2020 has been the roller coaster year for everyone! Thanks to COVID-19 pandemic and global lockdown the year has ticked the most unprecedented year category. The only industry which has seen the light in the doom is the gaming industry.
In India, the independent developers and gaming studios have seen numbers in terms of user rate, DAU, MAU, engagement, and so on during this lockdown period. Esports organisations and game streaming platforms have also seen a huge rush right from an increase in the number of esports tournaments to the increment in the number of teams, competitive mindset for gaming is slowly establishing. Not only that, the virtual setup of esports has engaged many users which has further boosted the game streaming businesses in 2020.
Speaking with Animationxpress The Esports Club co-founder Ishaan Arya shared, “While the gaming and esports revenue worldwide overshadows the traditional industries like cinema and music, India too is slowly and steadily reaching out there with one of the largest mobile audiences globally consuming gaming content daily.”
Today the white light of the gaming industry is passing through the prism to disperse into VIBGYOR of gaming businesses. According to Arya, there has been a steady increase in investment around esports over the past year. Esports industry has been lucky enough to not just survive but thrive during the entire phase of lockdown. On a worldwide basis, video games have steadily emerged as one of the favourite pastimes even before the pandemic and the lockdowns. When live entertainment came to a halt, the virtual kind just began. Gaming platforms have been thriving as avenues for all kinds of events during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Not just that, today gaming is doing more than just replacing other entertainment modes and it is not only an entertainment outlet but also plays a social role in the absence of meeting up physically. Moving forward it seems like the days for gaming will only get brighter and according to Arya the trends that will shape the gaming industry scene in 2021 are as follows:
Mobile First: Today, without a doubt, mobile access is effortless. In remote areas, it is the only accessible gaming platform for the majority of Indians. In the case of mobile games, the localization and ease of access to mobile games makes it the driving force behind the growth of gaming in India.
Livestreams: Even in India with the emergence of personalities like Rakazone, Shreeman Legend, Mortal and Hydraflick, gaming content is becoming part of everyone’s daily routine! During the COVID-19 lockdown, gaming content consumption has grown exponentially and Arya expects this trend to continue.
Sports to Esports: Even before COVID, esports has garnered a lot of attention from mainstream audiences. In 2020 with the pandemic shutting down sports activities, esports expanded to an entirely new level. To engage with their audiences before sports resumed, professional sports leagues turned to esports and introduced a whole new audience to the digital world. Now, it forms a really large part of engaging with younger audiences.
