Nearly 40 e-sports companies recently wrote to the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, requesting regulatory distinction between video and online games, hoping to define the regulatory framework between video games and online games.
The companies believe that more clarity is needed when it comes to the video gaming industry so that video and real-money games can be separated into different categories.
The Department of Telecommunications is proposing legislative amendments to regulate the online gaming industry in India.
“We will not be able to perform our duties if we do not emphasise that video games and online gaming betting are different products, industries, ecosystems and should be treated as different entities for regulatory purposes,” said a telecom ministry official.
Hopefully, the Department of Telecommunications and all other regulators will understand the nuances and find an appropriate way to look at both.”
The gaming industry has proposed the creation of an independent self-regulatory body for video and online games to establish a framework that would address player protection issues, while the proposed amendments to the Information Technology Code and Digital Media Code of Ethics would amend the existing regulatory framework.
The government will open the draft rules to the public for comments, and a detailed analysis of the draft amendments will be conducted after the comments are collected.
The proposed draft rules also include games where winnings are paid out in kind. The draft amendments would require all online games to register with the self-regulatory body to be established under the new amended law. We will continue to monitor the detailed analysis of the draft amendments.
India's gaming industry output value is $930 million, ranking first in the world, and the number of registered Internet users exceeds 560 million, ranking second in the world.
Online gaming has grown 28% in the past two years and the government expects it to be worth $1.9 billion by the end of 2024.
