(above) A wallpaper from the Supergiant Games Hades website

Parth Pujari (19) has never been to a rock concert or seen a live cricket game in a stadium, but every night Parth does what most Gen Z kids his age do: he goes online, games and gossips with his close pals. This paradigm shift had kicked in much before the pandemic. The lockdown only accelerated the growth of online gaming. Today’s zoomers prefer online games and virtual cache (and cash) over music, sports or drive in rock concerts.

Aryan Mirchandani, a teenager from Bandra and an avid Fortnite gamer, plays with his friends for 30 minutes daily after school homework. “I can play with anyone in the world. There could be a lag due to server difference. I can add my pals and play. Some of my friends have spent Rs 20,000 and bought the latest online games,” says Aryan. When it comes to gaming jargon, Aryan literally speaks in tongues — battle pass, v-bucks, bots, mod, buff, nerf, lags. The new iGen’s favourite video games are Fortnite, Valorant, Apex Legends, Brawl and Call of Duty (COD) among others.

GAME ON

According to the India Mobile Gaming Report 2021 (IMGR) released by Mobile Premier League (MPL), Delhi tops the list and is followed by Jaipur, Pune, Lucknow, and Patna. “Delhi, Jaipur, Pune, Lucknow and Patna have emerged as the top five cities in India in terms of the number of online gamers,” the esports and skill gaming platform says. Cities such as Pune, Lucknow and Patna, saw a huge number of players taking to mobile games in 2021, toppling big cities such as Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata. While Mumbai and Bengaluru clinched sixth and seventh positions, Kolkata was at the 12th position,” the report states. Carrom, Fruit Dart, Fruit Chop, Runner No.1, and Block Puzzle are some of the popular games. According to an IANS report, mobile esports like Chess and Pool also saw a huge influx of gamers. The MPL platform alone registered 1.3 million esports players in 2021. While

nearly half a million games were played on the platform, it recorded 17 million live viewership.

Hades

LET’S PLAY

After winning the Hugo award, Supergiant Games writer and creative director Greg Kasavin says his entire team felt honoured. He took to Twitter, saying: “We, myself included, grew up experiencing these classic works of science fiction and fantasy, from Ursula K. Le Guin to Philip K. Dick. At Supergiant, we’ve tried to marry the traditions of fantasy and scifi and literature with unique interactive components and create these worlds that feel as though they are alive as you navigate through them.”

Across the world, right from politicians to movie mavericks, fashion czars to music leaders, everybody has taken note of the power o f gaming.

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