What’s driving gamers in India? Meta has the answers

Reels, video ads on Meta and influencers have emerged as top drivers for Indian gamers to discover and purchase new games.

This insight has come from a Meta-commissioned study by GWI focused on Gaming, released at Meta’s inaugural Gaming Summit in India this week, to mark the rising importance of the sector. The company also unveiled key consumer findings from the Meta-commissioned study.

Gaming Will Be The Star Of This Techade

Not surprisingly, gaming is one of the top three verticals for Meta globally and Meta is a leading channel for gamers to discover and purchase new games. “Gaming is poised to play a leading role in India’s techade, and we’re thrilled to enable growth opportunities for gaming businesses at different stages of their journey,” said Arun Srinivas, Director and Head (India), Ads Business, Meta.

Some of the country’s biggest gaming brands attended the summit and shed light on the use of innovative cutting-edge technologies such as AI that has helped them drive growth for their business. They also highlighted the top trends shaping the gaming industry in India right now.

More than three out of four casual and real money Indian gamers discover new games to play and purchase on social media, and more than 90% of these do so on the Meta platforms, was another important insight shared by the study. That means while you are scrolling your feed on Insta or browsing YouTube, you are pulled into playing attractive games and end up purchasing some of them too.

Insights from Meta-Commissioned Study on Gaming

Gaming is becoming more popular in India:

6 in 10 smartphone gamers in India play games daily. Almost 90% of real-money Indian gamers play real-money games at least weekly. Nearly half of the casual gamers and 43% of real-money gamers come from non-metro geographies, which means the smaller towns and cities of India.

Meta is driving discovery:

Meta is helping gamers discover and purchase new games. Three out of four casual and real money gamers discover new games to play and purchase on social media. 90% of these do so on the Meta platforms, that is Facebook and Instagram mainly. Reels, ads, and influencers play a leading role in driving this discovery.

Festivals, sporting events are key moments for gamers:

The festive season and sporting events impact the types of games played. 88% of the gamers say they’re more likely to switch from playing other real-money games to playing fantasy sports games during IPL and World Cup.

Tech that gamers swear by:

Artificial intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), and Augmented Reality (AR) are the top three gaming technologies that are of the utmost interest to casual gamers in India.