India is one of the more recent entrants into the eSports fray. Multiplayer gaming is gaining momentum in the country more than ever before, with streamers, tournaments, and even the eSports coaching industry, all playing important roles. Although Indian eSports continues to expand steadily on the PC front, India’s mobile gaming industry has taken a significant leap in recent years, and there is a good reason for this.
“The proliferation of low-cost cell phones and affordable data packages has resulted in millions of Indians not only gaming but also consuming massive quantities of digital content, providing the ideal environment for a competitive and thriving mobile esports ecosystem,” said Randall Fernandez, Team Vitality’s general manager.
Team Vitality is one of Europe’s and the world’s most successful eSports teams, competing in titles such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, F1, FIFA, Fortnite, Hearthstone, League of Legends, PUBG, Rainbow Six Siege, and others. The squad, however, has recently expanded into mobile eSports, starting with an all-Indian roster for Call of Duty Mobile. This is also the team’s first foray into gaming outside of Europe.
“Improved smartphone graphics, interactive gameplay experiences, and nascent cloud-based game streaming services keep serious and casual gamers interested. As a result, it’s no wonder that 90% of the country’s 400 million online gamers choose cell phones as their primary gaming device,” Fernandez says.
Cost factor plays such a big role
According to Fernandez, who previously worked as the Country Manager for Sony PlayStation in India, gaming behaviour in Asian countries varies greatly by region and is often linked to the “social, economic, and spending patterns within that region.” He points out those markets such as the Middle East, which are very different from India. Consoles are popular in the former, and one household can have two or three consoles. This is also why console-based eSports tournaments are more popular in these regions.
“While the games ecosystem in Southeast Asia varies by country, every one of them, like India, is a mobile-first market, implying that mobile esports will dominate that region as well. According to a Newzoo and Gamescom Asia survey from last year, 82 % of online population in SEA (South East Asia) is a gamer, with % playing on a smartphone, 69% on PC, and % playing on console,” Fernandez added.
In India, however, gaming PCs and consoles such as the Xbox or Sony PlayStation series are still considered luxuries in many households. On the opposite, gaming on your phone is more cost-effective and offers an easier entry point into the ecosystem for newcomers.
The same games that run on higher-end, dedicated gaming phones and flagship devices are also available at lower graphic and frame rate settings on budget and mid-range phones. This is in contrast to expensive consoles and PC gaming, where a respectable gaming machine or laptop costs much more than a performance-oriented smartphone. When you consider peripherals, capable broadband/fibre networks, and the expense of the games themselves, additional costs are introduced.
Gamers in India are also more likely to go mobile for a variety of other reasons, many of which are obstacles that PC gamers face around the world. Aside from the cost, one of the most obvious is the lack of portability. Fernandez describes that, while mobile gamers can literally take their phone with them to virtually any location with connectivity and still play, PC gamers are limited due to their setups.
Gaming tablets, which people can cart around, help to solve this problem to some degree. Even most gaming laptops, however, need you to remain “plugged in”, in order to get the best performance experience. When it comes to tablets, even the most feature-rich dedicated gaming devices are always handheld, making them as easy to transport as placing them in your pockets. As a result, smartphones are not only the most cost-effective way to access casual gaming and eSports, but also the most portable for on-the-go players.
Another video game trend that allows players to have an unforgettable vibrant gaming experience is 4K technology. In reality, all of the most recent monitors and laptops have 4k-ready displays. According to the esports team manager, PCs are often in a better place in this space, while needing the enormous processing power of graphic cards, which can rarely be done on mobile phones.
