The Convergence of Indian Gaming and Web3 Technology

India ranks second to China when it comes to the number related to gamers in the country. The country has over 400 gaming companies and boasts of a staggering 420 million online gamers. According to a Dentsu report, the number of gamers is expected to touch 700 million in FY25 at a CAGR of 12 per cent.

As we transition from Web2 to Web3, our conscience about owning our data and monetizing it is becoming stronger. While gamers are all about the game and what it offers, Web3 has the potential to decentralize the space and give everyone an equal opportunity to try their hand out.

During a panel discussion on ‘The Game is on: The New and Next of Gaming Business’ at the Entrepreneur 2023 Summit in New Delhi, the panellists discussed what makes the gaming space in India tick and what it means for Web3 gaming entrepreneurs. The panel was moderated by Kapil Dhiman, CEO, MetaStudios and comprised of Bharat Patel, Chairman & Director, Yudiz Solutions Ltd; Piyush Kumar, Founder & CEO, Rooter; Ishank Gupta, Co-founder and Custodian, IndiGG DAO; and Salone Sehgal, Founding General Partner, Lumikai.

Making Web3 gaming technology invisible

While India currently is home to a large number when it comes to gamers, the foundation was laid in the 2000s, when mobiles became a common thing. The advent of smartphones became a big attraction for the younger generation to try out gaming and the pandemic pushed it further.

“With Web3, one has to realize that we have to go back a little bit say 6-8 years back when gaming moved from a cottage industry to a USD300 M gorilla and that was largely propelled by mobile gaming. And the reason why that was the case was because mobile gaming transcended barriers. It broke down barriers; you no longer needed expensive hardware to play games, there was a lot of demographic expansion, women started playing games and kids started playing a lot more games. And it became very accessible because now at the palm of your hand, you had these incredible-immersive experiences which became accessible,” shares Salone Sehgal, Founding General Partner, Lumikai. In fact, Lumikai and AWS’ latest report shared that 40 per cent of current gamers are women, with an average women player spending 11.2 hours a week as compared to 10.2 spent by men.

“Until the technology layer becomes invisible until we are able to fix these teething problems of the industry, I’d say Web3 adoption is a little bit further off than everyone thought it was,” she adds.

Decentralizing the gaming business

“Historically in the gaming value chain, games spend money on third-party platforms, gamers come to those third-party platforms, spend their time, money and skill. And in return, people who benefit from this are those platforms. So, what we wanted to do was we wanted to use the blockchain to give people ownership of their data. In a way when they are spending their time and skill inside these games, they benefit in return. And those benefits can go back in the game itself,” shares Ishank Gupta, Co-founder and Custodian, IndiGG DAO.

It’s all about the game

While Web2 and Web3 technologies are being discussed, gamers are concerned with just one thing- playing an interesting game. “Gamers don’t care about Web2, Web3; gamers care about having fun inside the game,” shares Gupta.

Piyush Kumar, Founder & CEO, Rooter seconds the view, “For us, when we look at Web3 gaming we look at it as we come a couple of steps down the line. The game has to first come, get certain traction, the ease of play has to be there, and people need to understand it.” He feels Web3 gaming will start playing an integral role in the next five years and believes that for the Indian gaming market to become big, Web3 gaming is important.

“For this ecosystem to become successful, we need a lot of games,” adds Kapil Dhiman, CEO, MetaStudios.

An adequate talent pool

India is the hub of software developers in the world and also acts as the backbone of Silicon Valley. Tech minds are constantly looking for something new to get their hands on, and Web3 is the latest tool. “The talent was a challenge for the past couple of years but with the advent of technology which the people have been witnessing internationally, I think people have developed the skills, and re-skilling has become a common thing now. There is an ecosystem which needs to be created, right from the university level,” shares Bharat Patel, Chairman & Director, Yudiz Solutions Ltd.

The investor bet

While the funding winter continues, and Web3 is being affected severely, there is still scope for Web3 entrepreneurs to build their offering. “Whoever’s looking to build in this space has to come with two things- a very unique insight of what they are looking to build and a very comprehensive understanding of the learnings and mistakes the first generation (Web3) entrepreneurs made, and how not to repeat them,” shares Sehgal on what investors are looking for while investing in a Web3 gaming startup.