Mobile Gaming grows 16% YoY; 40% surge in hardcore gamers in post-COVID India, as per new insights from CyberMedia Research (CMR)

Mobile Gaming grows 16% YoY; 40% surge in hardcore gamers in post-COVID India, as per new insights from CyberMedia Research (CMR)

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Birender Singh

  • Driven by powerful smartphones, hardcore and enthusiast gaming on the rise in India.
  • Hyper-casual gaming declined 16% YoY.
  • Democratized mobile gaming experiences, powered by chipsets, are contributing to gaming inflection.

New Delhi/Gurugram, 1 June 2022:  CyberMedia Research (CMR), India’s trusted technology market research and advisory firm, unveiled its latest gaming survey insights from CMR’s gaming-centric intelligence. The survey results chronicle the continued pandemic-induced spike in mobile gaming in India, with a healthy 16% YoY growth.

“At CyberMedia Research (CMR), our gaming intelligence attributes this spike in hardcore and enthusiast gaming to powerful smartphones across the mid and lower price tiers. Hyper-casual gamers have, over the past two years, switched or upgraded to new smartphones, and this is reflected in the increased game time. At the core of these democratized gaming experiences in the value-for-money smartphone segment are, amongst others, the powerful smartphone processors,” said Prabhu Ram, Head- Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CyberMedia Research.

With increasing mobile gaming maturity, evidenced in increased game time, and thanks to powerful smartphones, the number of hardcore gamers has seen a stupendous 40% growth in the post-COVID period. A similar growth trend is observed in the case of casual gamers, while the proportion of hyper-casual gamers declined 16% YoY. As per the CMR survey insights, 86% gamers are satisfied with their current smartphone as a gaming device.

“Our survey results illustrate that smartphone gaming is increasingly becoming social, with gamers connecting with friends and family over gaming. Alongside, gamers have attributed gaming to support in improving their concentration, and, making them more informed about the world outside,” added Satya Mohanty, Head- Industry Consulting Group (ICG), CyberMedia Research.

Key Survey Insights

  • Binge Gaming to the Fore.
  • Three in every five gamers spend 31 mins to 120 mins in a typical play session. On an average, each gamer spends 79 minutes in a typical play session.
  • The average number of games installed in a smartphone stands at 7, of which atleast 4 games are played regularly.
  • Three in every five gamers play action/adventure games. Hardcore gamers mostly play, or prefer action, and first-person shooter games.
  • From Free-to-play to Paid Mobile Gaming.
    • With increasing gaming maturity, casual and hardcore Indian mobile gamers are now increasingly switching to paid gaming apps from freemium apps.
    • As per the CMR gaming survey results, in comparison to the pre-COVID period, there has been a whopping >100% uptick in paid gaming in post-COVID India. The average mobile gaming spend during this period increased a significant 44%!
  • Participation in Online Gaming Contests.
    • Two in every three hardcore gamers have participated in online gaming contests, with a 10% YoY growth in gamer participation.
    • Hardcore gamers participate, on an average, in eight online gaming contests annually.
    • Some of the prominent gaming titles played include Counter Strike (40%), StarCraft II (39%), League of legends (38%) and Rocket League (36%).
    • There is improved awareness amongst hardcore gamers around cloud gaming. Four in every nine hardcore gamers have played cloud-based games on their smartphone, with cloud gaming familiarity driven by Sony PlayStation Now (PS Now) (51%), Microsoft Xbox Game Pass (47%) and Google Stadia (42%).
  • The Rise of Democratized Smartphone Gaming Experiences.
    • Battery life (66%), fast game loading (54%) and display (53%) are the top three smartphone aspects that matter while playing game on smartphone.
    • Among gamers, awareness and perception rating in terms of gaming performance have increased across MediaTek product portfolio, including the MediaTek Dimensity and MediaTek Helio G series.
    • Qualcomm leads in brand awareness (87%) and usage (29%). MediaTek followed closely [brand awareness (82%) and usage (28%)].
    • MediaTek enjoys a strong growth momentum with higher conversion rate of awareness to usage among gamers. Four in every five mobile gamers rate MediaTek highly for its gaming performance.

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About the Survey

The CMR Mobile Gaming Survey 2022 covered 2619 respondents, cutting across six cities of India, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad, covering mobile gamers in the age groups of 14 to 30.

About CyberMedia Research and Services Ltd

CMR offers industry intelligence, consulting and marketing services, including but not limited to market tracking, market sizing, stakeholder satisfaction, analytics and opportunity assessment studies.

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).

For queries, please contact releases@cmrindia.com