India’s gaming industry passed $1 billion in annual revenue for the first time in 2025, with mobile play, digital payments and a huge player base setting the stage for further growth.
Revenue Climbs 14.8% in a Year
India’s gaming market generated $1.04 billion in 2025, up 14.8% year over year, according to figures from Niko Partners. The research firm expects revenue to approach $1.2 billion in 2026 before reaching $1.77 billion by 2030.
That would represent a compound annual growth rate of 11.2% over five years, keeping India at the top of Niko Partners’ fastest-growing gaming markets.
There is no shortage of potential customers. India had an estimated 511 million gamers in 2025, with that total forecast to exceed 550 million in 2026 and pass 700 million by 2030.
Turning those players into paying customers remains the trickier part. Average revenue per user was just $2.04 in 2025. Niko Partners expects the figure to rise to $2.52 by 2030, leaving plenty of room for publishers to squeeze more revenue from an already enormous audience.
Mobile Gaming Does the Heavy Lifting
Smartphones remain central to India’s gaming boom. Wider device access, easier digital payments and increased spending power among parts of the population have helped mobile games bring in more money.
What players are spending that money on is changing too. Battle royale and casual titles still command attention, but gamers are branching into a wider mix of mobile, PC and console releases.
Non-battle royale titles accounted for 62.8% of mobile game revenue in June 2026, compared with 53.2% three years earlier. Some of these games attract smaller groups of players, but those audiences can be highly engaged and willing to spend.
Esports is another area gaining ground, helped by increased participation and government interest in the wider gaming sector. More specialized gaming communities are also emerging, giving publishers opportunities beyond the blockbuster titles chasing everyone at once.
India’s gaming audience is becoming more evenly split by gender as well. Women represented 49% of players in 2026, up from 43% in 2023.
UGC Platforms Find a Younger Audience
User-generated content is becoming a bigger part of how younger Indian players spend their gaming time. Platforms such as Roblox and Minecraft have attracted more interest, while Grand Theft Auto roleplay has found an audience through livestreaming.
The appeal is straightforward: players are no longer limited to consuming whatever a developer puts in front of them. They can create content, share it and build communities around individual games and experiences.
For publishers and gaming operators watching India, that shift matters. Players who spend more time inside gaming ecosystems create more opportunities for subscriptions, virtual goods and other digital purchases.
UPI Leaves Credit Cards Well Behind
India’s payment habits could be just as important as its player numbers. Niko Partners found that 84.6% of Indian gamers have used UPI-based payments, while only 31.5% have used credit cards.
That gap is hard for gaming businesses to ignore. Making deposits or purchases convenient through familiar local payment methods can remove one of the biggest obstacles between a player and the checkout screen.
Players are also increasingly willing to shop outside conventional app stores. Around 31.5% prefer purchasing in-game content through alternatives such as web stores, third-party marketplaces and top-up cards.
For the average player, that could eventually mean more payment choices and greater competition between stores. It may also encourage publishers to push direct purchases, particularly as they look to reduce their reliance on major app-store ecosystems.
Players Grow Warier of Generative AI
One technology receiving a cooler response is generative AI. Niko Partners found Indian gamers are becoming more cautious about its use by both developers and fellow players.
Employment appears to be a major concern, with players increasingly questioning what wider adoption of AI could mean for jobs in the gaming industry.
That skepticism has not slowed the market’s broader momentum. With hundreds of millions of players, expanding genre preferences and an increasingly convenient digital payment system, India is expected to remain one of gaming’s fastest-moving markets through the end of the decade.
