Indians are Now Binge-Gaming Over Four Hours at a Stretch: Report

Indians are today spending more time binge-gaming than ever with one online gamer now spending on an average four hours and eight minutes at a stretch said a report on Monday. The average time spent at a time on online gaming in India has increased by over 10 percent from 2019, according to the report titled "State of Online Gaming" from Limelight Networks Inc., a leading provider of edge cloud services.

The rise of binge-gaming is an even bigger trend among young gamers. This report showed global respondents aged 18 to 25 binge-play for an average of six hours and 34 minutes, 11 percent longer than one year ago. Also, nearly one in 10 respondents from India said they have played for more than 10 hours at a time. While the report showed gamers worldwide spend less time playing video games each week than last year -- averaging 6 hours and 20 minutes -- their longer binge-gaming sessions can be attributed in part to the rise of anywhere, anytime gaming.

Mobile phones are the primary gaming device for Indians and global gamers with the preference for smartphone gaming increasing 15 percent in India from 2019. In addition, this year's report identified strong interest in console-less gaming services with 44 percent of respondents saying they are interested in subscribing, said the report. The demand for console-less gaming is highest in India where 83 percent of gamers express interest in these services. "Players are excited about the flexibility of console-less gaming," Michael Milligan, Senior Director at Limelight Networks, said in a statement.

"As the world of gaming is being redefined, wide adoption depends on low latency solutions that eliminate frustrating performance disruptions and delays. Keeping gamers engaged requires innovative technology that powers real-time, interactive gaming at the edge," Milligan said. The findings are based on responses from 4,500 consumers in France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the UK, and the US. The study included only those who were 18 years of age or older who play video games at least once a week.