The strategic revolution in India’s gaming industry driven by creators

Puneet Dua, Co-Founder and CMO, SportsBaazi, sheds light on the rising class of ‘creator-gamers’ individuals who is helping demystify the experience for a growing, curious audience.

India’s gaming landscape has steadily evolved from a casual pastime into a structured, fast-growing industry driven by skill, strategy, and engagement. Once limited to individual play, gaming today is increasingly collaborative and content-led. A new generation of players is not only participating but actively shaping the space, sharing tactics, building communities, and influencing how games are played and understood. Among them is a rising class of ‘creator-gamers’ individuals who blend deep gameplay expertise with content, helping demystify the experience for a growing, curious audience.

This evolution is closely tied to the broader boom of India’s creator economy as well. According to a recent BCG report, India now has between 2 to 2.5 million monetised content creators, with influence over 30% of consumer decisions and approximately $350–400 billion in consumption expenditure. This creator-influenced spend is projected to cross $1 trillion by 2030, unlocking over $100 billion in ecosystem revenues. While lifestyle, fashion, and entertainment have dominated early influencer-led commerce, a new vertical is quietly gaining ground: creators in gaming, analytical content, and decision-based formats.

Within gaming, this evolution is especially pronounced. The traditional gaming influencer who once focused on livestreaming casual gameplay is now increasingly joined by analysts who decode probability, explain risk management, or teach predictive modelling. Their content goes beyond thrills and reactions; it offers intellectual companionship, helping followers become better decision-makers.

This trend is particularly visible in newer formats that mirror real-time decision-making under pressure. These formats demand a different kind of player, someone who understands momentum shifts, can read indicators, and recognizes the value of adapting early to optimize outcomes. These aren’t just players; they’re strategists. And in India’s deeply social digital culture, they’re also teachers. Social media platforms are enabling this shift by allowing creators to share not just their wins, but the thinking behind them. Instagram reels, Telegram groups, YouTube explainers, and Discord channels are being used to discuss strategies, break down gameplay moments, and evaluate evolving scenarios. These aren’t merely content uploads; they’re interactive learning environments where every view or comment is part of a larger peer-to-peer education loop.

Also Read: A conversation with Parth Chadha on how community platforms are bridging the gap for tier 2 and 3 creators

Interestingly, as these creators build niche authority, they are also reshaping the notion of influence in the gaming space. The most valuable influencers are no longer just entertainers; they’re enablers. They help people understand complexity, navigate decisions, and refine their own approaches. In this landscape, someone who can break down how to assess a player’s form, interpret live gameplay data, or rethink strategy mid-event is as valuable as someone with a million followers dancing to trending music.

Community-building is central to this new ecosystem. In several strategy-based games, players often organize themselves into Telegram or WhatsApp groups, discussing gameplay tactics, sharing data sources, or alerting each other about relevant developments. In these communities, creators serve as moderators, guides, and sometimes even challengers, pushing followers to think beyond the obvious and question their assumptions. This is content, yes, but it’s also mentorship.

The rise of this creator-gamer class is also a reflection of broader digital maturity. Today’s internet user in India is far more engaged, analytical, and participatory than a decade ago. They’re not satisfied with being passive spectators. Instead, they want to influence outcomes, test their theories, and engage deeply with formats that stimulate their intellect. For many, strategy-based gaming serves as a training ground not just for entertainment, but for broader cognitive development, involving pattern recognition, risk management, and real-time problem solving.

This is not to suggest that these creators exist in a silo. Many of them collaborate, host livestream discussions, or co-create courses and resources for budding players. A few even monetize their content through subscriptions, private groups, or influencer-led events. As India’s digital and gaming sectors converge, it’s not hard to imagine a future where these creators form the backbone of a new kind of edutainment, one that blends storytelling, analysis, and skill-building.

For platforms that support such formats, this rise in creator-led engagement is a positive signal. Not only does it improve user education and retention, but it also fosters a culture of transparency, responsible play, and continuous learning. The more users are taught how to evaluate, think, and execute decisions based on logic rather than instinct, the more sustainable the ecosystem becomes.

Moreover, it marks a significant cultural shift. For years, gaming in India struggled with the stigma of being “unproductive” or “frivolous.” But this new wave of creator-gamers is flipping that script. By publicly dissecting the how and why of every move, they’re legitimizing gaming as an intellectual pursuit, one that requires discipline, knowledge, and clarity of thought.

As the Indian creator economy continues to expand and gaming formats increasingly reward cognitive skill, the most followed voices in the next decade will likely be those who don’t just play well but explain better. The creator-gamer isn’t just a trend. It’s the beginning of a paradigm where content, community, and critical thinking converge, and where playing smart is the real game changer.