The Indian gaming industry is likely to generate
revenue worth $100 mn in the current fiscal. |
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Gaming is where money is, or so believe the gaming
players in India. Consoles, online, multiplayer, casual
and mobile games are expected to generate more than $100
million for the Indian gaming industry in 2006-07,
according to a KPMG report. |
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From multinationals like Microsoft and Sony,
Nintendo to domestic wannabes like Indiagames, Paradox
Studios, Hungama, Mauj Telecom and Dhruva Interactive,
everyone is busy spinning out games. |
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Conservative estimates peg the next-generation
consoles like Microsoft’s Xbox, Sony’s PlayStation, and
Nintendo’s Wii, to lift global revenues in 2007 to $16
billion, an impressive 23 per cent increase. Industry
watchers expect the console market in India to reach
approximately $54 million by 2009. |
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Sony will launch its Playstation 3 (PS3) in India on
April 27 and will offer the 60 GB model at Rs 39,990,
which is costlier than Microsoft’s Xbox 360 that retails
at Rs 24,000 (approx). |
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Rohit Sharma, COO, Zapak Digital Entertainment,
says, “Consoles are for, may be a million serious
gamers. It is online or PC platforms that will draw the
largest revenues in Asia-Pacific.” |
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Zapak, which made its debut four months back, claims
to have a million registered users already and is well
on its way to clock 10 million users by the end of 2007.
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Alok Kejriwal, CEO of Games2Win says, “A decline in
content provider’s reliance on international game titles
and going to Indian developers will be the trend this
year.” |
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He calculates that almost 70 per cent of the content
today is international titles or based on borrowed
formats, which does not cut the ice with masses. Also,
five million broadband subscribers don’t really help the
online and PC game market, Sharma predicts. |
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The online gaming market is gathering steam. India
will have 40 million broadband connections in the next
three years, so it’s just a matter of time before gaming
companies like Zapak start minting money. |
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To help overcome the primary problem of reaching out
to the masses with it’s gaming products, Zapak plans to
launch up to 50 gaming cafes, a model that has been
perfected by countries like China. |
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“Within the next two months, we will launch eight
game cafes in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata,
Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Chandigarh,” says Sharma.
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The company is looking to set up 50-seater cafes
that will be dedicated to games and will be located in
areas that will attract young crowd. Zapak Digital
Entertainment, a Reliance ADA Group venture will be
investing $100 million over the next three years. |
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Among the 15-odd game development and distribution
companies, the outlook for mobile games looks the most
promising. Right now, the mobile gaming market is about
$200 million in the US, and around $3 million in India.
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“The fact that we have over 170 million mobile
subscribers in India is a good enough bait for most game
developers,” says Neeraj Roy, managing director and CEO
of Hungama Mobile. He calculates that mobile subscribers
are downloading 13-15 lakh units of songs, ringtones and
other value added services per day. |
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He says, “Among these, around 30,000 units of games
get downloaded and although that’s good for starters, it
is nothing to be exuberant about.” Popular mobile games
are primarily bollywood movie games, priced between Rs
50 and Rs 150. |
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Although he reckons that “mobile game’s revenues
might slide south” this year. Kejriwal, however, has his
doubts “There is a certain level of fatigue setting in
among content providers,” he says, “the direct impact of
this will hit the bottomline.”
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SNIPPETS |
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Women and games Women and games is a potent
mix, yet in India there are no takers for this. None of
the game developers in India have women audience in mind
while designing a game nor do they think of targetting
the women consumer with their products. |
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Marking a humble beginning, zapak.com, a Reliance
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, recently announced the
launch of zapakgirls.com, labelled as an entertainment
destination for the trendy women. Zapakgirls.com will
offer international quality games which have simple yet
mind tickling gameplay. |
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Says Rohit Sharma, COO, Zapak Digital Entertainment,
“In western countries, women constitute over 50 per cent
of the online casual gaming community. According to
reports tracking the activity of Indian women online, it
has already crossed the 12 million mark, which is 32 per
cent of the total online population and this percentage
has a potential to increase to 40 per cent in the next
two years which makes it a fast growing segment.” |
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While the preference of women gamers is clearly
games requiring lesser instructions and time to play,
Zapak is keen to pampered this niche segment. Zapak
claims that 12 per cent of its registered users are
girls and the number should touch 25 per cent soon.
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The various genres of games available on
zapakgirls.com are strategy, puzzles and arcade. The
company has also added a few cliched corners like an
audio-video tarot forecast and forums dedicated purely
to women and fashion trends. |
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MMOGs Massive multiplayer online games
(MMOGs) have finally caught the fancy of Indian game
developers and consumers. Zapak, Games2Win are investing
heavily into building a MMOG platform, “to increase
consumer stickiness.” |
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MMOG is a genre of online computer role-playing
games in which a large number of players interact with
one another in a virtual world, describes Wikipedia. As
in all role playing games, players assume the role of a
fictional character and take control over many of that
character’s actions. |
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Albeit, Indian players have a long way to go with
features like character customisation, churning out new
content, has to be balanced with broadband penetration.
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But Alok Kejriwal, CEO, Games2Win, feels, “Players
generally are unwilling to forsake their favorite MMOG
even after reaching the game’s level cap and exhausting
its endgame content due to the community ties formed
while playing. This is the part where advertisers and
game developers monetise their capital.” |
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The viability of sponsored promotions, sweepstakes
and competitions held in the fantasy MMOG arena is
mindless. “Sponsorship of such an event allows marketers
to reach an otherwise elusive audience,” points Rohit
Neeraj Roy, MD and CEO, Hungama.
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