How the gaming industry evolving in India: Peush Bery, Witzeal Technologies

Witzeal Technologies is a new age gaming technological company, established in 2016, that specializes in creating and introducing futuristic games and features in the real money gaming segment of India Witzeal has a wide range of games which are all developed in-house, which enhances the digital security of all the players thereby giving developers a space for creativity and innovations leading to a unique user experience. Since the games are in-house developed, it boosts the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’ initiatives of the government thereby creating a scope for more web developers. Peush Bery, Head of Product Development Strategy, Witzeal Technologies, recently spoke to Dataquest about how the gaming industry is evolving in India.

DQ: How is the gaming industry evolving in India?

Peush Bery: The online gaming industry in India is growing at a break-neck pace opening up numerous avenues for employment and revenue generation. The gaming industry is all set to surpass $182 billion by 2025, as per the recent report. 

A steep growth of the sector comes with the availability of affordable smartphones, internet penetration, the introduction of various gaming genres, and the inculcation of emerging technology. Moreover, with the AVGC taskforce and 5G rollout, the online gaming industry is poised to grow from 481 million users in 2022 to 657 million users in 2025.

Parallelly, Witzeal being a bootstrapped company, has foreseen a healthy growth over of 35% in the total gameplay in terms of GMV during FY22 as compared to FY21. As the gaming industry evolves from traditional PC/Consoles to cloud gaming and metaverse, tech-oriented innovations are paving a path for gamers to opt for a profession in online gaming and streaming. Today, the focus has shifted to value-added experiences for gamers, play-to-earn games, and decentralized asset ownership, from an entertainment and engagement perspective for gamers.

DQ: What are the strategies involved in developing a new game?

Peush Bery: Online game development is fundamentally a five-step process that requires organization, imagination, research, and attention to detail. The first step to curating an immersive gaming experience is comprehending the ‘WHY’. Understanding the industry, existing loops, and what would attract the users, plays a pivotal role in curating a new product. The second step is to comprehend the USP (Unique Selling Point) of the game and its offerings. The next step is to deep dive into understanding the user requirements which will helps to create a personalized gaming experience. The final step is to  understand how one can deliver the right technology , experience , marketing and business module to the consumers. Further, to strengthen the user base and leverage new users, it is vital to analyse and decrypt consumer pain points. 

DQ: What is the impact that AR and VR have had on the gaming industry?

Peush Bery: According to International Data Corporation, AR/VR generated revenue of US$ 12 billion in 2020, which is projected to increase to US$ 72.8 billion in 2024. Currently, 80% of the revenue is contributed by the gaming industry. On the brink of a new revolution in online gaming, AR and VR have let the consumers have a unique experience, as you find yourself entirely detached from your actual surroundings and can have an immersive gaming experience sitting in any corner of the world.

Augmented reality allows players to do things differently. This implies that you can select the tactics most likely to reduce the risks for any particular set of options. This has given an edge to the players to play more creatively. Players can enjoy all the thrill of traditional games while staying physically active thanks to VR technology. It encourages players to interact with each other to build better relationships thereby establishing a social network of gamers.

DQ: How are these emerging technologies contributing to the gaming eco-system and India's economy?

Peush Bery: Technological advancements are transforming practically every industry imaginable, from banking and finance to dating and sports. Online gaming is no exception, the technology has been a backbone for the promising developments in the industry. According to the EY report, the online gaming sector grew by 28% in annual revenue from ₹79 billion in 2020 to ₹101 billion in 2021. 

The narrative of online gaming has been shifted owing to technological advancements leading to ease in payments, enhanced digital security, captivating gaming experience, etc. India is on the path to becoming a gaming giant as the companies in the industry are determined to utilize cutting-edge technology to provide an unparallel gaming experience to their users. 

I am very much positive about the upcoming growth of the industry as we have Web 3.0, NFT, etc joining hands with the online gaming sector for futuristic projects to benefit the entire eco-system. The emerging technology has boosted the growth of Witzeal with over 30+ million registered users. 

DQ: What are some of the upcoming plans of Witzeal?

Peush Bery: Witzeal is a new-age gaming technology company and we aim to develop futuristic games for our users to let them have a unique gaming experience. We are strategizing to introduce new games and features quarterly in our ‘Big Cash’ platform to continue engaging with existing as well as new users across the age groups and genders. We are focussing to ensure that we bring in new technologies which would drive user experience and traction to our platform. 

With over 30 million downloads of Witzeal’s flagship product ‘Big Cash’, we are aiming to introduce a couple of new games in the coming quarter basis the user’s demand. We have already launched multiple versions of Ludo in past quarter and considering an overwhelming response, we intend to constantly introduce new features to let our users have a distinct gaming experience. Moreover, we are planning to introduce features like Subscription models in the segment of Real Money Games.  With google now allowing DFS and Rummy players to launch their apps on the play store we will be introducing a rummy app very soon.