Carrom, Fruit Dart, Fruit Chop in top games list; mobile gaming sees jump in Tier 3 cities

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Do you love playing mobile games? India’s tier-III cities and towns have witnessed a significant rise in the number of online gamers in 2021, according to the India Mobile Gaming Report 2021 (IMGR) by Mobile Premier League (MPL), an esports and skill gaming platform. The top 30 of them reported up to 170 percent more gamers compared to 2020. Some of the small towns have more than 100 percent to up to 200 percent growth in online gamers. The places where the number of gamers have increased include Siwan (Bihar), Baimanagoi (Chattisgarh) and Sri Ganganagar (Rajasthan). These places witnessed 123 percent, 179 percent and 52 percent growth in the number of gamers respectively.

Small cities such as Alwar (Rajasthan), Muzaffarpur (Bihar), Dhanbad (Jharkhand), Palanpur (Gujarat) also saw an impressive rise in the number of new gamers. Interestingly, these states do not have any major cities that are known to be a gaming hub. The top games that were played across different cities according to IMGR 2021 include Carrom, Fruit Dart, Fruit Chop, Runner No.1 and Block Puzzle. Mobile esports like Chess and Pool also witnessed a sharp rise in the number of gamers in the country as the MPL platform alone registered 1.3 million esports players in 2021. While nearly half a million games were played on the platform, it recorded 17 million live viewership.

Numerous research reports suggest that increased availability of affordable smartphones coupled with high-speed internet has prompted many people to take up gaming across small cities and towns. In fact, mobile-based platforms for gaming have made it easier for many to access skill-based games and tournaments.

Consultancy firm EY mentioned in a recent report that the Indian domestic market