Mobile gaming on the rise, driven by homebound consumers: CMR

New Delhi [India], November 3 (ANI/NewsVoir): Mobile gaming in India is on the upswing, driven by consumers staying at home amidst the pandemic-induced lockdown.
As per a new CMR Report, The Next Gen Mobile Consumer, mobile gaming has increased among three in every five serious gamers, with four hours being average duration of increase since the lockdown began in India.
Interestingly, in line with the increased time spent on mobile gaming, the study points out the shift from freemium to paid gaming apps. Interestingly, 15 per cent of the gamers switched to paid mobile gaming apps during lockdown.
Across the board, three in every five gamers believe that mobile gaming enabled them in overcoming social isolation during the lockdown period.
"The growth of mobile gaming led by powerful smartphones, across price-points, and backed by reliable internet, is driving mobile gaming in India. Mobile gaming in India is driven by an array of gamer personas, ranging from the serious to the hyper-casual gamers. They differ from each other in terms of the time spent, the genres played, the places played at, and most importantly, their outlook to mobile gaming," said Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR.
As per the CMR study, Indians tend to play mobile games based on family and friend recommendations. On an average, Indians have seven games installed on their smartphones. Of these, there are atleast four games that they play regularly.
Indians mostly play action/adventure games followed by first-person shooter game. 'Call of Duty Mobile' and 'Garena Free Fire' are popular first-person shooter games.
While COVID-19 has propelled the use of mobile as a way to work, learn and communicate, it is also providing consumers with some much-needed interactive and imaginative entertainment. Casual gamers indicated playing for 'fun' (47 per cent), whereas serious gamers sought to 'relieve stress' (40 per cent).
"Among mobile gamers, the top three pain points include phone heating, fast battery discharge and slow network. Going forward, mobile gamers expect more from their smartphones: more RAM, better battery life, increased storage and powerful SoCs," said Amit Sharma, Analyst- Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR.
"Whether it be a serious, casual or a hyper - casual gamer, the key pre-requisite for today's gamer is the need for a great mobile gaming experience. And interestingly, today's consumers are well-aware that the Gaming SoC enables and enriches the overall experience," added Prabhu.
Qualcomm (65 per cent) and MediaTek (61 per cent) are the top two brands that Indian gamers are aware of. However, it is interesting to note that more serious gamers show a preference for MediaTek (68 per cent) over Qualcomm (66 per cent).
Here are the key takeaways from the report:
* Indians spend around 7 hours in a week. The duration of playing has increased among majority (53 per cent) of mobile gamers since the nationwide lockdown began early this year.
* Indians play mobile games mostly during evenings (30 per cent) and late nights (23 per cent). While men play mostly in the evening (33 per cent), women play mostly in the late nights (28 per cent).
* Indians mostly play action/adventure (71 per cent) and first-persons shooter (63 per cent) games on their smartphone. However, among women, most popular type of the game is puzzles (65 per cent) followed by multi-player gamers (56 per cent).
* Average number of games in the phone is 7 out of which 4 games are regularly played. Females play 3 games on a regular basis.
* Six out of ten serious gamers tend to purchase gaming apps, while others tend to use freemium apps. Among females, four in every nine users purchase gaming app.
* Use of paid gaming apps increased by a massive 15 per cent during lockdown, while freemium gaming apps increased by 8 per cent.
* Serious gamers drove new paid as well as freemium gaming app installations during lockdown.
* 59per cent of serious gamers, and 37 per cent of casual gamers participate in competitive gaming contests.
The "The Next-Gen Indian Mobile Gamer: A Consumer Survey Report" is based on an extensive survey conducted across eight cities of India, namely New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad. The study covered 1124 mobile gamers in the age groups of 16 to 35.
For results based on a randomly chosen sample of this size, there is 95per cent confidence that the results have a statistical precision of plus or minus 3per cent of what they would be if the entire population had been surveyed.
The report is available at: cmrindia.com/shelf/the-next-gen-mobile-gamer.
CMR offers industry intelligence, consulting and marketing services, including but not limited to market tracking, market sizing, stakeholder satisfaction, analytics and opportunity assessment studies. Its bouquet of consulting services includes incubation advisory, go-to-market services, market mapping and scenario assessment services.
CMR is servicing domestic as well as international clientele in India and few global destinations. The clientele serviced represents SMBs, Large Enterprises, Associations and Government. CMR's core value proposition encompasses a rich portfolio of syndicated reports and custom research capabilities across multiple industries, markets and geographies.
A part of CyberMedia, South Asia's largest specialty media and media services group, CyberMedia Research (CMR) has been a front-runner in market research, consulting and advisory services since 1986. CMR is an Institutional member of Market Research Society of India (MRSI).
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