Affordability Vs high-performance: How Xiaomi is democratising mobile gaming

Mobile gaming in India has witnessed exponential growth in recent years, fueled by the widespread adoption of affordable smartphones, faster internet connectivity, and the increasing availability of high-performance devices. With a diverse user base ranging from casual gamers to competitive esports enthusiasts, the mobile gaming sector has become one of the largest entertainment markets in the country. Popular games like Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), Free Fire, and Call of Duty Mobile have driven this surge, turning mobile gaming into a mainstream activity. The rise of 5G technology, combined with affordable yet powerful devices, is further enhancing gaming experiences, making India one of the most dynamic markets for mobile gaming globally.

As the demand for immersive gaming experiences continues to rise, smartphone manufacturers in India are responding with innovative features tailored specifically for gamers. Companies like Xiaomi are leading the charge by introducing devices optimized for gaming performance, such as high-refresh-rate displays, enhanced cooling systems, and dedicated gaming modes like Game Turbo. These features ensure smooth gameplay, minimal lag, and a more immersive experience, even in graphically intense games. Moreover, with the increasing popularity of esports and mobile gaming tournaments, manufacturers are also focusing on collaborations with game developers and hosting gaming events to engage their user base further.

In an interaction with Adgully, Sandeep Sarma, Associate Director - Marketing & PR, Xiaomi India, and Prateik Das, Associate Director - Marketing (Brand Partnerships, Alliances, Software & Services), Xiaomi India, share insights into the company’s approach to leveraging the rapidly growing gaming market in India. As gaming continues to surge in popularity, Xiaomi has positioned itself as a leader by delivering cutting-edge technology, optimized software, and immersive gaming experiences tailored for Indian consumers. During the interview, they discussed key strategies, including the development of features like Game Turbo, partnerships with game developers, the impact of 5G, and Xiaomi’s commitment to balancing affordability with high-performance hardware. By focusing on user needs and industry trends, Xiaomi aims to provide exceptional gaming experiences across various price segments.

On leveraging the growth of gaming market in India.

Sandeep Sarma: For Xiaomi, it’s always about giving the users the ultimate experience possible, whether it is for gaming, for content watching or anything, or the other for gaming. Specifically, what Xiaomi does is that we have a specific mode called Game Turbo, which allows gamers uninterrupted gaming experience, allowing them to enable certain features which actually enhances the gaming experience. The latest addition to that is the ability to actually play BGMI with Dolby Atmos. So, that gives a competitive advantage to people in terms of ensuring that they do realize that it’s a very immersive experience within the gaming setup itself. And any player who is perhaps sneaking up on them will also be able to sort of understand and then act accordingly. So, that competitive advantage and that flexibility in terms of offering a better experience while gaming is what we always strive to achieve, and we’re always looking out to further enhance that experience through partnerships as well as other features that we can roll out to our devices.

On differentiating itself from other competitors in the gaming smartphone segment.

Sandeep Sarma: First and foremost, from a tech perspective, we are very aware that for gaming, you always require the latest and best hardware. It has been the case with even the previous generation devices, and will continue, where we are always at the forefront in terms of adopting the latest technology, be it a chipset, be it in terms of the ram or any sort of optimization. Also, from a software front, ensure that we do testing at great lengths to ensure that not only is it performing at its best, ensuring there are no frame rate drops, there are no issues when it comes to micro lags, etc.

But we also ensure that the device is optimized in terms of thermal efficiency also. We have active cooling in most of our devices. And any time when you actually use a Xiaomi device, you will notice that it is not going beyond a certain threshold in terms of heating. This is to ensure a safe gaming experience also for all the users out there.

On current trends in mobile gaming in India, and how Xiaomi is adapting to these trends.

Prateik Das: There was a trend in between, where gaming phones had to look a certain way and had to have a certain aesthetic. But that is behind us. What people are now looking for are these value additions in terms of gaming. People want a more immersive experience from an audio standpoint. Similarly, we are also seeing that a lot of people are gaming outside, for instance, where there is harsh sunlight. We have optimized our devices to give higher brightness. So, we have devices that go up to maybe 3000 nits compared to most of the competition, which does 2000. Even in different environments and in a country as varied as India in terms of the surrounding conditions, Xiaomi phones are built to last, built to give the same great gaming experience.

That’s how we are optimizing it. We are not just working on one single thing globally, but in India also, there is a lot of localization that goes into ensuring that the experience for gamers is optimized for India itself.

On the role of partnership with game developers and esports events.

Prateik Das: Partnerships play a very, very critical role for us. If you see our whole ecosystem, we’ve been bringing a lot of IP experiences. We had a limited edition AFA smartphone. We moved into Poco and Deadpool. And this is our step into the sports arena with BGMI, where we are bringing the best user experience to our end users. And we continue to tread that path because we feel that there are a lot of audiences who want differentiated experiences for them.

On importance of 5G technology for gaming and impact on the gaming experience in India.

Prateik Das: 5G is something which is still evolving, and continues to grow at a very, very strong pace. And as innovators in the industry, we continue to bring in the best devices for that. The other bit, which you have to also understand, is a user journey from a smartphone standpoint. Typically, users in India take 2-3 years to move in. You will see a lot of that transition happening now. And given that we continue to bring the best and most affordable devices, we will continue to bring that experience to the entry level users also.

On balancing performance with affordability for gaming smartphones for the Indian market.

Sandeep Sarma: Xiaomi, as a company, has certain core values, which makes it truly unique to the entire industry as a whole when it comes to smartphones. Our founder and chairman, Lee Joon, had mentioned in 2019 that Xiaomi will not make more than 5% profit on any hardware that we sell. When you have a mandate such as that, we always ensure that any cost benefit that we have is always translated to the consumer. So, not only do we always look to get the latest and best of technology, but we also ensure that it is easily accessible to everyone. So, we have innovation which is for everyone. We’ll not reserve certain things for our flagships. In fact, the Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus is a flagship in the Redmi segment, but we have phones above it. But we are still going for this because we understand that this will appeal to a wider set of users and this experience should not be limited to a certain subset. That’s how we are trying to optimize technology and ensure that it is also easily accessible for a lot of people in India itself.

On the future plans for the mobile gaming sector in India.

Sandeep Sarma: We need to constantly do research, understand what are the growing trends, what are the asks from the consumers and figure them out. Maybe, there is a requirement to improve the overall frame rate with this requirement to ensure a higher resolution is there. Across all these parameters, wherever we see that there is a gap and we can actually be the first one to bridge it and bring the latest technology to smartphones, we’ll always be there. We have always ensured that across price segments, across devices, and not just in one particular segment.

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