IFTA 2026: India has voted. See the winners.

Two reports released in the last week of October looked at Indian gaming from different ends. The dentsu and IWMBuzz India Gaming Report 2026 counted 535 million people aged 15 and over who played in the past year, but only 109 million who paid for anything in the past three months. The Game Developer Association of India’s report found studios full of ideas and short of money.

A big audience, a small paying base

The dentsu report, launched with IWMBuzz Media at the fifth India Gaming Awards, covers only what it calls pure-play gaming. It leaves out real-money games, betting and gambling. By its estimates, 535 million Indians aged 15 and over played a game in the past year, 332 million in the past three months, 265 million in the past month and 167 million in the past week.

Only 109 million had paid for gaming in the past three months. That is about one in five of the yearly players, and about one in three of those who played in the past three months.

The report values the market at ₹14,344 crore in 2026. Advertising inside games makes up ₹8,705 crore, or 60.7 per cent. Money paid by players makes up ₹5,239 crore, or 36.5 per cent, and esports and other income ₹401 crore.

Why people don’t pay

The survey behind the dentsu report suggests the problem is not only income. About 64 per cent of non-paying players said they would pay if the value and price were right, according to coverage of the report by Gadget-Innovations. Players on PC, console and handheld spent roughly twice as much in three months as players on mobile.

The report also asked about Indian-made games. Of 335 respondents who had played one, 70 per cent rated the experience good or very good.

The developers’ side

The GDAI report, GameDev Outlook 2026, was launched on 28 October at the India Game Developer Conference in Chennai. It is based on 104 industry respondents and 13 academic institutions, and GDAI says its findings are not national estimates.

It found 82.7 per cent of studios are prioritising new, original games, and 49 per cent are aiming at international markets. But 75 per cent named investment, either capital or a publishing deal, as a barrier to growth, and 38.5 per cent are actively looking for one. 51.9 per cent said they find it hard to attract international partners.

Talent is the other gap. 54.8 per cent of studios plan to grow their teams in the next two years, but 56.7 per cent said new graduates are poorly prepared or not prepared for production work. 41.3 per cent of submissions came from Tier 2 and Tier 3 locations.

What the market numbers say

GDAI’s report puts India’s gaming revenue at $1.04 billion in 2025, up 14.8 per cent, with 511 million players and average revenue of $2.04 per player. Those figures match Niko Partners’ August estimate. The dentsu number is higher because it includes advertising and uses its own player definition, so the two should not be compared directly.

Both point the same way: India has one of the largest player bases in the world, and earns very little from each player. GDAI chair Sridhar Muppidi said young developers “need capital at every stage”. Dentsu’s Harsha Razdan put it more hopefully: “India has proven it can play. Now it is proving it can make.”

What to watch

The Union Budget 2026-27 set aside ₹250 crore for content creator labs in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges, which could help with the talent gap over time. Watch whether more Indian studios find international publishers in the next year, and whether the share of players who pay moves up from one in five. A rise in non-battle-royale games, which Niko Partners says now earn 62.8 per cent of mobile game revenue, would be a sign that players are paying for a wider range of games.