Facebook looks to capitalise on India’s gaming boom

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India is the third largest market for Facebook in terms of game sessions, clocking 234 million sessions in a two-month period during July and August 2021, a top executive told MoneyControl as a giant social network to utilize the booming game in the country.

“There is a lot of growth that has taken place in playing games in recent years, especially in India. What starts in the early days of the pandemic, actually it has matured into a very secular growth that continues to grow and grow” Manish Chopra, Director and Head The partnership on Facebook said in interaction.

Chopra but did not disclose more details about the number of users from India which is playing games on the platform. Globally, more than 380 million users play games on platforms every month.

The Indian cellular cellular market is set to more than three times up to $ 6-7 billion in 2025, from $ 1.8 billion in 2021, according to the latest reports by the Internet and the Indian cellular association (IAmai), RedSeer and Oneplus.

Over the past few years, Facebook has changed its game experience for users by looking outside the social game that used to be popular, by adding coupling features and new services including streaming games, virtual realities (via oculus) and cloud gaming among others.

In March 2019, the technology giant launched a special Facebook gaming tab that allows users to play instant games, watch video games from their favorite ribbons and connect with other members through groups related to games. Facebook also launched a Mandiri game application called Facebook Gaming in April last year.

“For half a half, we really focus on building a platform, so game developers can reach many new audiences along with tools they can build, grow and monetize their games,” Chopra said.

While casual games are still a mainstay of the game platform, some leading publishers use platforms to engage with new gamers with the game version played by their instant and it might attract them to their console-based gaming titles, Chopra said.

He also added that more than 20 million people in India were active members of the game group on the platform between July and August 2021.

Plan to bring more diverse gaming creators

Facebook works with video game makers and game publishers to improve streaming services, segments dominated by Google YouTube today. Chopra said they are currently focusing on bringing more diverse creators to the platform, with a specific focus on female makers.

Regional language content is another major focus area for future companies in the future. “We have seen many content in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Punjabi are really fine on our platform, besides English,” Chopra said.

“We have worked with the Creator / Gamer above as well as many creators of nano and micro to be able to expand their presence on Facebook … We also have partnered with a big AAA game publisher like Garena and Krafton to bring game content on Facebook,” he added.

Facebook said that the Pub Mobile was the most strategic game by its creator in India during July-August 2021, followed by Garena fire, Rockstar Games’ Games Grand Theft Auto V, Pubg Battlegrounds and Mobile Legenda Moontoon. However, it does not share Indian special viewers data. Globally, Facebook has recorded 439 million hours in viewers in January 2021, registering an increase of 118 percent on an annual basis.

In terms of monetization, the creator can earn money through in-flow advertising in their direct flow and content on request, where they will get part of income. Facebook also offers additional tools such as fan subscriptions and virtual tips for established gaming creators through its creator program such as partner programs managed by level and invitation.