So says some research from Pearl Research, which believes India will emerge as one of the leaders in the global online games market by 2010. One of the key drivers of this growth is increased Internet adoption and broadband penetration. In 2005 there were 39 million Internet users in India, which represented a 54 percent increase over 2004. Pearl Research believes the number of Internet users could exceed 100 million by 2007, making India the second-largest Internet market in Asia after China.
From the release: In addition, there were more than 100,000 Internet cafes in India in 2005. Internet cafes can derive 30% to 40% of revenues from users playing games. Games are a “sticky” activity thus users tend to spend more time and money at Internet cafes that offer games. The latest trend is the opening of gaming-oriented cafes such as Sify’s Gamedromes to satisfy the growing demand for games. Internet cafes with broadband connections and fast PCs are increasingly replacing many of India’s outdated Internet cafes that use dial-up.
Also, both local and international publishers are increasingly investing in the Indian online games market, as online games represent one of the few viable publishing models in a country where software piracy rates exceed 85%.
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