Driven by powerful smartphones, there has been a 40 per cent surge in hardcore mobile gamers in India in the post-pandemic period, a new report showed on Wednesday.

Mobile gaming in India saw a healthy 16 per cent (on-year) growth and in comparison to the pre-Covid period, there has been a whopping more than 100 per cent uptick in paid gaming.

Three in every five gamers spend 31-120 minutes in a typical play session and on an average, each gamer spends 79 minutes in a typical play session, according to CyberMedia Research (CMR).

"Hyper-casual gamers have, over the past two years, switched or upgraded to new smartphones, and this is reflected in the increased game time," said Prabhu Ram, Head- Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR.

Nearly 86 per cent gamers are satisfied with their current smartphone as a gaming device.

"Smartphone gaming is increasingly becoming social, with gamers connecting with friends and family over gaming," said Satya Mohanty, Head- Industry Consulting Group (ICG), CMR.

The average number of games installed in a smartphone stands at 7, of which at least 4 games are played regularly.

Three in every five gamers play action/adventure games. Hardcore gamers mostly play, or prefer action, and first-person shooter games, the findings showed.

Two in every three hardcore gamers have participated in online gaming contests, with a 10 per cent YoY growth in gamer participation.

Hardcore gamers participate, on an average, in eight online gaming contests annually, said the report.

Some of the prominent gaming titles played include Counter Strike, StarCraft II, League of legends, and Rocket League.

"Four in every nine hardcore gamers have played cloud-based games on their smartphone, with cloud gaming familiarity driven by Sony PlayStation (PS Now), Microsoft Xbox Game Pass and Google Stadia.