At a time when people are locked up inside their houses to help limit the spread of COVID-19, online gaming in India has seen a spike.
Saumya Singh Rathore, co-founder, WinZO, said Italy has seen 70% growth in mobile gaming over the last two weeks of lockdown, and a similar trend is observed in India.
Currently, there are about 300 million online gamers in India and the number is expected to grow by 46% to 440 million in two years, according to online market researcher Statista.
Ashish Bhakuni, Head of Marketing, Adda52Rummy, reveals that due to the COVID-19 outbreak, there has been a 40% increase in the company’s month-on-month (M-o-M) revenue and a 50% increase in its user base.
“We are doing our bit to help people stay mentally fit amid this crisis. We are introducing Adda chips which will help people get tax benefits on playing rummy. We also expect to introduce weekly 5 lakh prize pool tourneys in the coming weeks,” said Bhakuni.
Adda52Rummy is also working on a similar approach. The startup, which saw a 200 percent increase in new users, is also trying to “increase our market spend” as it feels this the right time for brand awareness campaigns as people are more online.
The platform is offering bonus codes for first-time players, and tax savings and referral codes for existing top players.
To capitalise on the current surge and to keep the users on their platforms engaged, companies are also coming with new features.
Meanwhile, psychologists also believe that gaming in moderation can benefit people during the lockdown.