Real-money ban hits India’s growth, Destiny lands on mobile and Uma Musume shines overseas | Week in Views

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The games industry moves quickly and while stories may come and go there are some that we just can’t let go of…

So, to give those particularly thorny topics a further going over we’ve created a weekly digest where the members of the PocketGamer.biz team share their thoughts and go that little bit deeper on some of the more interesting things that have happened in mobile gaming in the past week.

India’s games companies scramble as real-money ban wipes billions off market

I’ve been hearing about the growth potential for India’s market for at least a decade. In fact, I recently posed the topic to Nazara CEO Nitish Mittersain on the PocketGamer.biz podcast. When will the sector finally take off as long hoped?

According to estimates in the India Gaming Report 2025 from the IEIC and WinZo, the country’s games market brought in $3.7 billion in 2024, forecast to rise to $7.3bn by 2029. Meanwhile, investment was picking up in India and Nazara has been splashing the cash on M&A activity around the world.

But last week came a major setback for India’s games industry. Suddenly, the country banned real-money gaming.

It’s well documented how little revenue India’s games market generates compared to downloads. What I hadn’t realised prior to researching the real-money ban is just how exposed the country’s sector was to pay-to-play.

According to IEIC, 85.7%, or $3.2 billion, of the country’s games revenue is tied to RMG. The space was also a key driver of investment in the country. 

India’s largest publishers, WinZo and Nazara, have been hit by the new law. Overnight, the industry, where developers have been steadily expanding, has effectively hit the reset button on its growth story.

It feels like a sign of the times. Around the world, regulation is catching up to the tech world. Whether that’s government investigations into major app stores, the Online Safety Act in the UK and similar laws aimed at protecting children globally, or India’s real-money ban, unregulated markets are being slapped with new rules.

Hopefully India’s publishers can survive the fallout of this seismic decision by lawmakers.

NetEase Games launches Destiny: Rising globally on iOS and Android

Destiny: Rising is finally here. On paper the numbers look good. Ten million pre-registrations before launch is no small feat and clearly shows there’s some anticipation for a Destiny experience on mobile.

I’m curious to see how this one plays out over the coming months. Longtime Destiny fans on PC and console may be interested in seeing what one of their favourite franchises looks like on mobile, and it does offer some modes that feel familiar to the rest of the franchise.

On the other hand, it all has to feel right on mobile, not just the game modes and what’s actually on offer, but also how it physically feels to play on mobile and it working with mobile friendly sessions in mind. 

Later down the line, I’d love to find out what the game’s bulk audience is made of. Will it be the hardcore Destiny fanbase that decides to embrace the game on mobile, or will it be the wider, more general mobile players who are simply looking for a new shooter to play? On that note, there’s not exactly a shortage of mobile titles within the genre and it can be highly competitive.

An early aspect that the game has to balance is how it’s monetised, the gacha model could work against it and if players end up feeling like it’s too much of a grind or like it’s pay-to-win they risk losing people early on. Once a mobile game gets uninstalled, it’s much harder to then earn that player back. 

Uma Musume: Pretty Derby picks up 57% of mobile revenue outside Japan in two months since global launch

It’s been two months since Cygames’ Uma Musume: Pretty Derby launched globally, and in that time it’s picked up $46.8m overseas. According to AppMagic estimates, this represents 57% of the horse girl racer’s mobile revenue over the period – meaning it’s earned more outside Japan than within.

That’s no mean feat for an anime-style game with a four-year headstart in Japan, though the country does remain Uma Musume’s most lucrative single market, spending $35.4m since June 26th.

By comparison, US players have spent $31m – 87% as much as Japan – while Canadians rank third with less than $5m.

The overseas percentage share is growing, too. After representing just over 50% of spending in the game’s first month globally, this has increased to 57% two months in, and not due to any notable declines in Japan.

Whether strong Western spending is a race or a marathon, only time will tell.