India’s games industry is projected to reach $7.5 billion by 2028

• Despite the suspension of BGMI and Free Fire last year, in-app revenue from other casual and midcore games rose by 37% YoY

The Indian games industry reached $3.1 billion in FY23 and is projected to grow to $7.5 billion by 2028 with a CAGR of 20%. 

This comes from Lumikai‘s annual State of India Gaming Report FY23, which was produced in collaboration with Google. The report finds that this growth is driven by rising in-app purchases in casual and mid-core  games and increased in-game advertising. 

India has 568 million gamers, 25% of whom are paying users, showing a 17% YoY increase. With 15.4 billion downloads, India remains one of the leading countries for mobile game downloads. 

A deeper look 

Despite the suspension of BGMI and Free Fire last year, in-app revenue from other casual and mid-core games rose by 37% YoY. 

Revenue from real-money gaming (RMG) grew by $500 million, but future growth may be limited due to new tax policies and industry consolidation. 

Furthermore, a survey of over 2,000 gamers found that 50% are aged 18-30, with a male-to-female ratio of 60:40, and average gaming time increased 20% YoY to 10-12 hours per week.

The report also found that gamers play games mainly to relax and socialise, but excessive ads and having to finish objectives are common reasons for stopping. 

Over 40% have moved beyond casual games to other genres, and about 60% reported purchasing in-app items, with 62% favouring UPI as their payment method.