Rummy, poker, esports platforms likely to benefit from IPL suspension

“I have now shifted to English Premier League (football) which is underway. I also actively play FIFA and rummy games online,” he said.

With IPL being suspended indefinitely, the users of fantasy gaming, which entirely depends on live sports, are looking at a variety of options. They could range from real money gaming platforms (RMG) dealing in rummy and poker games, shooter mobile games or even other esports platforms.

For Gurgaon based communication professional Amit Kumar fantasy gaming was an entertaining option during IPL. However, the 35-year-old has now switched to shooter games like Free Fire and World War Heroes. “My 8-year-old son has introduced me to these games. Now, we have a routine where we spent a certain amount of time together playing these games,” he said.

Fantasy gaming platforms’ loss is likely to benefit other formats of online gaming as users look for options as they continue to remain at home owing to state imposed lockdowns, gaming firms said. India is one of the top five mobile gaming markets in the world, with a 13% share of global game sessions, and is expected to add 40 million online gamers during 2020−22.

“Since the situation in the country has not changed much and movement is restricted, gamers will look for other options. I believe poker and rummy are two formats which will be the immediate beneficiaries of IPL suspension,” said Roland Landers, CEO, All India Gaming Federation.

For multi-gaming companies like Games 24X7, for instance, that operate both fantasy (My11Circle) and rummy gaming (RummyCircle) it is easier to target existing users by offering flexibility when it comes to creating teams and playing different games.

“We want to ensure we are meaningfully engaging players. So, during a live event, if a Rummy player wants to make a fantasy team, they can do so, or a fantasy player can try out a game of Rummy when there is no live sport going on. Many of our existing fantasy players did try out Rummy and fantasy football in the absence of any live cricket match last year. This year, we added Carrom to our platform,” said Bhavin Pandya, Co-founder and CEO, Games24x7.

Dangal Games which also runs fantasy gaming platform (Fantasy Dangal) is focusing on other gaming formats including Rummy Dangal and Poker Dangal. “Given the current situation, we back the decision to cut-short IPL season. We have two other product offerings for the online gaming community – Poker and Rummy and we are leveraging the intervening period to foster user engagement on these platforms,” said Varun Mahna, CEO & founder, Dangal Games.

Varun Ganjoo, Marketing Director at Baazi Games said that even when live sports came to a halt last year, the company was able to retain users on its fantasy sports platform, BalleBaazi, by introducing a virtual fantasy tournament. The gaming company operates RummyBaazi and PokerBaazi gaming platforms.

“This time around, we have a wholesome online gaming experience to offer. From Poker, Rummy to Quiz, and of course fantasy (football and basketball), there are multiple ways to stay hooked to our platform,” he added.

Others like esports gaming platform Ultimate Battle, that offers game titles like Free Fire and Call of Duty, said that they are spending money to boost marketing efforts to introduce fantasy gamers to the world of esports. “It has to be noted that fantasy and esports are two different genres of gaming. However, we have understood through our experience is that the principal driving force for any gamer to engage is mainly reward and recognition which our platform addresses,” said Tarun Gupta, founder, Ultimate Battle.

Fantasy gaming, which depends entirely on live sports, allows users to make teams and win real money on platforms while esports platforms facilitate single and multi-player competitive video game playing as well as participation in gaming tournaments.