Sudhanshu Gupta, COO, Paytm First Games, is a happy man these days. The gaming platform, which is a separate entity from the payment network, has seen its user base increased by as much as 200 per cent during the lockdown.
“As people across the country are avoiding going to visit malls, restaurants and popular hangout options due to the outbreak of the pandemic, online gaming is picking up as a popular option for stay at home entertainment.
We are seeing a significant uptick in downloads of our app and the time spent and engagement in our online games has increased manifold,” says Gupta, noting that the total downloads on the platform have risen from five million to 90 million.
Paytm First Fantasy Cricket, Paytm First: Ludo, RummyCircle are some of the most popular games on the platform with their daily cash prizes that regularly change, no doubt adding to their significant popularity.
“While Rummy grew during the lockdown by more than 100 per cent, Fantasy has also started growing and this month itself we would see something like more than five million users playing the sport,” notes Gupta. The company outsources its game’s designs to small, independent Indian developers as it wants to showcase and encourage local talent.
“Because of the wide reach of our network, to every corner of the country, these designers have a platform to introduce their games to the sort of audience they otherwise may not have been able to,” says Gupta. And just till where does this audience extend? “To be honest, even we were surprised at how quickly and widely the platform grew.
There has been a three-fold increase in the number of new users on our platform, and our user base belongs to the age group of between 18-45 years,” says Gupta, adding, “What is interesting to observe is that while a large chunk of our users is from metropolitan cities, there has been a bigger contribution of the new users from the Tier-II, Tier-III cities and the small towns all over India.”
While cities like a Delhi or a Mumbai will always come in the Top 10 user bases because of the sheer population, Gupta says it really encourages him to see smaller cities like Nagpur and Indore numbering up there.
Incidentally, you don’t need to use the Paytm cash app to play Paytm First Games. Gupta is emphatic that the two are completely different entities, despite being owned by the same company.
“Even if you are playing to win cash prizes, there’s no requirement for you to have the cash app as we’ll transfer the winnings to your account,” assures Gupta. Is there a hope though? That elicits a laugh. One can always hope, clearly.