MxMIndia

Tag: IndiaGames

  • Sameer Ganapathy who was earlier handling the distribution for the media networks business of Disney UTV will now take on the business function for the digital arm of Disney UTV

    Vishal Gondal, founder of Indiagames, moves on

    By A Correspondent

     

    Vishal Gondal

    Vishal Gondal, Founder and CEO of Indiagames and Managing Director – Digital of Disney UTV, will be moving on from the company. His last working day will be June 30. Sameer Ganapathy, who was earlier handling the distribution for the media networks business of Disney UTV, will now take on the business function for the digital arm of Disney UTV.

     

    Ronnie Screwvala, MD, Disney UTV, said, “Vishal has been a great founder and CEO for Indiagames. As we consolidate the digital, mobile and web play for Disney UTV in India, we plan to build on our creative prowess and transform the digital business to be a direct to consumer, yet working closely with all our partners, telecom operators, OEMs and others. This is similar to our approach in our other verticals of movies, broadcasting and consumer products. Sameer Ganapathy brings an astute business sense and high resourcefulness to this position, which is key to meet the ever growing trajectory of the digital business in India.”

     

    Ronnie Screwvala

    Mr Gondal said, “Indiagames had small beginnings but a big dream. I cannot help but look back with a tremendous sense of fulfilment and pride, upon the long, eventful & exciting journey. I am really proud of what the team has accomplished. Excellent support from our early investors Infinity, IL&FS, TOM Online, Adobe, Cisco & UTV & the subsequent acquisition by Walt Disney provided us the opportunity to work towards our vision of making gaming big in India. Over last 18 months, we have spent time integrating the teams and set a platform for continued growth. Consequently, I’ve decided to move on to pursue my passion for being an entrepreneur,” said Mr Gondal.

     

  • Disney UTV's Indiagames has launched the official IPL season 6 mobile game, 'IPL Cricket Fever 2013'. It has associated with the Parle brand, 20-20, within the game

    Indiagames & Parle launch IPL Cricket Fever game

    By A Correspondent

     

    Disney UTV’s Indiagames has launched the official IPL season 6 mobile game, ‘IPL Cricket Fever 2013’. It has associated with the Parle brand, 20-20, within the game.

     

    The in-game branding includes mat branding, four branding (every time the player hits a four), cheerleader stand branding, in-stadia branding etc. Available on Android, the mobile game is close to the actual on-ground IPL match with all official 9 teams – Mumbai Indians, Chennai Superkings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Delhi Daredevils, King XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Pune Warriors.

     

    Vishal Gondal

    Vishal Gondal, Managing Director – Digital, Disney UTV said, “We have been providing cricket enthusiasts with the official IPL mobile game year-on-year successfully since season 3. With the IPL frenzy growing with every passing year, we have witnessed millions of downloads of the game which has been growing exponentially.”

     

    This is the second time that Parle has associated itself with a mobile game. In 2011, Parle G featured in Ra.One’s official game.

     

    Pravin Kulkarni, General Manager, Marketing, Parle Products said, “India is a cricket loving nation and IPL is the current craze in the audience. The format of IPL, which is T20, fits perfectly well with our brand Parle 20-20 cookies.”

     

  • The digital business of DisneyUTV has associated with Gameloft, a leading international publisher and developer of games to distribute their mobile games in India via operator channels and UTV Indiagames’ destination sites

    DisneyUTV brings Gameloft’s mobile games to India

    By A Correspondent

     

    The digital business of DisneyUTV has associated with Gameloft, a leading international publisher and developer of games to distribute their mobile games in India via operator channels and UTV Indiagames’ destination sites.

     

    Gamers in India will now have access to global hits like Asphalt 6: Adrenaline – from the blockbuster Asphalt franchise, Prince of Persia Forgotten Sands – an epic adventure game from the Prince of Persia saga series, along with some latest releases like The Dark Knight Rises – an action game inspired by the movie trilogy’s final chapter. Further the tie up will also bring the Indian audiences blockbuster MARVEL titles like Ironman, The Avengers and Amazing-Spiderman – the official web-slinging adventure game. These games will be available on Java phones with select titles available on Android as well. Gamers can download the exciting titles in the price range of Rs. 30 / 50 / 99.

     

    “This is one of the most strategic alliances that we have made especially in light of some of the MARVEL franchises that we will be able to engage Indian audiences with, in addition to the world class repertoire of Gameloft IPs. The gamer base in India is expanding rapidly and at this critical juncture we believe the right content offering will catalyze growth further,” said Samir Bangara, Managing Director – Digital, DisneyUTV.

     

    Sarabjeet Singh, Country Manager Gameloft India said, “Gameloft has been distributing its games for over 5 years in India, and we are thankful to our Indian fans for the strong interest and appreciation they have shown over these years. We are now pleased to partner with the digital team of DisneyUTV who will be distributing our mobile games via the various operator channels in India. We are confident of their rich experience and local expertise in the market and will be working closely with them to bring our Indian users an even better gaming experience.”

     

  • The slow death of console gaming and growing dominance of mobile gaming was among the issues discussed at the session on Gaming.

    @FF12: ‘Console gaming in India is in big trouble’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Console gaming today has become only an urban phenomenon, in the small towns it is the mobiles which has become a primary source of entertainment. Women too in large numbers are exploring gaming and access to mobile gaming in India is expected to further increase. In a country like India, content needs to be contextually and culturally relevant. These were some of the points raised at the Day 2 session of FICCI Frames 2012 – ‘From East to West: The Next Big Thing in Gaming.’

     

    This session was moderated by Mr Rajesh Rao, Founder and CEO, Dhruva Interactive. The panel members included, Mr Jithin Rao, Producer with Ubisoft; Mr Ray Sharma, Founder and CEO, XMG Studio Inc;  Mr Howard Donaldson, President, DigiBC; Mr Vishal Gondal, Founder and CEO IndiaGames; and Mr Ninad Chhaya, COO, Playcaso.

     

    One of the heated topic during this session was the slow death of console gaming and how mobile gaming will play a dominant role. Unlike Mr Ray who strongly believed that the Console market was in deep trouble and that there is a massive value shift happening from console to mobile gaming, his co-panelists Mr Jithin Rao and Mr Howard Donaldson believed that console gaming was here to stay and could still play a dominant role in the Country. “I don’t see the console market going away, it may still have a dominant presence despite the ongoing digital revolution” said Mr Donaldson. Mr Rao of Ubisoft said, “I don’t see console gaming going away even in the next five years because there are still hard core gamers in India. In fact we believe that every platform has its own experience to share with the consumer whether it is big screen or small.”

     

    Another interesting points raised during the session was the importance of mobile in the rapid growth of gaming in India. According to Mr Chhaya, “The change has been that phones are getting smarter. Consoles have become more of an urban phenomenon but, in smaller towns it is the mobile phones which have become major source of entertainment. The people in small towns are fast adapting to mobile internet. Internet on access through mobile is fast growing and the change which has come is that people have not only become more aware but, the fact that the apps system has also changed the entire environment. I would say for the better.”

     

    Mr Gondal observed, “Even women are exploring gaming in a big way. We are expecting four to five million Indians accessing Internet from mobile and expecting atleast 50 per cent of them playing games. In a market like India, local IP will do much better that global. On the production values, consumers are looking at higher production values with the best of the breed of contents and I believe that the consumers will not settle for anything less.”

     

    Mr Rajesh Rao summed up the session stating that while there are many ideas and lots of opportunities and potential in the market, the industry needs to explore them.