Why India’s non-RMG gaming space is poised for $4-5 billion boom after new gaming law, explain Rooter’s Piyush Kumar and Lightbox’s Sandeep Murthy

The Rooter CEO explains that the gaming company initially focused on ad monetisation, sponsorships, and influencer campaigns. They also experimented with premium content and subscriptions, particularly with esports. Even dabbled with gifting.

“In-app purchases are the most important mechanism, driving growth from $100 million in 2020 to nearly $1 billion. In India, in-app purchases worth $1 billion are happening right now as more than five games are doing over $100 million in revenue,” says Kumar.

The in-app purchase market in India is growing by the day. Five gaming players are currently making in excess of $100 million in in-app purchases, says Kumar. The industry has shifted from a “cottage industry” to a real business.

Rooter, for example, launched Rooter Shop, a marketplace for in-app currencies, last year. Kumar says every paid gamer on Rooter spends an average of about $30 a month (2,400 rupees). “First purchase: around $20. Repeat purchases: go to $40. The assumption is that India will settle at an average of $10 to $30, and gaming will push it,” says Kumar.

Delhi-based gaming company Rooter originally started as a game streaming, e-sports and content platform, which soon expanded into content-to-commerce, where users get everything from top-ups to gift cards, vouchers to in-game currencies, thus capturing the monetisation chain. 

In his take on monetisation, Murthy says: “The finite nature of time (24 hours in a day) drives the need to optimise time spending, and monetisation makes it easier to acquire customers, educate them, and create engaging experiences.”