Indian gaming companies plan to leverage web 3.0, p2e themes

Indian game publishers are looking to leverage the metaverse and play-to-earn (p2e) elements of web 3.0, influenced by blockchain-based games such as The Sandbox in the United States and Axie Infinity in Southeast Asian nations.

In these games, players can own digital characters and virtual digital assets like the land, fire and wood in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or game-based tokens, industry executives and experts said. They can buy or sell these tokens inside the game’s universe using in-game cryptocurrency, which can be exchanged for cash later in the secondary market.

The time spent or the gamers’ accomplishments are directly proportional to the cryptocurrency that they earn, known as p2e.

“The moot point is time is equal to money. When you are investing time (into the game), why can't the value creation be shared by everyone who is using the platform?" said Manish Agarwal, chief executive of  Nazara Technologies, India’s first listed gaming company.

“Fundamentally, the reward is manifested in the form of tokens and if the platform is doing well -- in terms of users, revenue -- then the token value should automatically increase," Agarwal told ET on the sidelines of the Indian Gaming Developer Conference.

Nazara Tech is also doing research to add web 3.0 elements like metaverse and p2e to its games.

According to a report by BCG and Sequoia Capital, India has a gaming market worth $1.5 billion, or around 1% share of the global pie, but is expected to more than triple in size to $5 billion by 2025 on the back of the "mobile-first" phenomenon. The country’s gaming market is currently smaller than those of the United States and China.

However, the revenue potential from 500 million gamers will “truly” get unlocked with p2e, and India will catapult into the top gaming revenue markets in the world, Agarwal said.

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