'India levelling up from gamers to game-makers market': Industry backs Meta’s Gaming Accelerator push

India's gaming ecosystem is growing rapidly, and Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta wants to be a part of it. Earlier this week, the multibillion-dollar tech giant launched Meta Gaming Accelerator, an incubator to empower small and medium gaming developers, in partnership with four leading venture capital funds — Bitkraft Ventures, Kalaari Capital, Lumikai Fund, and Elevation Capital.

The aim is to initially support 20–30 emerging Indian developers and studios by offering them strategic guidance across monetisation, user acquisition, cross-border scaling, and AI-led game development. "India's gaming community is a hotbed of creativity and innovation, but to unlock its full potential, we need to bridge the gap between talent and opportunity," said Arun Srinivas, Managing Director and Head, Meta (India).

Meta will also put a key focus on helping them integrate its AI tools, including Llama, into their game creation and optimisation processes. "For emerging gaming markets like India, there is a big opportunity and need for the ecosystem to come together and help small and medium gaming companies," said Anuj Tandon, Partner, BITKRAFT Ventures. Meta says its Gaming Accelerator builds on the company's continued investment in enabling and growing India’s digital economy, recognising gaming as a powerful driver of both cultural expression and business opportunity.

All about Meta's accelerator:

Meta's Gaming Accelerator is a programme designed to support emerging game developers and studios. It will provide them with resources to help them grow businesses, optimise their games, and scale globally. The key features are:

·         Ad monetisation and platform integration (Meta Ads, Audience Network)

·         Player acquisition and campaign optimisation strategies

·         Llama and AI workshops for storytelling, personalisation, and game design

·         Business and funding mentorship (VCs, industry experts)

·         Guidance for cross-border scaling and international market entry

·         Boost for India’s game development ecosystem

India is the second-largest gaming market overall, and the biggest mobile gaming market. The country boasts 1,888 gaming startups, over 130,000 skilled gaming professionals, and 520 million users, second only to China. It accounts for 20% of the world’s gaming user base and 15.1% of gaming app downloads. However, it is in mobile gaming, thanks to cheap internet, that India has cemented its position as the largest mobile game market globally, clocking 8.45 billion downloads in FY25, according to Sensor Tower's latest report.

Meta’s Gaming Accelerator is a timely and strategic boost for India’s game development ecosystem, says Roland Landers, spokesperson, All India Game Developers Forum (AIGDF). "With access to advanced technologies like Llama AI, expert mentorship, and, crucially, partnerships with top global VCs, this initiative brings together the three things that early-stage studios need most — innovation, guidance, and capital," Landers tells Fortune India, adding that India is rapidly evolving into a hub for original game creation. AIGDF is the apex industry body for online gaming in India, representing over 150 member companies and game developers.

Anurag Choudhary, founder & CEO of mobile game publishing platform Felicity says with 25,000+ game developers and 400+ studios, India’s casual gaming industry is poised to capture a meaningful share of the $50 billion global mobile gaming market. "Success today requires not just great games, but mastery in UA, monetization, and LiveOps. Meta’s initiative is a welcome step in further enabling this ecosystem."

Nitish Mittersain, Joint MD & CEO, Nazara Technologies, agrees, saying that India’s gaming industry is at an inflection point, and that there is a surge in studios building original IPs. "We have moved from being just a large player base to nurturing serious game development talent. Over the last few years, we have seen a steady rise in studios building original IPs, exploring new platforms, and aiming for global markets. What we need now is sustained support across funding, mentorship, and publishing to truly become a game-making powerhouse on the world stage," Mittersain tells Fortune India. Mumbai-based Nazara operates in mobile gaming, esports, and sports media, known for developing titles like the World Cricket Championship series and other diversified gaming products.

Parth Chadha, Co-Founder and CEO at a social gaming platform STAN says Meta's initiative could be a catalyst for innovation, AI integration, and global scalability for Indian IPs. "It will certainly empower developers to build world-class experiences tailored for the mobile-first, creator-led gaming audience in India and beyond. At STAN, we’re deeply aligned with this vision and have partnered with DLabs at ISB for the GameX 2.0 accelerator to fuel the creator-led gaming economy. Initiatives like these will help the Indian gaming industry to witness new heights."

Despite growth, India is still a low-revenue market

Despite being one of the largest gaming markets, India struggles with its own set of structural issues, which make it a low-revenue market. These include low monetisation per user, a fragmented consumer base, a lack of deep capital for gaming IPs, and limited cultural validation. For example, while downloads remain strong in India, in-app purchase (IAP) revenue stands at just over $400 million, modest compared to mature markets.

Akshat Rathee, Co-founder & MD, NODWIN Gaming, agrees, tells Fortune India that game developers in India, especially early-stage studios, are in a constant battle to optimise user acquisition costs while building games that can scale. However, he is hopeful that initiatives like Meta’s Gaming Accelerator could provide not just capital and tools, but also access to global best practices and mentorship, all of which could boost the success rate of ambitious Indian IPs.

Meta, after years of keeping WhatsApp ad-free, also said this week it will roll out advertisements on the popular messaging app. Rathee believes this is good news for esports stakeholders. Some of the biggest esports stars in the country today have massive, highly engaged communities on WhatsApp. Rathee says game developers and esports creators will both benefit from this ecosystem.