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In the traditional impression of most game developers, the Indian game market is a rather “chicken”. On the one hand, it has a large population base and a population structure that is sufficiently young and has a strong entertainment demand; on the other hand, the high-speed network and underdeveloped electronic payment that are not yet popular have hindered the game from advertising or in-app purchase. The path of realization. Even industry insiders say that successful games in mature markets in the West have generated more revenue in one year than the entire Indian game ecosystem.

But this traditional cognition has been completely subverted by RealMoneyGame (RMG) since last year. We learned from the local game industry in India that from 2017 to 2018, the overall income of the Indian real gold game industry increased from nearly 800 billion rupees (about 8 billion yuan) to 142.7 billion rupees (about 14.3 billion yuan). The annual growth rate is about 78%.

At the same time, due to Indian laws and regulations, both skill-based card games and fantasy sports games are classified as legitimate games. The new realm of “real gold games” has also attracted more and more game developers, investors and overseas. The attention of game developers and operators.

This time, the Volanews India Entrepreneurship Ecotourism Tour in Mumbai visited a local company that has been in the real gold game track for many years, and chatted with local players about the “real gold game”.

Getting to know the “real gold game”

In the Indian game market, mainstream games are mainly divided into e-Sports, mobile casual games and RealMoneyGame. Under the real gold game, it can be subdivided into fantasy. Sports games (FantasySportsGame), Rummy Game (RummyGame) and other Skills-based Skill Games (OtherCard-based Skill Game).

source: KPMG

Because India’s policies and regulations clearly distinguish between GamesofChance and GamesofMereSkill, the former such as roulette, bingo, casino bragging and poker dice are strictly online or offline. It is forbidden to carry out, while the latter includes Rummy, fantasy sports, horse racing and other skill-based card games, because the outcome of the game depends not only on the probability, but also on the skill and wisdom of the player, so it is Think it is legal.

This positive policy encouragement, coupled with the rapid development of the Indian technology Internet in the past five years, provides the real game industry with four major factors that have seen explosive growth in the past two years:

• Improvement of infrastructure

Many Indian game practitioners have said that the cheap and high-speed 4G network service launched by RelianceJio in 2016 has greatly boosted the growth of Internet users and smartphone users in India. At the same time, the emergence of Indian Prime Minister Modi’s “Washing Decree” and electronic payment giants including Paytm, PhonePe and GooglePay have also contributed to the increasing popularity of electronic payments.

• Cultivation and maturity of professional and technical personnel

In the past ten years, the development of Indian technology Internet has cultivated a considerable number of professional and technical personnel from tourism, e-commerce, mobile payment to take-away distribution.

• The development of social media platforms and marketing aids

The main source of traffic for the Indian gaming market is still Google, Facebook, but in the past 3-5 years, the total annual growth rate of total digital advertising and total mobile advertising has exceeded 30%. At the same time, as part of the online service industry, the game industry has also spawned the development of peripheral auxiliary industries including data analysis, user lifecycle management, and customer alliances.

• Growing Internet and Smartphone Users

From 2015 to 2018, Internet users in India increased from 259 million to 485 million. According to estimates, smart handsMachine users will also grow from 299 million in 2017 to 442 million in 2022.

2015-2023, the number of Internet users in India (million)

source: Statista

Statistics show that from 2017 to 2018, the overall income of the Indian real gold game industry increased from nearly 800 billion rupees (about 8 billion yuan) to 142.7 billion rupees (about 14.3 billion yuan), the annual growth rate is about 78%.

At the same time, in the fantasy sports game company, there have also been unicorn companies such as Dream11, which has more than 50 million users and received Tencent’s $100 million D-round shot in September 2018, and PaytmFirstGames, a game company founded by India’s digital payment giant Paytm and Alibaba, and just completed a $20 million strategic investment financing in October this year.

The real gold game, why is it crazy for this?

In the real gold game field, fantasy sports games and Rummy card games are two parallel tracks that are completely in different stages of competition but equally worthy of attention.

Fantasy sports games with a clear pattern

Fantasy sports games allow sports fans to create their own teams with real-life players and prepare for the upcoming league, which can be widely used in cricket, football, Kabaddi, basketball and other popular sports games. These virtual teams earn points based on the actual performance of the player during the actual game and determine who is the winner.

Most Fantasy Sports games offer both free and paid games to users, and users can participate in practice tournaments for free, while those who pay to enter the official tournament can win a substantial cash prize if they win.

Our Indian driver Rahul told me that he is the iron powder user of Dream11, and he has won more than a thousand rupees by the initial investment of three to five hundred rupees. And his friends, most of the recharge amount is comparable to him, and some have already won several thousand rupees, and there are also bad luck “changed generals.”

Local game practitioners tell us that in the past two or three years, the number of operators of fantasy sports games has increased sevenfold (from 10 to 70), while users are at 20From June 16 to February 2019, it increased more than 25 times (from about 2 million to more than 50 million).

Among them, fantasy sports games companies that are at the head and have received capital assistance include:

source: KPMG

It is particularly worth mentioning that in the report jointly released by the Indian Sports Games Federation and Nielsen in February this year, Dream11, which was the earliest and won the Tencent US$10 round of Tencent last year, has almost occupied Indian fantasy sports. 90% market share of games.

And from a survey of fantasy sports users, we found that:

74% of respondents play 1-3 fantasy sports games a week, and high-income city users play a higher percentage of fantasy sports games a week;

46% of respondents have recharged at least once in the past 12 months, but respondents with a recharge amount of 500 rupees (about 50 RMB) accounted for 30% of the overall respondents;

72% of respondents said that fun and excitement are the main reasons driving them to play such games;

85% of respondents play this type of game through mobile apps;

71% of respondents play fantasy cricket games and 54% play football games;

60% of respondents are Dream11 users;

source: KPMG

Rummy card games that players enter quickly

In contrast, the Indian version of the Lamy game is a more localized card game originating from southern India.

The general rules of the game are:

Between 2-6 players, each player sends 13 cards, the remaining cards are played, the cards face down, but the last card is flipped, the cards face up, and the cards played in the future are placed. Yu QiUp;

The basic gameplay is to form 3 or 4 cards of the same point (such as 4 8, 3, etc.), or to form a flush of no less than 3 (such as the box 6-5-4-3, etc.), The formed deck is spread out on the table, otherwise one or more cards in your hand can be attached to the deck of other players;

When the card is finished, the lowest number of points in the hands of the player is won. The total score of each player is the total number of points in all the other hands.

source: rummytoday

According to Indian game practitioners, the Lamy game was originally a kind of card game, but due to its strong local cultural attributes, many game developers will name it XX directly when they launch the game. Lamy games, Lamy XX, etc., and gradually made it a special type of game.

At present, the average customer cost of Indian Lamy games is 2000-5000 rupees (about 200-500 RMB), while the ARPU of a single user can be as high as several thousand rupees to millions of rupees, and the average paying user life cycle Within 6 months to 2 years. As the game wins and loses more and more, even heavy players will borrow money to recharge their Rammy games.

This also makes many Lamy game operators have to establish a risk control system and user relationship management mechanism from the perspective of avoiding major negative social events and effectively extending the user’s reasonable life cycle value, according to the user’s use in recharging. The bank card quota limits the amount of recharge, and occasionally calls back to the high-value recharge users to ask if there is any lending behavior, and persuade them to control the time and money invested in playing the game.

On the other hand, in the entire Indian game market, the number of operators engaged in Lamy games is far less than that of fantasy sports games. In 2018, there were only about 20 or so, and there is no absolute leading position. Game giant.

Through the introduction of Indian game players, the main characteristics of Indian Lamy players are:

Age between the ages of 20 and 44, typical users are young people who have already joined the work;

South India has more game users than North India, and the language they use is more dispersed;

Most players are in the traditional culture attached to the Lamy game, socially driven to participate in the Lamy game, but also release pressure;

Mobile game users are much higher than PC game users;

Lami game is an online version of a traditional card game that does not evade the players’ friends and family.

How long does the “new air outlet” last?

The Indian game market, once regarded as a “chicken rib” by global game developers, has gradually changed under the explosive development and capital assistance of skill-based real gold games. And because of the heat of such “window effect”, how long can it last?

Most Indian game practitioners have expressed a very optimistic attitude, which is mainly due to:

• population base

As the largest population in South Asia, the number of people under 45 in India has increased from 984 million in 2011 to 1.01 billion in 2016. In other words, more than 75% of India’s population is under 45, and the younger population structure reserves a large enough pool of users for the Indian game industry.

• Urbanization Process

The proportion of urban population increased from 31.99% to 33.53% in 2017 and will continue to rise. The increase in the proportion of urban population is closely related to the decline in fertility rate, which has further promoted the emergence of the demographic dividend.

• Indian users’ spending habits are also changing dramatically

With the development of consumption, retail, e-commerce, tourism and pan-entertainment industries in recent years, the consumption habits of Indian users are shifting from consumption based on material demand to more consumption of spiritual entertainment. Some professionals believe that India, which has just crossed the $2,000 per capita GDP, will have a stronger desire for consumption and purchasing power after per capita GDP reaches 3,000 US dollars.

• Market potential

A study shows that if the Indian economy continues to maintain its current growth rate, the average income of Indian households will triple in the next 20 years and become the world’s fifth largest consumer economy by 2025.

At the same time, local game practitioners in India told Volanews that the real game market will continue to grow at an annual rate of more than 30% over the next 5-6 years compared to the current 20% compound annual growth rate of the entire Indian game market. development of. On the other hand, there are currently less than 100 local game companies that offer new entrants and overseas developers/distributors.Provide more market space.

Of course, in the face of the cultural differences and complex language systems of Indian states, whether localization can be promoted and operated, and whether sustainable growth in income and profits can be achieved will also become the main face of newcomers. problem.

编 | 云晞@出海

Picture|Pexels