India's gaming boom on rise but addiction oversight struggles to match pace

India has embraced gaming as an industry while the behavioural systems required to manage addiction are still evolving

“Gaming is not just a hobby; it is a skill.” 

At “Pariksha Pe Charcha” 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi framed gaming not as distraction but as discipline. Students were urged to choose “better quality gaming”, build expertise and create their own titles rooted in Indian narratives such as the Panchatantra. In the same exchange, he cautioned betting and against wasting time or money simply because digital access has become cheap. 

The endorsement at the interactive session with students was deliberate. Gaming was positioned as something that, if approached with maturity, could sharpen focus and decision-making. 

According to industry estimates, India has close to 488 million gamers, projected to cross 517 million next year. Nearly 40 per cent are between 15 and 24 years old, and around 90 per cent access games through smartphones. The market was estimated at $5.9 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $16.7 billion by 2034. 

Globally, gaming generates $184-187 billion annually, according to Newzoo and PwC. In South Korea, home to one of the most developed gaming ecosystems, the sector contributes roughly 1 per cent to the GDP, according to government data.  Competitive leagues, addiction clinics and public discourse have evolved in the Southeast Asian nation alongside commercial growth. 

India’s expansion has been faster, more mobile and more private. The systems around it are still consolidating. 

Gaming disorder 

It was against this backdrop that the deaths of three minor sisters in Ghaziabad unsettled the public conversation. According to initial police accounts and family statements, the siblings died by suicide following a reported dispute at home over access to their mobile phones and online activity, prompting investigators to examine their recent digital engagement. No direct causal link to a specific game has been officially established. Yet the circumstances were swiftly folded into a broader anxiety about gaming and screen exposure, illustrating how, in a mobile-first ecosystem, gaming often becomes the first explanatory frame through which adolescent behaviour is interpreted. 

In 2019, the World Health Organisation recognised Gaming Disorder as a disease, with symptoms such as impaired control, prioritisation over other activities and continuation despite harm for at least 12 months, while cautioning against over-diagnosis. The classification applies to a minority of users. 

India does not currently publish national prevalence data specific to gaming disorder; insight comes largely from hospital-based reporting rather than population-level surveys. 

“Digital addiction cannot be treated with a categorical approach,” said Yatan Pal Singh Balhara, professor of psychiatry at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi. Warning signs, he noted, are behavioural rather than technological — academic decline, reduced attention span, shifts in peer circles — with extreme outcomes appearing later. “You can’t completely ban it as it may hamper growth. Steps are needed to regularise the usage.” 

Clinicians say the incidence of gaming disorder has risen since the pandemic.  

“The cases of digital addiction have sharply risen after Covid, especially in the last two years,” said Rajiv Mehta, vice-chairperson (psychiatry) at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. He described a progression that often begins with gradual

academic decline, moves to social withdrawal and anger issues, and in some cases manifests in physical health changes. 

Like Balhara, he did not advocate prohibition but suggested age-linked device restrictions and feature limitations. 

Regulatory terrain  Online gaming is regulated through amendments to the Information Technology Act, 2000 and its subordinate rules rather than under a consolidated statute. In April 2023, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology formally brought online gaming intermediaries within its due-diligence framework, defining “online real money games”, mandating user verification and grievance redressal, and enabling the recognition of self-regulatory bodies to certify permissible formats. Platforms hosting impermissible wagering-style games can be blocked under Section 69A. 

Separately, the GST Council in 2023 imposed a 28 per cent tax on the full face value of online gaming, casinos and horse racing, significantly altering the economics of real-money formats. The regulatory focus has therefore been most decisive where financial risk and taxation are involved. 

 

States retain constitutional powers over betting and gambling, producing a patchwork landscape. 

Tamil Nadu enacted the Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act in October 2022, later amended in 2023 to introduce time safeguards and age-linked provisions. Karnataka amended its police laws in 2021 to effectively ban online real-money games, including skill-based formats such as rummy, before the High Court struck down key provisions.  Telangana removed the “game of skill” exemption from its gaming law. Courts continue to rely on the long-standing distinction between games of skill and games of chance. 

The result is a layered regulatory terrain where classification may be national, enforcement may be executive and permissibility may vary by state. 

For global publishers, that variability carries material consequences. South Korean gaming major Krafton — creator of the PUBG franchise — restructured its India strategy after PUBG Mobile was banned in September 2020 amid national security and data concerns linked to its then Chinese publishing partner, Tencent. In response, the company launched Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) in 2021 as a locally published, India-specific version with revised compliance and data localisation measures. 

Yet regulatory exposure did not disappear. In 2022, BGMI was temporarily removed from app stores before being reinstated in 2023 after further compliance engagement with authorities — illustrating how market access in a mobile-first ecosystem can remain contingent on government decisions even after structural adjustments. 

“Regulatory clarity and predictable implementation are critical for sustainable growth,” said Sean Hyunil Sohn, chief executive of Krafton India. The company has invested over $250 million in India since 2021 and committed additional capital through a ₹ 6,000 crore India-focused investment fund. Sohn added that a stable framework would require transparent classification mechanisms, consistency across states and clear jurisdictional boundaries. 

Discipline in pockets 

Part of the political comfort with ‘gaming as a skill’ rests on esports, where competition resembles organised sport.  

Companies such as NODWIN Gaming frame intellectual property not simply as software but as ‘community and arena’.  Through tournament circuits, festivals and broadcast ecosystems — including DreamHack India, Comic Con India and stakes in the Evolution Championship Series — the company has built recurring formats designed to endure beyond individual titles. 

Globally, this layer is more institutionalised. The National Association of Collegiate Esports represents hundreds of American colleges running varsity-level programmes. In South Korea, competitive gaming operates within structured leagues overseen by the Korea e-Sports Association. 

Krafton similarly argues that structured pathways — including its College Campus Tour and Rising Star programme — channel participation into rules-based competitive formats rather than unstructured play. Within BGMI, the company says safeguards include structured playtime reminders, parental one time password-based verification for underage users and spending caps to reduce overspending. For official tournaments, parental consent is mandatory for players under 18, and participants below 16 are not permitted. For flagship tournaments such as BGIS 2026, the company has also introduced enhanced integrity systems, including device and session monitoring tools such as PlayShield, to strengthen competitive transparency. 

These mechanisms introduce guardrails within defined circuits. Yet structured competition accounts for only a fraction of India’s gaming base. For most users, engagement unfolds through continuity rather than competition. 

“As gaming becomes an everyday medium, engagement can no longer be measured only by time spent,” said Rohit Agarwal, founder and director of AlphaZegus, a gaming-focused marketing and strategy firm. “The industry is gradually shifting toward healthier metrics like session quality, completion rates and long-term retention rather than raw hours.” 

In a market where average revenue per user remains just $6-$8 annually and only a minority of users pay retention underpins sustainability. 

Agarwal argues that the goal is to design experiences that are “engaging but not extractive”, with platforms increasingly pushed to embed “consent, transparency and protection by default”. Sohn described Krafton’s India strategy as capability-led rather than expansion at any cost, stating that user-safety, regulatory alignment and competitive integrity must evolve alongside capital deployment. 

Whether such guardrails meaningfully alter behavioural intensity across hundreds of millions of users — most of whom operate outside structured competitive ecosystems — remains harder to determine. 

Uneven response 

Unlike South Korea, where addiction clinics and public discourse developed in tandem with gaming’s commercial rise, India’s behavioural response remains uneven. Schools rarely integrate digital behaviour literacy into curricula. Parental awareness varies widely. Clinical intervention often begins only after distress becomes visible. 

Gaming in India now occupies a layered intersection — politically endorsed as skill, economically embedded as a growth sector, and clinically debated as behavioural risk. 

Regulation has focused most decisively on money and classification. 

Industry speaks of healthier engagement metrics and embeds safeguards within flagship titles. Structured esports pathways formalise participation for a minority. Doctors report rising caseloads among adolescents. 

Between endorsement and intervention lies a thinner institutional layer of everyday literacy, supervisory systems, and design accountability capable of matching the scale of participation. 

India has decided that gaming belongs within its digital and creative economy. Ensuring that the systems surrounding it mature at the same pace as the market itself may prove to be the more demanding task. 

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(With inputs from Anushka Bhardwaj)