This brief examines the rapid growth of the global online gaming industry and the resulting increase in cyber threats. Issues like microtransactions, money laundering and predatory practices by developers can hamper the growth potential of the industry if not addressed. Many countries’ existing gaming-focused regulatory frameworks do not cover these challenges and will need to be modified. India – an important gaming market – should also consider making its online gaming policy more holistic by addressing cybersecurity threats on a larger scale.
From the emergence of the coin-operated arcade game Pong in 1972 to the release of the action role-playing video game Hogwarts Legacy in 2023, the gaming industry has come a long way. Although video games are often considered isolating and promoting anti-social behavior, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted their ability to bring people together from different corners of the world. In fact, the gaming market grew by 26% between 2019 and 2021 amid the pandemic. The growth of the industry has also been driven by cloud and mobile platforms providing greater access to video games, allowing players to no longer need expensive consoles and personal computers to access games. In 2022, mobile gaming accounted for almost half of the industry’s total value. This has had a massive impact in India, which recorded the largest number of mobile gamers worldwide in 2021-22 (about 507 million users) amid increasing smartphone penetration due to affordable devices and data plans.
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This paper has been written by Prateek Tripathi of ORF.
