Mains Practice Questions

Approach

• Describe the status of online gaming in India.
• Briefly explains some challenges related to online gaming in India.
• Provide some steps that need to be taken to tackle the challenges of online gaming in India.
• Conclude accordingly.

Introduction

• Status of online gaming:
  • User growth: India’s percentage of New Paying Users (NPUs) in online gaming has been the fastest growing in the world for two consecutive years, at 40% in 2020 and reaching 50% in 2021.
  • According to a report by EY FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry), transaction-based games’ revenues grew 26% in India, with the number of paying gamers increasing by 17% from 80 million in 2020 to 95 million in 2021.
  • Revenue growth: The revenue of the Indian mobile gaming industry is expected to exceed USD1.5 billion in 2022 and is estimated to reach USD 5 billion in 2025.
  • The industry in the country grew at a CAGR of 38% between 2017-2020, as opposed to 8% in China and 10% in the US.
    • It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15% to reach Rs 153 billion in revenue by 2024.

Body

• Challenges related to online gaming in India:
  • Societal Concerns:
    • A number of societal concerns that can arise from the proliferation of online games in the country has also been highlighted.
    • There have been a number of reported incidents of people losing large sums of money on online games, leading to suicides in various parts of the country.
  • No Regulatory Framework:
    • Along with that, there is currently no regulatory framework to govern various aspects of online gaming companies such as having a grievance redressal mechanism, implementing player protection measures, protection of data and intellectual property rights, and prohibiting misleading advertisements.
  • Cyber bullying:
    • Although cyber bullying has countless forms, some forms are particular to gaming platforms, like hurtful and harmful messages, spamming global chat channels with derogatory comments about their victims. This has led to instances of suicide and self-harming behavior in victims.
• Steps that need to be taken to tackle the challenges of online gaming in India:
  • User education and Awareness: The government and Gaming companies should proactively educate users about potential risks and how to identify likely situations of cheating and abuse.
  • Grievance redressal: Gaming companies should remove the anonymity of participants and build a robust grievance handling mechanism.
  • Age-Rating mechanism: Each game should follow a well-established age-rating mechanism and minors should be allowed to proceed only with the consent of their parents OTP verification on Aadhaar could potentially resolve this.

Conclusion

• Robust Policy Framework:
  • India’s online gaming industry needs robust policy frameworks and digital infrastructure to fulfill its potential, maximize revenue and foray toward being a global leader.
  • A government body that oversees operations, drafts progressive policies preventing societal issues, suitably classifies games of skill or chance, ensures consumer protection and combats illegality and crime is required.
• Cooperation between Government and Gaming Companies:
  • Gaming companies should also continue to work with the government to promote responsible gaming by educating gamers and establishing best practices like conducting KYC checks, user authentication, etc to prevent illegal activities and financial dealings on their platforms.