`Casual Games` is one of the fastest growing segments in gaming globally. Of late, one has witnessed quite a few casual gaming ventures being kick-started in India too. The latest entrant into the arena and a big one at that is Reliance ADA group which has launched its latest initiative, an online casual gaming portal Zapak.com.
The portal was launched Saturday with a lot of fanfare with chief guest Salman Khan. In its attempt to catering to the masses, the portal will have a special zone on Salman Khan and will feature exclusive games themed around the Super star.
Announcing the launch of the site Rajesh Sawhney, President, Reliance Entertainment Ltd., said, “The launch of Zapak.com comes at the right time when the Indian market is poised for a gaming explosion. The demographic and economic profile present the ideal conditions for the Indian gaming market to grow by leaps and bounds. With a 54 per cent population below 25 years of age, India is only getting younger. Therefore, gaming is an important part of our entertainment strategy, and we are investing $ 100 million in this venture over the next 3 years. We at Zapak believe that gaming is in our DNA.”
Being one of the first casual gaming portals in India, the Zapak team has prepared a revenue model for the portal`s future.
Speaking to AnimationXpress.com, Rohit Sharma, COO Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd. shared, “We plan to gain revenue by advertising free to play online games, Adver-gaming by integrating brands with casual games, Paid downloads & monthly subscription.”
Commenting on the difference between international and Indian online casual gaming market Rohit said, “International casual games market is primarily focused on paid downloads and subscriptions whereas in India this industry is non existent. There is no concept of casual gaming in India due to non availability of high quality international games. Although India has a huge potential for Casual Games consumption but till now the segment has not grown mainly because of good quality international and localized content. Zapak.com is going to grow this market be providing world class international casual gaming content in all categories including Single Player Multi-Plyer, Downloadable and skill-based games. However market in India will primarily be for web based online games which are free to play. Therefore primary source of revenues would come from online advertising & Adver-gaming. Going forward, we will see paid downloads & subscription models working once audience are hooked onto these games.”
To begin with, the portal will feature a library of over 130 casual games, genres include Action, Arcade, Sports, Racing, Puzzles, Strategy and Multiplayer. The portal aims to have 300 games by the end of the year.
According to Rohit over 10 companies are developing games for Zapak besides the in-house team. They have commissioned dedicated teams with some development houses to serve localized games to them in near future.
Rohit also talked about the cross promotion and marketing synergies between Zapak.com and Reliance and other digital media and distribution plans. “There are tremendous marketing Synergies with other R-ADAG companies such as Reliance communications, Broadband, Reliance world and Adlabs and we are going to aggressively leverage on these synergies create joint marketing programmes. In fact we are already closely working with Reliance web worlds for distribution of our content across their cyber cafes”.
The Leadership Team of Zapak.com also includes Arun Mehra, Chief Marketing Officer and Sudipto Majumdar, Chief Technology Officer.