Exclusive Interview: Can Women Fit Into India’s Gaming Industry? PlayerzPot Is Changing The Rules!

Where does women stand, when it comes to gaming industry, especially online gaming? Is online gaming a male-dominated industry? Does Indian women like to play games?

In this interesting interview with Ms. Ankita Ashara, Brand Manager, PlayerzPot, we try to find out the answers, and her views on the vibrant, and ever-expanding gaming industry in India.

Here are the excerpts from the interview..

How gaming culture is being championed by women and its growth?

The gaming industry has always been predominantly male dominated. But since the start of the pandemic, from April 2020 and July 2021, there has been a  huge increase in the number of female gamers. . Today, women gamers represent half of the gaming industry  irrespective of whether they are playing casual games or other strategy-based games. 

Women are breaking the stereotypes and capturing the gaming industry user base on a rising spree and are defying the conventional norms as well. The industry too has taken note of this surge in women gamers and are propagating inclusivity, not just as main characters in the games, but also in the overall gaming workforce. Social media too has played a part in giving a boost to the gaming industry, influencing women to start playing more often and become an integral part of the gaming community. 

Career path for women in the gaming industry

Historically, gaming was always considered to be fairly male dominated. But today there are groups that are advocating against this, who have dared to reimagine the gaming industry, that is bereft of gender discrimination. Today, thankfully for all the advocacy and conversations, biases in the industry have reduced.. Our company, PlayerzPot is one of the best examples of inclusion and better representation of women in the workplace. At PlayerzPot, the marketing team consists of 40% of female members and the same goes for the technical team also. The types of jobs one can do in this industry are endless. From Game conceptualization, development, coding, designing and professional training, there is something for every game lover and not to miss advertising and marketing roles at all from the list! The gaming industry is expected to grow at 40% by 2022 and the profile of the gamers be it men or women is growing dramatically with the reduction in the gender gap. The industry is a million-dollar industry, and there is no dearth of career options for women, be it technical to the creative aspects of gaming, women today are finding a space in every aspect of gaming.

How marketing and advertising strategies can create wonders in the gaming industry to stand out among others

Considering the current market scenario there is a boom in the gaming industry and all the brands are making merry out of it. With the growth of live streaming, mobile gaming, AR & VR, the gaming industry will get even bigger. From the national lockdown days in 2020, content advertising has reached the next big level and has become an essential medium for all the integrated marketing campaign plans. 

Product Placement, Interactive Mobile Ads, Influencer Marketing, utilizing video content and building the brand with the power of social media are becoming an important part of the marketing plans. Strategic positioning can help a brand leverage more users who are their actual target and who spend more time on the platform on a daily basis. This also involves having a great SEO strategy as it drives traffic to a company’s gaming platform. With a surge in the number of mobile game users, in-game advertising and gamification have become an important mode of digital advertising which is largely conversion oriented.

How female entrepreneurs are transforming the landscape of the gaming industry in India

Women have started gaining a strong foothold in the gaming business. The gaming industry today is much more diverse, and the world is waking up to repositioning by being more inclusive, than ever before. Women are helping create a balance where more and more passionate women players can join gaming. From gamers to streamers to game developers and entrepreneurs, women are now carving a niche for themselves in the online gaming arena. 

Currently, India has more than 20% female gamers who spend almost 40-45 minutes playing, on an average. Gaming as an industry is continuously meant to evolve the expectations of users or else the growth will not be possible, the rise in female gamers have led to creating more gender free roles. Driving for better innovation and making gaming an experiential activity, women are taking entrepreneurial roles to drive a misogyny and sexism free atmosphere for the female gamers and women interested in games.

Why the gaming industry can be a hot spot for women to invest, explore and become an entrepreneur

India’s gaming industry is valued at number one position currently with a roaring second largest internet consumer in the world. The first nine months of 2020, when the national lockdown hit India due to COVID-19, the industry saw an escalation in mobile game downloads clocking the highest number of installs and ranking in gaming worldwide. March 2020 saw the biggest upsurge in the Indian user base. With digital consumption becoming mainstream, the demand for more diverse content has also grown, which has led to many investors in India increasing their investments by 78% in 2020-2021. Latest statistics reveal that there are now 400 gaming companies in India. 

The rapid rise of the gaming market has been primarily due to segments such as esports, mobile casual gaming and real money gaming. This becomes a reason why women must invest and explore the entrepreneurship side of the gaming industry. 

Challenges faced by women in gaming sector

There are multiple issues at stake that stop women from taking the plunge in the gaming sector. Online harassment, misogynist behaviour, sexism, gender pay gap and ignorance of women as a target group of the gaming industry are some of them. The online gaming industry is witnessing the number of women players growing steadily on both consumer and developer level. From leading gaming companies to teams to organizations encouraging and influencing the growth of female association, women have become active patrons in the world of gaming. 

Gone are the days when data-based roles or games were considered a male dominated field. Women are now challenging the gaming industry across all levels. Diversity introduces many newer ideas and inclusivity of female characters in the games. Women in gaming are increasing in India not just as gamers but also as marketing or at developing level and as a result it is evolving.

How marketing and advertising strategies help creating an impact in the gaming sector

Our world is rapidly becoming a gamer’s paradise with Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR) & Mobile marketing growth. The gaming industry is one of the ever-evolving industries and is conquering new heights in terms of revenue and technology. As COVID-19 has changed the way people in India are consuming content, digital marketing has become the key factor for growth  in the upcoming times. 

These involve many techniques that can create a visible impact starting from Video Marketing, Social Media Ad Campaigns, SEO, Content Marketing & Influencer Marketing. Evolving the business models which can analyse data and consumer insights are a must in the ever-changing gaming industry. Marketers in the gaming industry have a huge opportunity to efficiently grow their gaming audiences by adopting closed loop marketing strategies as the industry becomes entirely digital, aligning technology, people and processes.

What are the top marketing trends that needs to be followed in the gaming industry

As the digital marketing wheel always keeps spinning, you need to stay in pace with its trends by getting updated from time to time. The latest and the topmost trends in the gaming industry is Interactive & Engaging Content. Pandemic in 2020 has taught us that people are interested in shoppable posts, videos, DIYs, quizzes, and polls which interact with them to engage. Jumping the bandwagon, Artificial intelligence is already on its way to take over the marketing industry. 

AI marketing leverages customer data to anticipate the customer’s next move and improve the customer journey. This is definitely the turning point in how the businesses will be managed now. Focus on Video Marketing, collaboration with influencers, Meme marketing, smart bidding on Google Ads, Micro-moments, hyper targeted advertising, Next Gen SEO, focusing on more customer retention, Planning Lifecycle Marketing, adapting to newer forms of native advertising, community marketing & AI assisted analytics are some of the latest marketing trends that needs  to be followed in the gaming industry to get maximum users on a platform and engage them on a regular basis.