More than 500 million Indians are gaming today on devices ranging from personal computers and gaming consoles to mobile phones. Many of them use streaming platforms like Discord, Twitch, and YouTube, where they pit their strengths against fellow players and build a community. The gaming industry is eyeing these community-driven platforms to unlock new opportunities for monetisation, collaboration, and engagement.
However, where they fall behind is in optimising their offerings for the largely mobile-centric audience in India, says Parth Chadha, co-founder and CEO of homegrown gaming community platform STAN.
Creator economy
A major drawback in the existing platforms was that “the long tail of creators were unable to make money”, Chadha says.
STAN, founded in 2022, hosts more than two lakh creators. It has about 20 million users and targets raising this to 50 million by next year. The platform’s revenue mainly comes from in-app purchases, he says, while 15-20 per cent comes from games and brands. Users or gamers buy a ‘Club Pass’, the currency on the app, to spend on game rooms or ‘clubs’ with their favourite creators. A percentage of the revenue from the passes goes to creators.
From a low of ₹500-2,000 a month, the earnings of creators go up to ₹7-8 lakh, he says. “The average is about ₹35,000,” he adds.
According to venture capital firm Lumikai’s ‘State of India Interactive Media and Gaming Report’, the country’s gaming market recorded $3.8 billion revenue in FY24. With a sustained growth in in-app purchases and ad revenue, this is expected to cross $9.2 billion by FY29 at 20 per cent compound annual growth rate. The report observed that in-app purchase revenue was up by 41 per cent year-on-year.
STAN is now focusing on yet another income stream.
“An interesting revenue model has come up in the last 4-5 months. Anybody launching a game can try it on STAN’s audience or creators first. And games with millions of players use STAN to boost revenues and retention,” he says.
Pilot marketing
Of the over 70 game publishers the company has worked with during the past six months, 30 per cent were global companies looking to pilot their game in India through STAN, Chadha says.
“When they spend on Google or Meta, they’re burning capital. The ROAs [return on assets] here are different; they have better ARPPUs [average revenue per paying user] and retention.”
Nearly 75 per cent of STAN’s users visit the platform organically, says Chadha, and the rest are ad directed.
Investor interest
The company has raised $3.2 million in funding to date. In September, Nazara Technologies picked up a 15.86 per cent stake in the company for $2.2 million in an all-cash secondary transaction.
“We will be doubling down on growing the community on the app,” Chadha says, adding that STAN has been operationally profitable since October 2024.