India Has Hundreds of Millions of Gamers. Can Its Listed Gaming Companies Turn Them into Profits?

 

BIZ MASALA

A special report on market evolution, game-development economics and three listed companies


By Murthy ASR | Biz Masala

Author disclosure: The author was a former director of 7Seas Entertainment Ltd. This prior association is disclosed for transparency; readers should consider it when assessing the discussion of the company. The article is intended as business analysis, not investment advice.

India’s gaming opportunity is no longer just a story about downloads. It is a test of whether developers can build durable intellectual property, retain players and turn audience scale into sustainable earnings.

India’s gaming audience spans mobile, console and PC experiences; each platform has different economics.

The big picture: a huge audience, changing economics

India has a vast smartphone-owning population, expanding internet access and a young digital audience. Gaming has evolved from PC and internet-café play to mobile-first casual games, multiplayer titles, esports, streaming and social gaming. The next phase will be shaped by monetisation, regulation, development efficiency and global competition.

A wide range of game formats illustrates the diversity of the development and publishing ecosystem.

The FICCI-EY report cited in the editorial draft estimated India’s gamer base at 515–525 million in 2025. It also put the combined online-money-gaming and esports/video-game segment at ₹236 billion in 2024 and ₹196 billion in 2025. These figures cover a combined segment and should not be read as the value of the entire Indian gaming market.

The regulatory reset: business models matter

India’s Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 and the rules notified in 2026 changed the operating framework for online gaming. The legal distinction between prohibited online money games and permitted categories such as esports and online social games makes business-model analysis essential.

Investors should examine whether revenue comes from advertising, in-app purchases, subscriptions, licensing, esports, intellectual property or technology services. These streams have different economics and regulatory exposures.

Where the next opportunities may emerge

·       Original intellectual property. Successful characters, mechanics and franchises can support sequels, licensing and international distribution—but success requires ongoing development and marketing.

·       Mobile-first entertainment. Casual and mobile games can reach large audiences, but downloads matter less than retention and monetisation.

·       Esports and communities. Tournaments, creator partnerships and events can build engagement, provided sponsorship and event economics work.

·       AI-assisted development. AI may accelerate asset creation, testing and localisation. The test is whether efficiency gains lead to better products and stronger margins.

·       Exports and publishing. Digital distribution lets Indian studios reach overseas users, while exposing them to global competition, platform fees and user-acquisition costs.

The development industry's missing middle

A persistent challenge is moving from one promising title to a repeatable pipeline of commercially successful games. Studios must fund developers, artists, designers and testing before they know whether a launch will succeed. Marketing can be expensive, and downloads may not translate into sustained play or revenue.

The strongest studios will combine creative capability with commercial discipline: testing games early, measuring retention, managing acquisition costs, improving live operations and investing in titles with credible routes to profitability.

Immersive and VR formats are an emerging opportunity, but should not be confused with the core mass-market mobile audience.

Company 1 | Nazara Technologies: the portfolio approach

Nazara Technologies image supplied for the industry package; confirm subject attribution and image rights.

Nazara offers exposure across gaming, digital media and esports-related businesses. Its diversified portfolio and acquisition-led strategy can provide access to established audiences, intellectual property and distribution channels.

Character-led and casual experiences illustrate the breadth of mobile game design.

Sports titles such as World Cricket Championship are part of the mobile-gaming landscape associated with Nazara’s portfolio.

The challenge is that acquisitions can increase revenue without proportionately increasing profit. Investors should focus on organic growth, segment-level margins, cash generation, acquisition prices and returns on invested capital.

The key question: Can Nazara turn portfolio expansion into sustained earnings and cash-flow growth?

Company 2 | 7Seas Entertainment: can a Hyderabad studio scale?

7Seas Entertainment award photograph supplied by the user.

7Seas Entertainment represents the focused game-development and publishing model. Its catalogue of casual titles and international distribution offer a potential route to reaching audiences beyond India.

Racing games illustrate a genre opportunity for developers and publishers.

7Seas Entertainment’s Roller Coaster Simulator HD appears on this supplied FICCI Frames BAF Awards 2024 backdrop.

A smaller studio can focus on selected categories, reuse technology and improve development efficiency. If it owns commercially successful intellectual property, sequels and publishing partnerships may offer additional routes to growth.

Its smaller scale, however, can make results more sensitive to product concentration, weak launches and marketing costs. Investors should examine revenue quality, margins, operating cash flow, game-level traction and the product pipeline.

The key question: Can 7Seas move from a catalogue of games to a repeatable pipeline of successful, monetisable intellectual property?

Company 3 | String Metaverse: Web3 is not the same as gaming

The supplied interview image identifies Krishna Mohan Meenavalli as founder and executive director of String Metaverse. Verify image rights and attribution before publication.

String Metaverse needs a different analytical framework because its activities include digital assets, technology infrastructure and Web3-related businesses. Its reported consolidated revenue should not automatically be treated as gaming revenue.

Supplied interview image identifying Krishna Mohan Meenavalli as founder and executive director of String Metaverse; verify attribution and usage rights.

The company’s reported FY2025–26 revenue and profit figures are substantial, but the key questions are which activities generated them, how much cash was produced, how revenue is recognised and what digital-asset or counterparty risks exist.

The key question: Can String demonstrate transparent, sustainable returns from its actual business mix? Investors seeking pure-play game-development exposure should not assume that Web3 exposure makes it equivalent to a conventional gaming studio.

Three companies, three different propositions

Factor

Nazara Technologies

7Seas Entertainment

String Metaverse

Business approach

Diversified gaming and digital entertainment

Focused game development and publishing

Technology, digital assets and Web3-related activities

Potential opportunity

Portfolio expansion and monetisation

Successful games and owned IP

Scaling technology and digital-asset businesses

Key test

Organic growth and acquisition returns

Repeatable product success and profitability

Revenue quality, cash generation and disclosure

Risk to assess

Acquisition execution and portfolio performance

Smaller scale and product concentration

Business complexity and digital-asset exposure

Investor focus

Segment results, margins and cash flow

Game traction, margins and pipeline

Segment disclosures, asset exposure and cash flow

This is a business-model comparison, not a stock ranking or a buy/sell recommendation.

What could shape the next phase?

·       Intellectual property: companies with enduring franchises may have better opportunities to build recurring revenue.

·       Development productivity: AI can lower some costs, but commercial success still depends on game quality and player demand.

·       Regulation: the rules governing online gaming will continue to influence viable monetisation models.

·       Global competition: Indian studios must compete for players, distribution and spending with established international developers.

·       Financial discipline: profitability, cash flow and returns on capital matter more than headline downloads or revenue alone.

The Biz Masala verdict

India has the audience, digital infrastructure and creative potential to become a more significant global gaming market. But the next phase will not be determined by downloads alone.

Nazara offers exposure to a diversified gaming and entertainment portfolio. 7Seas represents the challenge of scaling a focused game-development business. String Metaverse illustrates why investors must distinguish conventional gaming economics from Web3 and digital-asset activities.

The bigger question is not how many Indians play games. It is which companies can consistently turn that audience into profitable, scalable and defensible businesses.

Editorial verification notes

Conflict-of-interest disclosure: The author was formerly a director of 7Seas Entertainment Ltd. This relationship should remain visible in any published version, including excerpts that discuss 7Seas.

Before publication, verify all current share prices, market capitalisations, FY26/Q1 FY27 figures, acquisition details and segment classifications against the latest exchange filings and company disclosures. Do not publish market prices as current without a dated source. String Metaverse’s reported revenue must not be described as gaming revenue without segment-level evidence.

Image note: supplied photographs have been embedded as editorial illustrations. Confirm ownership/licensing and captions for all images before publishing.

Sources for fact-checking

·       FICCI-EY, Stories, Scale and Impact (March 2026): https://creativefirst.film/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/FICCI-EY-Report-March-2026.pdf

·       Government of India, PIB — Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2026: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2254606&lang=1&reg=3

·       Nazara Technologies investor relations and financial disclosures: https://investors.nazara.com/financials

·       String Metaverse investor relations: https://www.stringmetaverse.com/investor-relations.html

·       Business Standard / ANI, String Metaverse FY26 results (May 2026): https://www.business-standard.com/content/press-releases-ani/string-metaverse-posts-record-fy26-results-revenue-surges-to-rs-1-069-crore-pat-crosses-rs-102-crore-126052501425_1.html

·       Times of India, Indian game-development industry analysis (October 2026): https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/gaming/the-missing-middle-why-indias-game-developers-need-more-than-just-a-cheque/articleshow/134987546.cms

 

BIZ MASALA

Biz Masala — Business, markets and ideas.

 

BIZ MASALA

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