The pandemic hit India last year and ever since nothing has been the same. The rise in the number of cases has affected students and working professionals likewise. While most people are still coping with the unanticipated changes in lifestyle, others have found their own ways of relieving stress. Indian online gaming market has grown tremendously in 2020 and is estimated to have reached worth $1.1 bn in 2021 and researchers have correlated this growth as an effect of the pandemic.
Online gaming has become a good source of entertainment with more than 90% online gamers, in India, playing these games on their phones. It is not only a way of relaxing but has also helped people interact with other players from India as well as around the world. From action-packed games, mind games, sport-related games, multiplayer fantasy games to real money games, there has been a surge in not only usage but also creation of these games and with creation comes promotion.
While most games have passed the radar, a certain gaming category caught attention of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) in 2020. Maintaining the responsibility of being a watchdog around emerging and high growth categories, ASCI launched the first-ever detailed guidelines to make real-money gaming advertising safer and more responsible.
A KPMG study found the growth in online gaming to be 45% in FY20 with the user base exceeding 365 million by March 2020 on real-money games (RMGs). The card-based and fantasy segments both received strong traction. RMGs are promoted as a way of earning a livelihood without making the users aware of the financial risks which follow with the opportunity to make ‘easy money’ and this is the reason why ASCI decided to intervene.
India has no legal laws against RMG and there is a very fine line between games involving money and gambling which is often difficult to separate from each other due to blurry boundaries. The new regulations set by ASCI are as follows:
- No advertisement should depict a person under age of 18 engaging in RMGs or encouraging the usage for underage individuals.
- Advertisements should not present these games as a way of earning income or alternative employment opportunity
- The advertisement should not suggest that a person engaged in gaming activity is in any way more successful as compared to others.
- Every such gaming advertisement would need to carry a disclaimer as per the specified rules.
These new guidelines have been effective since 15th December 2020 and the main aim of these guidelines is to make RMGs more transparent as opposed to some misleading advertisements used to promote such games. These ASCI guidelines have got the support and backing of the government, via the ministry of information and broadcasting, The department of consumer affairs as well as the ministry of electronics and information technology.
Since these guidelines came into effect, ASCI took action against 81 advertisements which went against the set regulations. Around 75% of the complaints were from end consumers, while the rest were taken up by ASCI. These regulations were taken well by the consumers and have resulted in curbing problematic promotions of RMGs.
Sakshee Kale || PGPBM&A
sakshee.kale@northpointindia.com