Levelling up the gaming scene Premium

Indian women embrace gaming culture, overcoming challenges in a male-dominated industry, contributing to its exponential growth.

Jaya Lakshmi watches from the balcony of her third-floor apartment in Kukatpally, a suburban area of Hyderabad, as her children wave goodbye from their school bus. With mornings now designated as ‘me time’ for the software-professional-turned-homemaker, courtesy her industrious domestic help, she often indulges in a solid two-hour session engrossed in Candy Crush and online Ludo on her smartphone.

As the tasks in the games reach higher levels of difficulty, she willingly invests anywhere between ₹100 and ₹250 to purchase ‘extra lives’ or in-game assistance, oblivious to the fact that these seemingly small sums contribute to the billion-dollar revenue generated annually by the gaming industry worldwide.

According to the latest report released by FICCI-EY, the number of gamers in India is projected to reach 491 million by 2024, up from 455 million in the previous year. The online gaming segment alone is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21%, reaching ₹388 billion by 2026. In 2023, the industry witnessed a revenue surge to $3.1 billion, with a 22% growth rate. Notably, the real money gaming segment is poised to command 83% of the total revenues.

The Indian gaming industry did not boast many women even a decade ago. There were games that lacked characters and narratives that resonated with female players.

Cut to the post-pandemic era, women now constitute over 40% of an industry traditionally dominated by men, as per the latest Lumikai Gaming Report. Often characterised by macho and loud protagonists, high-speed cars, and intense action. Amid the challenges, there were women who made significant strides in the world of gaming, though their journey was not so smooth.

Adi Vyshnavi, better known by her online pseudonym ‘Natasha Gaming’, hailing from Bhimavaram in Andhra Pradesh, was one of the pioneers in live-streaming BattleGround gaming in Telugu. She kept her identity concealed until she reached 50,000 subscribers on YouTube and was named ‘Conqueror Top 75 Asia’, an exclusive title for the top performer in PUBG.

In 2019, Padmaja, a homemaker and mother of two from Kukatpally, near Hyderabad, got her first smartphone at the age of 45, as a birthday gift from her husband and son. Within a year, she reached level 5,000+ on Candy Crush, dedicating an average of two to three hours daily to the game. “I never cared about levels and scores. I play when I get some time to myself, and it turns out I am at a decently high level. My son pointed that out to me when I asked him to cross a rather tough level which I had been struggling with for two days,” she says.