Friday, April 24, 2009

INDIAGAMES BETS BIG ON MOBILE GAMING

R. Ravikumar, Chennai
The Hindu Business Line

Betting big on mobile gaming, Indiagames Ltd is currently developing games based on sports and movies, and also has tied up with biggies such as EA, Disne and THQ to distribute their games in both mobile and online verticals in India.

The company, which has 60 percent share of the Rs 200-crore (in terms of gross revenues) mobile gaming market, is all set to launch its first 3D game – Cricket Super Sixes, in the US market. “As the size of the software requires 3G, we are launching it in the US market,” says Vishal Gondal, Founder CEO of the company.

According to him, the new game has been developed on the iPhone platform, and hence can be played only on iPhones.

Indiagames distributes over a thousand mobile-based games, of which around 150 have been developed by the company and the rest, bought from other developers. UTV has a 51 percent stake in Indiagames. Another 30 percent is with the promoter and employees, the rest is held by Cisco Systems and Adobe.

Talking about the Indian mobile gaming industry, Gondal said currently four million games at an average rate of Rs 45 each, are being downloaded each month.

As only less than 6 percent of the country’s mobile subscriber base of over 350 million, there is a great scope for growth. When the country opens up for 3G telecom, the higher technology will “greatly enhance the pleasure of gaming on mobile”, Gondal said, adding that the market size could then rise to Rs 1,500 crore in four years.

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