Gaming
India’s gaming market set to become $7 bn in FY2026: RedSeer & Lumikai
Mumbai: India’s gaming market is set to grow three times in the next five years and become $ seven billion in FY2026, said Lumikai and Redseer in their latest report – ‘India Gaming Report 2021.’
While in-app purchases remain the fastest-growing revenue stream of the market with an increasing number of paid users, their growing propensity to pay is driving the growth. According to the report, paid gamers in India are set to touch 235 million in 2025, from 80 million gamers in 2020 which will drive the growth of paid gamers.
Real-money games are the largest source of revenue for the market, but IAPs will grow faster for the next five years at 30-40 per cent with the rise of paying users in casual and hyper-casual gaming. Further, non-RMG gaming segments are expected to grow faster than the market growth rate, with eSports and streaming are expected to grow at 40-45 per cent CAGR for the next five years.
“We at Infinix are dedicated to providing the best gaming experience to our customers with our value driven product offerings. To empower gamers and make gaming-focused smartphones available for everyone, even for those from the remotest areas of the nation, we have been focusing on R&D like never before and are constantly trying to improve ourselves with each product that we bring to the market,” stated Infinix CEO Anish Kapoor. “Our indigenous DarLink game-boost technology is just one example of our efforts in this direction. With this partnership, we aim to open doors and give new opportunities to the growing gaming talent in India. We are confident that Indian players will not only win but will also encourage the Indian gaming pool in a global platform like WEC.”
An average gamer spends $16-a-year on gaming, and it takes around one week to start paying to play games, as per the report.
Apart from the increasing maturity of gamers and their propensity to pay, gamers are embracing the trend of playing “India-first content” games. Over 60 per cent of gamers are willing to play games with an Indian central theme or characters like from mythology or celebrities, showed the report.
“This is an exciting time for the gaming ecosystem in India. Access to gaming is democratised with increasing participation from Tier-2 cities and beyond, gamers are maturing in the way they play different gaming genres, and unprecedented growth in new-paying users (NPU) to drive the overall gaming market to become three-times in the next five years,” said RedSeer engagement manager Mukesh Kumar.
Lumikai Fund general partner Justin Keeling said the inaugural report represents the most in-depth analysis of India’s gaming market ever undertaken, and the goal was to face the core assumptions on the true potential of the market.
“What has emerged is a picture of the market that already exceeds preconceived notions around size, growth, sophistication, and most importantly propensity to pay. India’s gaming market is due to three times in value to over $ seven billion by 2025, driven by a healthy diversity of monetisation mechanics that indicate plenty of white spaces for new investment, and massive potential for a new generation of leaders across the gaming value chain. We are excited to continue being at the forefront of India’s gaming investment landscape as the market matures and evolves to the next level,” he added.
Gaming
MTG gaming chief Benninghoff joins NODWIN board as esports firm primes for IPO
The Gurugram-based esports firm is pursuing a public listing, has returned to profitability and is growing revenues by 42 per cent
GURUGRAM: NODWIN Gaming is moving fast. The Gurugram-based gaming and esports company has launched a pre-IPO fundraising round, appointed UBS as lead adviser for both the round and a subsequent public listing, and landed a heavyweight board director, all in one go.
The new board member is Arnd Benninghoff, executive vice president of gaming at Stockholm-listed Modern Times Group (MTG), who has overseen the group’s strategic investments and portfolio growth since 2014. He is no stranger to building things: Benninghoff has founded and built fifteen companies, served as chief digital officer at ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, managing director of SevenVentures, and chief executive of Holtzbrinck eLAB. He began his career as a journalist at Deutsche Presse Agentur and various TV networks, holds a Diplom-Kaufmann in business and administration from the University of Münster, and previously sat on the board of Edgeware AB.
The numbers back the ambition
NODWIN is not pitching a story without substance. The company has returned to EBITDA profitability and posted a 42 per cent year-on-year revenue surge, reaching $58.5m in the first nine months of FY2026. The pre-IPO round will combine a primary issuance to fund global expansion through organic growth and acquisitions, alongside a secondary sale to give existing shareholders some liquidity.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming, said Benninghoff understands “the entire lifecycle of the gaming and media ecosystem, from the boots-on-the-ground reality of building startups to the strategic complexity of managing multi-billion dollar global portfolios.”
Benninghoff, for his part, said the company “sits at the intersection of sports, entertainment, and technology, making it one of the most exciting players in the global gaming landscape today.”
A portfolio built for the global south
Founded in 2014 by Rathee and Gautam Virk, NODWIN has quietly assembled one of the more compelling esports portfolios outside the Western hemisphere. Its properties include DreamHack India and Comic Con India, and it recently acquired StarLadder, the Ukraine-based tournament organiser behind premier events in CS:GO and Dota 2. The company also serves as a long-term strategic marketing partner for the Evolution Championship Series (EVO), the world’s most prominent fighting game tournament, helping push it into new geographies.
Its geographic focus spans South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Backers include Nazara Technologies, KRAFTON, Sony Group Corporation, JetSynthesys, and the founders’ investment vehicle Good Game Investments.
What comes next
With UBS running the books, a board freshly reinforced with European media and gaming expertise, and revenue heading in the right direction, NODWIN is laying the groundwork deliberately. The esports industry has burned investors before with big promises and thin margins. NODWIN’s return to profitability, combined with a real portfolio of owned intellectual properties across gaming, music and youth culture, gives it a more credible runway than most. The IPO clock is now ticking.
