Online gaming in India is among the world’s most vibrant, says MoS I&B Dr L Murugan at Storyboard18 DES 2025
With 500 million players, Indian storytelling in gaming, and global ambitions, the Minister highlighted online gaming as a pillar of India's digital media revolution alongside AVGC, live entertainment, and skilling.
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“Where once games were seen as a time passer, now it is earning money, making careers, and building futures,” declared Dr L Murugan, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs, spotlighting online gaming as a cornerstone of India’s rapidly evolving digital entertainment economy.
Speaking at the Digital Entertainment Summit (DES) 2025 hosted by Storyboard18, Murugan said India’s gaming industry, with over 500 million players, is now among the world’s most vibrant.
“Gaming today is an economic sector, a communication medium, and an art form all rolled into one,” he said, adding that the sector offers diverse opportunities from design and storytelling to audio engineering and e-sport management.
Significantly, Murugan emphasized how Indian gaming is becoming a vehicle for cultural storytelling. “Indian games are now being developed with Indian characters and languages… Mahabharatam, Ramayanam… Games are India’s newest storytelling language: dynamic, interactive, and immersive,” he said.
Digital Entertainment as an Economic Force
Positioning gaming within the larger digital media landscape, Murugan outlined how the media and entertainment (M&E) sector, valued at ₹2.5 trillion in 2024, is driving employment, innovation, and global collaboration. “Currently, our Indian media and entertainment sector employs over 2.8 million people directly and indirectly supports close to 10 million jobs,” he said. “Creativity is not only luxury, but it is also a core economic driver.”
He stressed that content today is not just king but “the key to unlocking economy and cultural potentials.”
India’s AVGC-XR Momentum
Murugan also highlighted the booming AVGC-XR sector (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics, and Extended Reality) as another engine of India’s digital creative economy. “With over three lakh professionals and nearly 4,000 studios, we are rapidly becoming a global hub for creative technology,” he said.
DES 2025 aims to spotlight policy innovations, new frontiers in gaming, and the tech ecosystem's next growth wave. The event unpacked India's strategy for leading the digital entertainment economy, with top policymakers outlining how talent, technology, and governance will fuel future-ready growth.
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