Once the global pandemic took over everyone’s lives around mid-March, a new compound noun entered our lexicon – social distancing.

Though not new, it was novel to most, and it turned out to be the word of 2020. According to the Van Dale dictionary company, the Dutch word describing a one-and-a-half-meter-society got voted as Holland’s Word of the Year. We have no doubts that this noun will further claim similar crowns as time passes.

Since safety regulations on how we act in society have impacted all facets of life, we should have expected them to enter the gaming arena in some form. Thus, titles such as Minecraft Earth and Pokémon Go have now implemented them. Both are augmented reality games that are popular with those who crave interactivity and real-world fun. They are dependent on real-life movement and exploration, things that have been strongly discouraged this year.

Pokémon Go first introduced such new features, and Minecraft Earth quickly followed its lead. Microsoft released a statement in which it noted that they have temporarily removed public Adventures from Minecraft Earth, citing that such gameplay options are both potentially dangerous and inaccessible. However, this is not a permanent change, and a specified end-date depends on decisions made by the World Health Organization and not game developers. The same goes for Pokémon Go, as the two games now have new features that make it easier for users to play them from home.

Online Casinos Are a Safe Alternative to Land-Based Gaming Venues

Casinos shut down before Spring, remaining closed in most regions for over two months. During this down-time, it became evident that once they open up, it wouldn’t be business as usual and that annual revenues would plummet to all-time lows. Since land-based casinos in India only operate in Goa, Daman, and Sikkim, our country was not amongst those most affected. However, during this time, Indian live casino online became a popular search term. News outlets made much of this global shift from offline to online, and many Indians took note of this migration and used it as an incentive to test out live dealer tables for the first time.

Live casinos are not a new trend, as they’ve been around since 2003. Due to advancing smartphone technology, providers now make them available to mobile users, letting them play live blackjack, roulette, or andar bahar from anywhere, at any time. On account of the pandemic, recent estimates say that the online casino sector will grow by $27 billion in the next three years, and live dealer tables play a massive contributing factor to this rise in revenues. Recently, Malta-based provider, Pragmatic Play also entered this arena, joining companies such as Evolution Gaming, NetEnt Live, Ezugi, Vivo Gaming, Betgames, and others.

Mobile Gaming is Exploding in India

According to a report by CMR, mobile gaming has also seen an uptrend once the lockdowns began. CMR is a market research consultancy firm that believes that mobile gaming has increased among three in every five serious gamers, going by its 1,124-player survey. Their estimates say that players are now spending close to four hours more per week playing games on their phones than before the lockdowns began. Furthermore, they are also more willing to pay for titles than before and admit that they indulge in the activity to overcome social isolation.

India currently ranks among the top ten global gaming markets, and its percentage of players is on par with the US and Australia while being slightly lower than most South-East Asian countries. In 2016, India had about 200 million mobile gamers, and experts believe that this figure will reach 370 million by 2022. The reasons cited included smartphone affordability, the rise of disposable income, and widespread internet penetration.

Esports is also booming in India, even though the familiarity with the activity is far lower than markets such as the US, UK, and most European countries. In April, Paytm First Games, the all-in-one gaming app, struck a deal with Singapore-based Esports Players League to launch a series of mobile gaming tournaments in India and further grow the sector. #KhabarLive #hydnews