NEW DELHI: India’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) has decided to withdraw from formulating guidelines for video games after it released draft rules and scrapped a rule aimed at protecting growing A study of online gamers’ plans.
The National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Nimhans), Bengaluru, will conduct research on “destructive impulse control behavioral patterns that may lead to exploitable online gaming” and plans to notify the new rules after a detailed pan-India study is completed.
The study was planned during the tenure of former consumer affairs minister Rohit Kumar Singh and is expected to cost the department $200 million, the funds will be allocated to Nimhans.
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This comes against the backdrop of MeitY’s release of draft rules for electronic games, with the Center believing that there are sufficient reference studies on the impact of online games in other countries.
“There are enough studies and research papers available to prepare guidelines. MeitY is working in a very proactive manner and there should not be any duplicity.
Under the plan, the findings will be used to develop guidelines to protect online gaming consumers. The report also aims to help the industry ensure optimal use of technology to minimize risks.
“Recent research highlights that the nature of video game addiction is distinct in skill-based esports and real money gaming (RMG). This requires separate policies and more insights into the matter,” Esports Inc. said Ashish Shrivastava, co-founder and chief operating officer of Glazer Games.
Justifying the cancellation of the study, a second person said: “Video games are known to be addictive and studies on adolescents and children have confirmed this fact. One can refer to studies conducted by reputed institutions around the world as India The human gaming behavior is very similar to other countries.
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expenditure $Spending Rs 20 crore on such a study is not worth it, especially when another line ministry is already in the process of finalizing the norms, the person said.
“Today, the gaming industry is rapidly evolving and growing amidst opportunities and challenges. However, concerns about gaming addiction are important but cannot rely solely on existing research,” said.
“Video gaming dynamics are changing and ongoing research is needed to fully understand the different age groups and gaming formats that may be affected,” Panigrahi said.
According to a report by Grant Thornton Bharat and the Electronic Gaming Federation (EGF), India is the world’s second-largest gaming market after China, with 442 million players.
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The Indian gaming industry has raised a total of $2.8 billion in funding from domestic and global investors in the past five years, with the RMG segment considered one of the key revenue drivers.
However, a recent study by Mordor Intelligence shows that the Indian gaming market size is expected to be US$3.49 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach US$7.24 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 15.68% during the forecast period (2024-2029) ).
