By Rashmi Khotlande

Copyright yourstory

Gaming is one of India’s fastest-growing industries. Worth $4.38 billion in 2025 and set to nearly double by 2030, the sector is being fuelled by cheap smartphones, 5G, and UPI-powered micro-payments. Yet, beneath the growth story exists a problem: most Indian mobile games can’t keep players hooked.

Most Indian mobile games struggle with weak retention, lacking effective reward systems that keep players engaged. Outside real-money gaming, which is now facing regulatory heat, casual titles face a tough reality: low spending habits and ad fatigue give players little incentive to stick around.

That’s the gap Gurugram-based PlaySuper, founded in April 2024 by Shouradeep Chakraborty, Upamanyu Chatterjee, and Abhir Das, is solving. “Indian mobile games suffer from very low retention rates and high churn,” says Chakraborty, the CEO.

The founders, who are longtime casual gamers, experienced this fatigue first-hand, logging onto PUBG for many years and grinding through Candy Crush’s 8,000 levels. They say users constantly hop between similar games. “They go from Ludo King to Ludo Club to other Ludo variants.”

PlaySuper offers studios a white-label SDK/API that embeds a reward store directly inside mobile games. Players earn coins through regular gameplay and can redeem them for real-world products and discounts – turning casual play into a habit.

“For instance, 500 coins could reduce the price of a Nike shoe by Rs 500,” Chakraborty tells YourStory. The reward store is embedded directly into the game’s interface, letting players shop without leaving or updating the app. To users, it feels like a native feature that lets their in-game achievements be converted into tangible rewards such as apparel, accessories, or gadgets.
How PlaySuper works with brands and gaming studios
The Gurugram-based startup has onboarded over 3,000 brands, ranging from emerging D2C labels to larger players, including Rare Rabbit, Mama Earth, Bombay Shaving Company, Renee Cosmetics, HUL, Unilever, Marico, Dabur, and Emami.

“Brands are exploring new ways to reach highly engaged mobile users, especially the young demographic shaping digital commerce in emerging markets,” Chakraborty says. These brands pay PlaySuper for engagement, visibility, and conversions.

“Our data analysis shows cosmetics, beauty, and skincare drive the highest conversions, followed by electronics, based on quick-purchase patterns from platforms like PhonePe,” Chakraborty points out.
Gaming studios integrate PlaySuper’s software development kit (SDK), sharing in the revenue as an alternative to ads or cash incentives. Each sale through PlaySuper’s store earns 16–17% commission from brands, with studios receiving 4–5% (about 40% of PlaySuper’s cut).

PlaySuper has partnered with Rooter, BeBetta, Stan, KGen, Agon, FrogDog, Timepass Games, and Nazara Technologies’ Nextwave Multimedia, developer of the popular World Cricket Championship (WCC) franchise.

The startup targets four key game genres: puzzle, strategy, arcade, and shooting, focusing on titles with at least 100,000 daily active users and $1 million in annual global revenue. The company’s priority markets include Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East.
PlaySuper’s unique approach
By connecting gamers, studios, and brands, PlaySuper addresses retention and monetisation challenges. “Our ‘rewards-as-a-service’ model encourages users to play more, boosting engagement and revenue for studios while giving brands measurable visibility. The monetisation model is clear and mutually beneficial for all stakeholders,” Chakraborty says.

PlaySuper stands out as a fully white-labelled solution that preserves a gaming developer’s branding and user experience, “Unlike competitors that push their own identity,” Chakraborty points out. Its SDK/API integrates in less than three hours and needs no app updates for changes.

The platform supports real-time publishing, letting developers instantly launch new offers, campaigns, or design tweaks in the in-game store. “Our small, agile team allows us to deliver quick customisation and cost-effective solutions,” Chakraborty says.
The tech behind PlaySuper
At its core, PlaySuper uses an AI-powered recommendation engine to deliver hyper-personalised store experiences for gamers. All personalisation data is anonymised and strictly follows privacy rules set by game studios – and limited to what studios choose to share under user-approved terms.

The system tailors experiences based on signals like purchase history, brand interactions, playtime, age verification, location, and aspirations, going beyond standard interest-based advertising.

PlaySuper also provides dashboards for both brands and developers. Brands track campaigns across 80+ data points, including engagement, device usage, lifestyle insights, and real-time results. Developers get tools for brand selection, geographic targeting, revenue insights, and instant store updates, while maintaining full control over the store’s look, including colours, banners, and messaging.

In its early days, the startup worked mainly with discount coupons, earning commissions on referrals and purchases. Soon, brands like Flipkart and Swiggy pushed the model further with gift cards, keeping the commission structure intact.

PlaySuper hit its first revenue milestone in January 2025 with $90,000 and has grown to $350,000 per month in just eight months.
PlaySuper’s next moves
The startup’s gaming studio partners have seen day-one retention rise 30–34% and day-seven retention grow 18–19%, alongside longer play sessions. It currently reaches 7 million daily active users, and aims for 100 million DAUs by the end of 2026.

“It’s a classic network effect: when more brands come on board, more games want to join, and vice versa. That flywheel is what drives our growth and revenue,” Chakraborty says.

The company has raised $1.5 million across two rounds: $500,000 before its product launch, followed by $1 million recently. Investors include Singapore-based gaming VC Chimera, with participation from Audacity VC, IAN Capital Fund, and Meta’s Managing Director for APAC Emerging Markets, Dhruv Vohra. The funds will go into product development, expanding brand partnerships, and scaling operations across India and Southeast Asia.

The latest funding round will accelerate PlaySuper’s growth in India and support its international expansion, starting with Southeast Asia, where integrations are already underway in Vietnam and the Middle East. The team is also exploring new genres beyond puzzle, strategy, arcade, and shooting.

In the coming years, the startup aims to expand into AAA and PC titles, enter markets like Vietnam, Israel, and Turkey, and strengthen its AI-driven personalisation and developer tools, all while keeping gaming as its sole focus. Chakraborty looks forward to collaborating with his favourite game, PUBG. “Partnering with BGMI would be a dream milestone for us.”

PlaySuper aims to position itself as a pioneer in Indian gaming commerce and emerging markets, evolving from traditional ecommerce to social commerce to gaming-integrated commerce, with a target of reaching 100 million daily active users by the end of next year.