India's Mobile Games Market Is Heading to $2.4B by 2029: What the Post-Ban Data Means for Small Studios

A new India State of Play report, published by MIXI Global Investments and written by Naavik with Sensor Tower and AppsFlyer data, gives the clearest picture yet of Indian mobile games after the real-money gaming ban. It puts the market at about $1.1B in 2025, $1.5B in 2026 and $2.4B by 2029. Here is what we think small studios should take from the details.

The ban cleared the field, and the money moved

The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act took effect on 22 September 2025. Before it, real-money gaming was worth roughly $3.7B, about 85% of India's gaming revenue. With that gone, in-app purchase and ad-funded games now sit at the centre of the ecosystem. The report notes that constitutional challenges are still before the Supreme Court, so the rules are not fully settled.

Big audience, thin wallets

India has over 600 million active mobile gamers and was the second-largest market by downloads in 2025, with 7.95 billion installs. But in-app purchase revenue was only about $800M, and ads added roughly $300M. The report calls this monetisation gap the market's central challenge. For an ad-and-IAP studio, that gap is also the opportunity: the audience is there, and the question is how to earn from it without driving players away.

Shooters take the money, and puzzle is small

Shooter games account for about 43% of IAP revenue (around $321M), and Free Fire MAX and BGMI make up 94% of that. Puzzle is a roughly $93M category. Within it, match-swap games hold 71% of revenue, but their downloads fell 18.7% and engagement fell 22.9% in 2025, which the report links to the genre's appeal to older female players in a market dominated by young men. Different summaries of the report describe puzzle's growth differently, so read the source before you quote it.

Cheap installs, with a catch

Cost per install was about $0.05 in Q3 2025, among the lowest in the world. The same data puts average install fraud at around 12% across 2023 to 2025. Cheap installs make testing easy, but they only help if you measure real retention and not just install volume.

What we would do with this

First, treat ads and in-app purchases as a pair, because with this much audience and this little spend per player, rewarded ads that players choose to watch are likely to carry most of the revenue. Second, if you make puzzle games, avoid cloning classic match-three and look for mechanics that feel different. Third, judge a campaign by Day-1 and Day-7 retention rather than by CPI.

One event worth knowing about

The Mobile Premiere 2026 takes place on 28 October in Bangkok, with KRAFTON India as partner for its Indie Segment. Selected Indian indie titles receive INR 1 lakh each, and eligible studios can register through a free Studio Interest Form. No deadline has been published, so apply early.

Sources: India State of Play (MIXI, via PocketGamer.biz and Social Samosa); EventFAQs on The Mobile Premiere 2026.