Video gaming is far from being a new concept, but it has evolved significantly over the years. Today, game series like League of Legends and Call of Duty are a hugely popular form of entertainment in their own right.
As referenced in research from Betway, Hollywood stars like Michael Fassbender feature in movie versions of multi million dollar franchises like Assassins Creed. The influence of gaming is huge. However, in India, film is still king in the entertainment industry.
The strength of the film industry in India
There is considerable power and glamour associated with the film industry in India. It’s a formidable force across the country with many different regional film sectors in existence.
Overall, as many as 2,000 different films are produced in India each year, in different languages. Billions of tickets are sold at cinemas across the country, so that people can see their favourite stars in action.
Indian cinema box office revenues are around 134.7 billion rupees. These are large revenue numbers that no other area of the entertainment industry can replicate at present.
However, this does not mean that a thriving and growing gaming industry cannot make significant inroads.
Gaming making great strides in entertainment
Globally, gaming is very big news. You only need to look at actors like Keanu Reeves, who has starred in games including The Matrix: Path of Neo and Fortnite, to know that this is the case.
In fact, internationally, the biggest games are able to compete with films when it comes to the amount of revenue they achieve.
In India, gaming commands a smaller part of the entertainment market than films. It’s uncertain whether this gap will ever be overturned completely.
However, there are signs that gaming is gaining ground on other forms of entertainment. The industry is expected to have a revenue of 120 billion rupees by financial year 2023.
It’s clear to see that the film industry cannot afford to rest easy. There is a definite threat from the growth of gaming.
One of the main reasons why this threat continues to grow is that there is a large youth population in the country.
Members of this population are keen gaming enthusiasts and many of them have the financial resources to invest in their passion. New gaming technologies, such as VR, are only likely to increase this interest.
It’s unclear what this will mean for the balance of the entertainment industry in India in the long-term.
However, it seems as though the growth of gaming in the country is here to stay. With this in mind, it’s possible that gaming will eclipse films in the Indian entertainment world at some point.
However, it’s also likely that the film industry will fight against this and the popularity of films will be hard to dent.
