WinZO, is selected to be featured on the government-owned and developed mobile app store mSeva. WinZO to be available on mSeva, India’s only indigenously built app store launched by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The partnership with mSeva is to further the government’s mission of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ as WinZO is available in 12 vernacular languages with over 100 million users from Tier 2 to Tier 5 parts of Bharat. 20 per cent users make their first ever digital payment on WinZO.
Speaking about the partnership, WinZO co-founder Saumya Singh Rathore said,“We are elated to partner with mSeva, an app store under the aegis of MeiTY, for the Indians by the Indians. This partnership is in sync with WinZO’s mission to build a world class game tech product to serve every household in Bharat. mSeva will help us increase our reach multiple folds and give India the gaming experience it deserves.”
The move is also aimed at breaking Google’s monopoly over selection and distribution of applications and high commission charges. Today, the Indian mobile market is heavily dominated by android with 95per cent market share and this leaves developers with only Google Play Store as an option to publish and distribute their apps. It levies a commission in the range of 30per cent for in-app purchases. This negatively impacts the revenue of the developers and has long term implications on IP/ content creation in the country because of lack of viable revenue models.
mSeva, on other hand, does not have any distribution charge for not just delivering government and other public services but also for private players in health, education, agriculture, financial, online payments, social welfare, food, transport, energy, among others. It has created the digital infrastructure to help businesses set up low-cost and quick-to-build apps that can be built using scalable technology. More than 1000 apps-based services including news, social media, payments etc are available on mSeva app store. These include MyGov, Paytm and so. WinZO is also among the early private adopters of the app store and plans to promote mSeva as a way to download the app among its potential users.
WinZO hosts over 100 games from third party game developers from all across the country. It has a unique micro-transaction based business model that lets game developers and studios generate 100X revenues through its 100 million user base clocking over 3.5 billion microtransactions per month. The social gaming pioneer also created employment opportunities for a diverse set of sections which includes over 500 translators who are mainly stay-at-home housewives, college students, retired government employees, and 75,000 regional micro- influencers who distribute the app in every corner of the country.