Video game streamer and content creator Mags play aka Mansi Gupta spent around 6-7 hours playing games such as PUBG religiously during lockdown and eventually decided to start her own channel which is a mix of video gaming and lifestyle content. Magsplay has partnered with big brands such as Dell, Realme , fintech brands and international gaming publishers.
“Recently, there has been a lot of interest from brands towards female gamers and they want female representation in their marketing campaigns. However, 10-20 percent of audiences still have bias towards women playing games,” she tells Storyboard18.
Gupta is among top female gamers in India along with streamers such as Monika “Sherlock” Jeph, Shagufta “Xyaa” Iqbal (streamer and female game developer), Shazia Ayub (Mysterious YT), Pooja Khatri and Saloni Panwar (popularly known as Meow16k).
Due to the massive surge of female gamers in recent years which is further accentuated by Covid-19 pandemic, women are rapidly straddling multiple roles in the online gaming industry such as gamers, streamers, game creators, or entrepreneurs, making it a more diverse and inclusive ecosystem.
According to the report launched by EY in 2022, the number of women gamers grew by 18 percent in 2021 and is expected to grow by 20 percent by the end of 2022.
“Women are increasingly entering the gaming industry by engaging in genres like real money skill-based games, esports and casual games. While there is a prominent rise of women player participation major esports tournaments all over the world, other genres like RMG (real money gaming) also gave the sector an ensemble of pro-players like Muskan Sethi, Nikita Luther and many more who have been representing India at a global stage,” says Roland Landers, CEO of All India Gaming Federation (AIGF).
Even though the Indian esports landscape is growing exponentially, there seems to be a lack of a regulatory framework to address complaints of harassment and misconduct faced by female gamers. While platforms claim that they do have in-built technology to prevent any such occurrences they can suspend and/or disqualify the accused player’s account or user content or restrict their participation in such events if the issues are raised on the platforms.
“Therefore, in the absence of any specific provisions or guidelines, these gaming platforms fall under the ambit of Internet Intermediaries and Digital Media platforms, thereby required to comply with the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, thereby appointing a grievance officer to address the complaints of the users in specific manner and timeline,” says Santosh Vikram Singh, partner - IP and Sports Law, Fox Mandal & Associates. He adds, “Additionally, the other viable remedy for the victims is to initiate a criminal complaint against the perpetrator under the Information Technology Act 2000 and the Indian Penal Code, 1860.”With high engagement, brands are following the female gamers as well.
Pranav Panpalia, founder of influencer marketing agency OpraahFx, says that on an average, a leading female gamer observes about 8-14 percent of engagement on their YouTube videos.
“Roughly, a female gamer with about over 500,000 subscribers on YouTube would charge about Rs 3-5 lakh for an integrated video. Female gamers endorse brands from gaming to tech, consumer goods to fast food, finance to personal care. People have a stereotype that a female gamer would sell female-specific products, but no. The majority of their followers are male and also have a fair ratio of females. Hence women gamers prefer to promote brands and products for both,” he adds.
OpraahFx is working with a few aspiring gamers and help them with game training, content strategy, and partnership with larger gamers and brands.
Rohit Agarwal, founder and director, Alpha Zegus, a marketing agency specialising in the domains of gaming and lifestyle, shares that on Instagram, women gamers are actually driving equal or more engagement than their male counterparts, since they bring a perfect mix of gaming and lifestyle communication to the content they put out.
“Not only are women gamers coming on par with male gamers in terms of endemic brands, but a lot of non-endemic brands (such as L’Oreal, Maybelline, Tinder, etc.) are seeing the value of collaborating with women gamers, and are betting big on them,” he notes.
“Not only are women gamers coming on par with male gamers in terms of endemic brands, but a lot of non-endemic brands (such as L’Oreal, Maybelline, Tinder, etc.) are seeing the value of collaborating with women gamers, and are betting big on them,” he notes.
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