The Indian gaming and interactive media landscape experienced a remarkable year in 2023, marked by significant growth, evolving trends, and major milestones across various segments.
Here’s a glimpse into the key highlights:
From BattleGround Mobile India’s (BGMI) successful return in the Indian market, Krafton hosting competitive events, Indian Esport Squad representing India at the Asian Games 2023 to Indian representative Team GodLike bagging the runner up position in Call of Duty Mobile World Championship 2023. Here are the major happenings throughout the year 2023
Bihar hosted 1st ever esports LAN tournament – Bihar State Esports Open Tournament. Going a step further the government during the tournament announced that Esports will soon become part of the education curriculum
Meghalaya Tourism partnered with Mutation Esports to host a gaming festival
– Odyssey 2023. This is also where India’s first Call of Duty Mobile and national level Modern Warfare II (PC) tournaments
The UP Government signed an MOU with Garena to host international tournaments.
MP Government established an esports academy, along with organising a State Junior Esports Championship
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BGMI, the most played game with over 15 Crore downloads, was back and it has been the highlight of the year in the gaming industry
Krafton had to introduce some restrictions, which included the time limit for the users of 6 hours/day and an age limit of 18+
Many Gaming companies and tournament organisers namely Krafton, Nodwin Gaming and Jio Games partners with many brands such as IQOO, Lenovo and RedBull.
Philip India partnered with BGMI to launched its own esports team – OneBlade
India was represented in 4 out of 7 games including DOTA 2, FIFA Online 4, League of Legends, and Street Fighter V: Champion Edition.
BGMI has played a major role in helping the esports industry grow in India The esports organisations along with others have started hosting several esports tournaments to help aspiring gamers. Krafton has itself hosted a slew of competitive tournaments, including the Battlegrounds Mobile India Series 2023 and Battlegrounds Mobile India Pro Series 2023.
finished runners up in Call of Duty Mobile World Championship 2023. 16
international teams participated in this tournament with Team GodLike winning prize money of ₹1.4 Crore.
$3.1 Bn in FY23 and is projected to reach $7.5 Bn by FY28, growing at a
CAGR of 20% from a report by Lumikai in collaboration with Google
Number of esports teams grew from 1.1 lakh to 1.25 lakh this year 2023 Highlights – Web3
Google allowed the app developers to integrate NFTS into their games on Google Play Store,the policy states that the app developers should maintain the transparency with the users about the presence of tokenized crypto assets in their apps. emphasising on the transparency aligns with the clearer guidelines and disclosures regarding NFTs.
Also, the developers are prohibited from promoting any potential earnings derived from playing or trading activities associated with these NFTS. The full implementation of these policies are expected to be seen by the year end
Funding into Web3 Startups went down the hill by 82% year over year, from $9.1 Billion to $1.7 Billion in 2023. $1.7 Billion in 2023 marked the lowest amount of Web3 startup funding since 2020. The number of total deals between VCs and Web3 startups also saw a drastic
downfall in 2023 i.e by 33%. Ironically the business information platform acknowledges that the interest in Web3 startup has cooled of late. The recent trend in Web3 funding, the reports indicate that the $2.4 Billion invested in all crypto firms in 2023 marked a 80% downfall from $13 Billion in 2022.
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Know all about the 28% GST on Online Gaming
Industry was Booming. The number of Online Gamers grew by 12% from 450 million in FY21 to 507 million in FY22.
In the early stages Online Games of Skill attracted 18% GST on the platform fee, whereas Game Of Chance was taxed at 28%. But now both attract 28% GST.
Players will have to pay both income tax and GST.
The industry had debated that the taxation should be on the platform fee, which is globally accepted.
The implementation had an immediate impact on the Online Gaming Industry. Businesses struggle with the increased tax burden, leading to workforce reduction and operational challenges.
The Directorate General of GST Intelligence established a dedicated team to monitor
the GST compliance of foreign online gaming firms.
Stakeholders in the gaming industry stressed the importance of finding a middle ground with the government and proposed an alternative.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) was elected as the
nodal ministry for online real-money gaming. They soon released draft rules for RMG under the It Act. 2000 in January 2023 and were notified in April 2023.
The rules are yet to be implemented as self-regulatory organisations (SROs) which will oversee everything are yet to be approved.
The budget announcement at the beginning of the year was one of the highly anticipated events for the gaming industry. The government decided to remove the threshold of INR 10,000 to nil. As per income tax laws, TDS is applicable on winnings from online gaming and are also to be reported while filing income tax returns.
So according to the rules before if the winnings from online gaming exceeded INR 10,000 then TDS on winnings is deducted at 30 percent.But under the new announcement post budget even winnings below INR 10,000 will be deducted at 30 percent TDS.
In September 2023, Dream Sports the parent company of Dream 11, lodged a petition in the Bombay High Court in response to a show cause notice from tax authorities. This petition aims to contest the show cause notice issued by authorities, which accuses them of evading GST and failing to pay the 28% GST on the nominal value of bets.
The report noted citing sources that the tax allegations against Dream11 are staggering, totaling a massive ₹40,000 Crore. This would constitute the
largest-ever claim in the history of indirect taxation in India. The next updates in this saga are not yet known.
The 28% GST announcement by the government left many wondering how the sector would be impacted. Mobile Premier League (MPL) was the first to announce the impact as the company let go 350 employees. The company attributed the massive rise in tax burden due to GST to the layoffs.
Soon after MPL, online poker gaming platform Spartan Poker reportedly fired 125 employees. and Hike Rush Gaming Universe also gave pink slips to 55 employees. Real money gaming app Fantok and crypto gaming app One World Nation (OWN) halted their service temporarily while another gaming startup Quizy permanently shut its operations.
They will partner with both Indian and Global Developers to localise and bring their games to the Indian gaming base. Nazara is also keen to launch High Quality made in India games through their gaming vertical
Nazara Technologies will also support the developers with game design, localization, data analytics capabilities, beta testing and quality assurance, enhanced monetisation and strong distribution through smart user acquisition spends and platform partnerships
The company recently faced a backlash from game developers after they announced that they will charge game developers for every installation. The game developers requested the gamers to refrain from installing the games. After a very brutal backlash Unity rolled back parts of the new policy, the news came after the small and independent developers decided to boycott the company.
During the financial budget of 2023 it was made clear to promote the AVCG Sector, by supporting made in India games and to showcase the Indian Mythology Through gaming and animation
The rules were majorly about limited spending and rewards in online gaming. These rules included a ban on daily login rewards, incentives for the first time and consecutive spending and lucky draws.
The ban caused panic among the investors as it has wiped off nearly $80 Billion in market value. The investors are trying to figure out the impact on earnings and more restrictions that may come the following year.
After having a huge impact on the economy, the China Government decided to approve 105 domestic games.
in funding round from InfoEdge Ventures.
Looking Ahead:
2023 laid the foundation for continued growth and transformation in the Indian gaming ecosystem. With rising internet penetration, increasing disposable incomes, and a supportive government, the future of gaming, esports, RMG, and Web 3 in India looks bright. However, addressing regulatory issues, promoting responsible gaming practices, and fostering a vibrant domestic game development scene will be crucial for the sector to reach its full potential.
This report is just a glimpse into the many exciting developments that 2023 brought to the Indian gaming and interactive media landscape. As the industry continues to evolve, many tier 2,3 and 4 cities in India stand poised to play a significant role in shaping its future.
For more news and updates, keep reading Gutshot Magazine. Follow us on our social handles Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Telegram.
Gutshot Magazine is India’s leading real money gaming magazine that covers news, updates, previews, highlights, features and much more across verticals like poker, rummy, and fantasy sports. Our rich history that has spanned over a decade now, Gutshot Magazine has always tied up with events and tournaments that have helped push the awareness of skill gaming in the country. If you are looking for the latest updates across real money gaming, then you have arrived at the perfect destination.
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