG Mobile last year.
For Q3 2021, Battlegrounds Mobile India was second place for downloads, monthly active users and consumer spending, highlighting the immense popularity of the game in India.
Genshin Impact also saw a rise in consumer spending, increasing by 17 places to fifth place for the period. This is due to the one-year anniversary event that saw the game generate its highest amount of monthly revenue to date in September 2021.
In September, Indian esports firm Mobile Premier League raised $150 million on a $2.3 billion valuation, highlighting the increase the mobile esports industry has recently had in the country.
