Impact of 5G on Gaming Industry

The country is eagerly waiting for the 5G service to start, where we saw the contenders Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea and an Adani Group entity who joined the race to disrupt the space. 5G is expected to bring a telecom revolution. For the gaming sector, this means super-fast downloads and uploads, glitch-free multiplayer video games, live streaming, and real-time gaming.

5G will accelerate esports and video gaming growth in India in multiple ways. Cloud gaming is a massively challenging puzzle to solve. Unlike a TV broadcast or a video streamed live, each user needs to get a unique and personalized experience where even milliseconds of delay counts. From a user’s device being connected reliably to their home WiFi network to their internet provider having reliable connectivity to the data center where games are actually rendered, there are many things that have to be right for cloud gaming.

Playing a video game by streaming it live to your computer or phone may sound like something that only countries in North America and Europe can pull off, but Indian networks can already handle it. At least one startup already serves a few thousand customers through regular home broadband connections.

5G is expected to propel the gaming industry by democratizing access to high-end AAA games in the mainstream. "It will also offer gamers easy access to newer and more unique experiences like Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. Faster internet speed and reliable connection will encourage game developers, designers, and storytellers to work on grander, more complex, and engrossing stories. This freedom will result in more quality content with time," said Vishwalok Nath, director, Esports Premier League.

Experts say that cloud gaming isn’t waiting for 5G in India — thousands of people have already played a game streamed to them on a home connection. The home broadband users have a dramatic advantage when accessing cloud gaming, and ISPs have the bandwidth to support it. But that’s not all.

However, the economics of gaming on the cloud are attractive too. While India is a mobile-first gaming country, the personal computer market is growing rapidly year-over-year. Going forward, with the new age technology metaverse, and all virtual reality technology that again would completely elevate the gaming experience, would be facilitated in large parts by 5G.

S Mohini Ratna, Editor, VARINDIA