With the onset of 3G, the mobile gaming industry, which is currently pegged at Rs 100 crore, is estimated to grow by upto 200% by the next financial year, say industry experts. As of now, mobile gaming contributes to just 1% of the entire VAS offering. Highly priced downloadable games, slow download speeds and expensive GPRS (general packet radio service) – enabled handsets are a few reasons contributing to slow growth of mobile gaming. Also, the active and non-active mobile internet subscriber base stands at a mere 88 million which comprises 28% of the total mobile subscriber base. This points out to the low GPRS usage and hence, low mobile gaming. However, due to the availability of high-end handsets at a comparatively lower rates, and 3G bringing in addictive games, this figure is expected to grow to 3-4% of the total VAS offering by CY2012.
?Mobile gaming is a promising market but has not been exploited to its fullest.With the advent of 3G, high quality real time games would be introduced which will lead to increase in the number of mobile gamers,?stated Nitish Mittersain, CEO, Nazara Technologies. According to Juniper Research, globally, more than 300 million consumers downloaded mobile games in 2008. Growth of mobile gaming is highest in markets such as the Indian sub continent. This is due to the low broadband and gaming console base which makes mobile handset the de facto games console.
The mobile games market, on a global basis was worth around $5.4billion (Rs 27,372 crore approx) in 2008. ? In the developed markets like South Korea and Japan , mobile gaming constitutes more than 25-30% of their VAS offering which is expected to rise to almost 50% in the near future. One of the factors driving mobile gaming in developed markets is the availability of faster processors in mobile devices, which enable faster response times, 3-D graphics and advanced sound capabilities,? explained Windsor Holden, principal analyst, Juniper Research.
SMS in India still occupies the largest pie of the total VAS offerings whereas, ringtones, music download, GPRS based applications together constitue less than 20% of VAS. ?In the market like India, mobile games which can be played by 2-3 players at the same time will gain prominence. Also, having realised the mobile gaming potential in India, the handset manufacturers have introduced motion sensor gaming and lower priced handsets. The growing youth subscriber base in India will largely contribute to the growth of mobile gaming market in India.,? mentioned Usha Rajeev, leader telecom practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers , India.