mobile gaming in india - an informate report

© Copyright 2009 Informate. © Copyright 2009 Informate. Reproduction of this document is forbidden unless authorized. All rights reserved.

Mobile Gaming in India – The Game’s Afoot!“an Informate Mobile Intelligence Report”

March 2009

© Copyright 2009 Informate.

The Indian mobile gaming industry clearly is on a roll and there is a massive opportunity for the mobile operators and VAS providers. Informate, in order to keep the mobile services community informed, developed a special meter and sent it to the mobile devices of opt-in panel members. This meter would track how the panelist uses their mobile phone and provides a wealthy amount of actual mobile usage data

The following study on the Mobile gaming usage in India is a part of this research content and is catered to the mobile gaming service providers

Know how is it done, in the next slide

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Executive Summary

Time Spent on Mobile Gaming

Demographics of Mobile Gaming Users

Type of Mobile Games played in India

Mobile Service Providers & Mobile Gaming

Mobile Gaming by Metros vs. Non-metros

© Copyright 2009 Informate. Reproduction of this document is forbidden unless authorized. All rights reserved.

ContentsMonthly Report: March 2009


Informate Mobile Tracker : MethodologyDemographicsDemographics Service ProviderService Provider Handset UsageHandset UsageExec SummaryExec SummaryExec SummaryExec Summary How?– Time SpentHow?– Time Spent Type of GamesType of GamesContentsContentsContentsContents

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• Respondents are recruited using purposive sampling as per the quota plan

• Quota plan based on tele-circle (representative cities within each circle), age range, gender spread, handset price range & available service operator

• On successful registration & installation of the Smartmeter, his/her profile data is collected

• The meter starts tracking the usage and Actual usage data of every panelist is captured and is transferred through GPRS to the server, on a daily basis

• Captured actual usage of applications/ features etc., are analyzed at the aggregate level to understand behavior and track usage patterns

Mobile User

Agrees to be a part of the meter panel

Installs meter application on

device

Online access to view periodic reports

Application transfers usage data to Online

Servers on a daily basis

Informate

Option s Menu

Option s Menu

OperatorOperator

Oparticipating in the brands survey. Click http://test.mobileinformate.com/Ol.aspx?t=e31f1fedf288190 to continuen behalf of DB5, thank you for

How Informate

works?

Registers Online

Informate is the one & only company providing Mobile Market Intelligence based on Actual mobile usage dataInformate is the one & only company providing Mobile Market Intelligence based on Actual mobile usage data

Receives an SMS with a WAP link to the

application

What is captured by the Smart meter?

Call

Chat

Connectivity

e-mail

Messaging

Voice Mail

Communication Entertainment Browsing Ph. Mgmt Other Apps Others

Games

Multimedia

Download

Surfing

Phone Navigation

Security

Call Apps

Productivity Suites

PhoneFeature

PhoneUtility

Active Time

Other Communication


Gaming in Mobile Phone – India: Executive SummaryDemographicsDemographics Service ProviderService Provider Handset UsageHandset UsageMethodologyMethodologyMethodologyMethodology How?– Time SpentHow?– Time Spent Type of GamesType of Games

• Indian Mobile gaming market is growing in excess of 200% for the next two years; expected to reach $450 Million in 2012 Source: www.pluggd.in

• Informate research shows that time spent on mobile phone gaming is around 7.5% of the total time spent on mobile phones, among those who play game at least once in a month

• While this is only a small part of the overall time spent on entertainment (40%,largely mobile music), the time spent on mobile gaming is shows an increase over previous month

• The choice of game selection differs with the age-group and gender

• 18-30 aged youths account for the higher-than average time spent on games

• While the most popular mobile games are of the established genre (Card, Puzzle, Arcade), there is a spike in popularity for mobile games inspired by Hollywood, Bollywood movies and Cricket Source: financial express

• Informate research indicate that in March 2009, average usage of games by Vodafone users is 14 minutes which is high compared to overall average of 11 minutes

• Huge window of opportunity for the VAS providers with the entertainment hungry Indian youth willing to explore the world of mobiles and mobile internet

• Host of India-based Game production companies sprouting given the lively market, enriching the competition and providing ever-increasing variety of games for all ages

ContentsContentsContentsContents

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© Copyright 2009 Informate. 5

Gaming in Mobile Phone – Time Spent

Informate’s Mobile Usage Tracker shows that the respondents who play game at least once in a month, are spending around 7.5% i.e. 11 minutes of active time (147 minutes) on playing games

• In Feb 2009, The average usage (minutes per day) for gaming was only 5.4 minutes as compared to 32.3 for Multimedia.

• In March 2009, The average usage (minutes per day) for gaming was 7.0 minutes as compared to 38.2 for Multimedia.

• The Informate Mobile Usage Tracker data shows that time spent on mobile games differs month to month

• For a comprehensive view on usage of mobile phone by features and functionality, subscribing to Informate Mobile Usage Tracker available here

Fig 1. Overall Active Game Time on Mobile, Feb 09 (in %)

Base = 800Average usage = 113 mins./ day

DemographicsDemographics Service ProviderService Provider Handset UsageHandset UsageMethodologyMethodologyMethodologyMethodology Exec SummaryExec Summary Type of GamesType of GamesContentsContentsContentsContents


What is Active Time?

”Active Time” is the time spent on mobile phones doing deliberate activities. For example, calling a contact, playing games or listening to music are accounted to "Active Time"

Fig 2. Overall Active Game Time on Mobile, Mar 09 (in %)

Source: Informate Mobile Usage Tracker

Base = 815Average usage = 147

mins./ day

From the graph:

Informate’s Mobile Usage Tracker reveals that 30%

more active time spent on mobile gaming in March

09 from Feb 09


Age 18-30 Age 30+

Base N = 327 N =198

Average Usage per Person (Minutes per Day) 11.7 9.8

Most Preferred Game Puzzle Card

6

According to Informate’s Mobile Gaming study, age group 18-30 Years play mobile games for more duration in a day (around 12 minutes), which is higher than the average of 11 minutes

Men Women

Base = 473 Base = 52

Card Word or Number

Puzzle Card

Action Arcade

Board Action

Arcade Sports

10.7 11.4

Gaming in Mobile Phone – Demographics

Average Usage Per Person (Minutes Per Day)

Average Usage Per Person (Minutes Per Day)

Tab 1. Mobile Gaming by Age Group Tab 2. Mobile Gaming by Gender

How? –Time SpentHow? –Time Spent Service ProviderService Provider Handset UsageHandset UsageMethodologyMethodologyMethodologyMethodology Exec SummaryExec Summary Type of GamesType of GamesContentsContentsContentsContents

• The choice of game selection differs with the age-group and gender

• Be the first to know about the trends across the Games played in Mobile phones. Refer to the Informate Mobile Usage Tracker report here






Fig 3. Duration of the Games played in Mar 09 (in%)

The most popular mobile games are of the established genre, Card, Puzzle, Action & Arcade.

Gaming in Mobile Phone – Type of Games

• Clearly, the Mobile Usage Tracker identifies that the choice of games played in mobile differs in a matter of few days

• The choice of mobile games varies constantly, mainly due to the plethora of game titles available through the Internet and Operators for every taste, either as a free or as a paid service

• Get a new perspective on the actual gaming usage patterns in India by taking a closer look at the Informate Mobile Gaming Tracker report here

Views from public domain:

• Financial Express reports that the most popular games downloaded in India are Cricket, Action games and Bollywood games. (The Financial Express)

Cricket has been the dominant genre with the top download for 2008 being 2020 Cricket (IndiaGames)

Base = 525

How? –Time SpentHow? –Time Spent Service ProviderService Provider Handset UsageHandset UsageMethodologyMethodologyMethodologyMethodology Exec SummaryExec Summary DemographicsDemographicsContentsContentsContentsContents




The Mobile Tracker reports that the average usage of games by Vodafone users is 14 minutes which is high compared to overall average of 11 minutes

Fig 4. Top Games Category among Service Providers – Airtel and Vodafone

Gaming in Mobile Phone – Service Provider

• Game usage varies with the Operator due to the reason that different genre of games are offered to the subscribers by different operators

• Card games chosen by more of Vodafone users could be for the fact that those are Smartphone users with pre-installed card game application

• Industry reports indicate that service providers are the most popular source for purchasing game(s) followed by general portals such as rediff.com, entertainment portals such as Hungama.com and gaming portals such as Zapak.com

How? -Time SpentHow? -Time Spent Type of GamesType of Games Handset UsageHandset UsageMethodologyMethodologyMethodologyMethodology Exec SummaryExec Summary DemographicsDemographicsContentsContentsContentsContents


Source: Informate Mobile Usage TrackerBase : Airtel: 216; Vodafone: 148


Metros Non-metros

Base N = 222 N = 303

Average Usage per Person (Minutes per

Day)11.2 10.4

Most Preferred Game Card Puzzle


9

According to Informate’s Mobile Gaming study, respondents in Metros play mobile games for more duration in a day (11.2 minutes), as compared to Non-metros (10.4 minutes).

Gaming in Mobile Phone – Metros vs. Non-metros

Tab 3. Mobile Gaming by Metros vs. Non-metros

How? –Time SpentHow? –Time Spent Service ProviderService Provider Handset UsageHandset UsageMethodologyMethodologyMethodologyMethodology Exec SummaryExec Summary Type of GamesType of GamesContentsContentsContentsContents

Power Gamers?

”Power Gamers” are those people playing games on their phones on an almost daily basis

• Average game playing duration is more for Metros compared to Non metros.

• Card game is more preferred in metros, whereas Puzzle in Non metros.



• Mobile Gaming in India (Published; April 2009)

• Mobile Applications in India (Upcoming; July 2009)

• Mobile Music in India (Upcoming; August 2009)

• Mobile Calls and Messaging in India (Upcoming; August2009)

• Mobile Multimedia in India (Upcoming; August 2009)

• Mobile Internet in India (Upcoming; September 2009)

Published and Upcoming Research


Terms used and their Definitions

Terms Definition

Active time Time spent on mobile phone doing deliberate activities. Example calling, playing games, listening to music etc

Communication All activities related to voice calls, messaging, being connected through Bluetooth or WLAN etc

Entertainment All activities related to playing games or using multimedia features

Browsing Internet activity for surfing the internet or downloading over a GPRS connection

Phone Management All activities related to phone navigation or phone security features

Other Application All other activities such as using office packages (like documents, spreadsheet, presentations etc.) phone features or utility features

Usage criteria

Heavy users Respondents with average active time more than 15% of 24 hour day i.e. more than 216 minutes

Medium users Respondents with average active time between 5-15% of 24 hour day i.e. between 72 & 216 minutes

Low users Respondents with average active time less than 5% of 24 hour day i.e. less than 72 minutes



If you are interested in purchasing the full gaming report or any other research reports or if you have a question about our research services please contact:

Deepak [email protected] [email protected]: +91 22 4068 2894

Questions?

Registered Office:

Informate Mobile Intelligence Pvt. Ltd.517, Palm Spring, 5th Floor, New Link Road, Malad (W),Mumbai - 400064, India.Ph: 022-40682822


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mobile gaming in india - an informate report

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