Fortumo weighs in on how mobile game developers can monetize in emerging markets like India

Much has been said about India‘s potential for mobile game developers. Thanks to a large base of smartphone owners and an audience hungry for content, it seems like it is a market ripe for the taking. That is, until developers hit the biggest stumbling block for success in the region: a vast majority of consumers don’t have or prefer not to use a credit card.

It’s amusing, given that smartphone sales in the country have tripled to over 44 million in 2013. According to research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), 17.59 million smartphones were shipped into India in the first quarter of this year, compared with 6.14 million in the same period last year. And yet most Indians refuse to spend INR 60 ($0.99) on an app.

But that hasn’t stopped Fortumo. The company allows consumers to make in-app purchases (IAP) without the need for a credit card. Payments are instead charged to their mobile operator bill. We spoke to Mattias Liivak, head of marketing and PR, and Sanjay Sinha, country manager for India at Fortumo, to find out what’s needed for developers to succeed in markets that are adverse to spending.

(See: Mobile game revenue in Asia is almost two and a half times of that of America (INFOGRAPHIC))

Small price, large volume

According to Sinha, there’s user resistance when it comes to apps that sport a free-to-use component along with a payment option. He claims that customizing content for India requires something different altogether.

Can we implement solutions that we have used in other markets for India? The answer is no. That’s why we do a lot of customisations specific to Indian markets. Western price points don’t work here. The target is small price points and large volumes. It’s a key strategy which we think can work in India.

For Sinha, it’s crucial to harness the large volumes in the market. He believes that thanks to the country’s large base of mobile users, the payout will be huge even if just a small percentage pays.

There’s a large number of transactions at the price point between INR 10 to 20 ($0.17 to $0.34). The sub-INR 50 ($0.83) price point is very good for Indian market to get large volumes. It’s indicative that the message for developers is small ticket size, large volume.

No commitments