Indians were found to mostly play action/adventure games, followed by first-person shooters. (Representational Image: Bloomberg)Mobile gaming in India has seen an uptrend since the COVID-19 lockdown began, according to a new report by CMR. The report states that mobile gaming has increased among three in every five serious gamers which is not surprising given more and more people were at home during the lockdown. The survey also showed that many users in India consider Apple’s processors as the best performers for gaming, followed by MediaTek processors.
The Next-Gen Indian Mobile Gamer: A Consumer Survey Report by CMR, is based on a survey conducted across eight cities, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad. The sample size of the study was 1,124 mobile gamers in the age group of 16 to 35.
The report states that three in every five serious gamers are now playing for around four hours more than before the lockdown. Earlier Indians used to play for around seven hours a week before the lockdown. Another key trend seen was that around 15 per cent of mobile gamers shifted from playing freemium games to paid games. Most gamers agreed to the fact that mobile gaming helped them overcome social isolation.
Indians were found to mostly play action/adventure games, followed by first-person shooters. Some of the most popular responses for games played by Indians were Call of Duty Mobile and Garena Free Fire. An average Indian, according to the report, has at least seven games on their phone out of which four are played on a regular basis. 47 per cent of the participants stated that they played mobile games for fun, whereas, 40 per cent said that they play to relieve stress. During the lockdown, 59 per cent of serious gamers and 37 per cent of casual gamers stated that they participated in online competitive gaming contests.
Indian gamers recognise both Qualcomm and MediaTek processors, and most of them prefer MediaTek processors over Qualcomm one for gaming. The top three pain points for mobile gamers include phone heating, fast battery discharge and slow network. Most gamers state that they want more RAM, better battery life, increased storage and powerful processors.
“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,” according to Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, 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,” he added.
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