The increasing affordability, accessibility and standard of internet in India is drawing people into looking for entertainment and engagement online.2009 saw the internet user base in India reaching 71 million, a 42% growth over the previous year, according to a study by market research agency IMRB and Internet and Mobile Association of India. According to Forrester Research, India is expected to have the third largest Internet user base in 2013 with China and USA at numbers one and two, respectively.Online gaming has benefitted from this growth and enterprising entrepreneurs have been quick to identify the country’s two favorite past times: Bollywood and Cricket as the major draw to online gaming.From the days of playing Prince of Persia to playing chess online with your buddies and later massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG); online gaming in India has come a long way.Social media portals such as Facebook are thriving on the popularity of online games by building a fan following and reaching new audiences. Games such as Farmville, Mafia Wars and Mob Wars have reached iconic proportions and are incredibly popular. Even Twitter has decided to join the bandwagon with online games of its own!While online gaming is a broad term, it can be divided into various subgenres. One of the popular subgenres is Fantasy Sports. Fantasy Sport Gaming is a $4.5 billion industry in the US and Canada alone. Nearly 60 million people are actively involved in various fantasy sports worldwide. Fantasy Sports is the next big revolution in gaming that could put India on the world gaming map. Fantasy
Cricket has already taken roots in India under the aegis of Cricket and the incredible following that the gentlemen’s game enjoys.Fantasy Cricket challenges players on a higher level than regular gaming. It takes more than the click of a mouse button to score in fantasy cricket; it is a game which puts the player in a managerial role. Users create their own cricket team with cricketers from all the teams playing in an actual scheduled tournament. The fantasy team earns points based on the performances of those cricketers in real life matches and the highest scorers at the end of a tournament stand to win grand prizes for free.It is highly addictive and capable of keeping users engaged for months depending on the duration of a tournament. With the amount of International and T20 Cricket being played, India’s cricket crazy population has an infinite supply of fantasy cricket, which is where it scores over any other form of gaming.Fantasy Cricket gives the common man or the so called ‘pseudo cricket expert’ a way to substantiate his arguments by providing him a chance to create his own cricket team and measure it’s progress against teams made by his friends and other cricket fans from across the world.Fantasy
Cricket just like any other Fantasy Sports subgenre is part of the global sports sikat 88 entertainment industry. The industry is well established worldwide and is about time it is taken seriously in India. Fantasy Cricket may well help establish sports entertainment in the country. After all cricket is a religion in India and Fantasy Cricket could achieve a cult status in India sooner than you think.
