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“There’s no better time than today to build games in India,” Gaurav Ranjan told AnimationXpress.
At Gamescom Asia, AnimationXpress had the opportunity to interact with Ranjan, who is the vice president of Prime Venture Partners – an early-stage VC fund actively investing in game developers and diverse sectors.
In our conversation, Ranjan shared insights on VC perspectives, the criteria for evaluating game developers, investment strategies, and the evolving landscape of game development and funding in India.
In India, mobile gaming has more users than PC and console gaming. Due to cheap data services and an increasing usage of cellular devices, the mobile gaming market can be exploited, Ranjan explained.
“We have the talent which can build mobile games that can compete with high-quality games like Clash of Clans and Clash Royale,” he said. “There is a large user base which is willing to pay. Systems like UPI and micro transactions have made payments easier than before. Today, you can build games which can be monetised in India as well as globally.”
Ranjan shared two important metrics that investors look at:
If you are an indie developer with a small team building a game, and don’t know how to scale and monetise it, there is still a way to earn by leveraging new business models. “There are large companies which can acquire a minority, majority or complete stake in the game you have built. Such companies open up the market for indie developers. So even if you are a small developer, you can build a good game and have a good exit or good outcome for yourself,” Ranjan explained.
There are two ways one can monetise mobile games:
“Your first step should be to identify a game genre that you’re confident about building – it could be a puzzle game, a match three game, a strategy game, or a shooter game. Identify that, then build your game and launch it,” Ranjan stated.
Here’s how Prime Venture Partners evaluates gaming studios or game developers:
“We are sector agnostic but gaming is a big focus area for us,” Ranjan shared. “We come in at the seed stage. At this stage, we provide capital or equity funding to startups, help them build and scale the game and the business.”
While the company does not get involved in the creative or the game design process, it does take part in the strategic decision making. “Unlike game publishers, we come at an early stage. We take decisions like – should you target the Indian or the global market, should you monetise by ads or by IAPs, should you focus on hyper casual games, midcore or casual midcore games,” he said.
Hyderabad-based cricket strategy game Hitwicket is a successful case study of Prime Venture Partners. “Hitwicket’s metrics in terms of data, retention, ARPU (average revenue per user) and the player conversion is at par, if not better than the best games out there in the world,” Ranjan revealed.
“Look for the right genre,” Ranjan stated. “A lot of times, people build games of the genre that is hyped. But if you don’t have a great game or a great player experience, people will fall out. Focus on building high-quality, deep engaging games. But there’s no better time than today to be an indie developer in India.”