Mobile gaming in India
Well I have been doing a lot of research lately regarding the mobile gaming industry in India. Seeing the growth of various sectors such as Mobile user base, Ringtones, Picture Messages, SMS contests etc. etc., researchers say that the next big thing in mobile domain would be gaming. But what astonishes me the most is that in all the above sectors one thing in common... they are damn cheap (mind you, I am talking in INR). And mobile gaming gives us a lot of restriction such as GPRS connectivity, capable handsets etc. etc. I am saying all this because I myself am planning to put up a start-up in the same and frankly I am very disappointed. I don't know from where I would be able to get the user base :(
If you search the internet you will get such big figures like million dollar industry and all, but who in today's world (read India) subscribes to GPRS in the first place (which is a must for gaming!). Atleast, I didn't had GPRS till i started working towards it. To solve my confusions, I attended a conference on Mobile Gaming in India, where many big players of the market like Indiagames, Mauj, Mobile2win and service providers like Reliance, TTSL, MTNL, Airtel joined in. And I was surprised to see that they too were disappointed. Their main concern was that the market has become stagnant. But they say that with the implementation of 3G technologies in India, which MTNL claimed would be enabled by March 2007 on their network, market will take a new turn. All I could think of was "give me a break!". Mobile gaming has been successful in countries like Japan, China, UK, USA where various other modes of gaming like XBox, Play Station, Nintendo have proven their success. In India, I don't know how many have licensed version of even the most popular games such as Counter Strike and Age of Empires. Pirated CDs sell like cheese cakes in this country.
Well, I am not here to criticize Indian Market or citizen. In fact on the contrary, there can't be a better way to establish yourself and move to the next level (international market). Here the market is driven by just one force, prizes and gifts, thats what I percieve. If you associate gaming with prizes (just like reliance is doing) I guess you can make a good profit for yourself. Atleast I think so. And why shouldn't I, yesterday I saw an Ad in which they were giving 25 rupees talk time for free if India wins and to register you have to pay 5 rupees. This makes me wonder, how much money they will make if India looses. And they say betting and gambling is banned in India. I can't understand the difference between this and betting.
So, in short if I start writing what can work and what can't in Indian market, it would take me ages. All I am trying to say here is, the mobile gaming market in India is still in its nascent stage and I am glad to have identified that. If you too want to enter, be prepared with your strategy in mind and I am confident if you have planned your finances well, then there is a lot of public out there to spend on your plan....
If you search the internet you will get such big figures like million dollar industry and all, but who in today's world (read India) subscribes to GPRS in the first place (which is a must for gaming!). Atleast, I didn't had GPRS till i started working towards it. To solve my confusions, I attended a conference on Mobile Gaming in India, where many big players of the market like Indiagames, Mauj, Mobile2win and service providers like Reliance, TTSL, MTNL, Airtel joined in. And I was surprised to see that they too were disappointed. Their main concern was that the market has become stagnant. But they say that with the implementation of 3G technologies in India, which MTNL claimed would be enabled by March 2007 on their network, market will take a new turn. All I could think of was "give me a break!". Mobile gaming has been successful in countries like Japan, China, UK, USA where various other modes of gaming like XBox, Play Station, Nintendo have proven their success. In India, I don't know how many have licensed version of even the most popular games such as Counter Strike and Age of Empires. Pirated CDs sell like cheese cakes in this country.
Well, I am not here to criticize Indian Market or citizen. In fact on the contrary, there can't be a better way to establish yourself and move to the next level (international market). Here the market is driven by just one force, prizes and gifts, thats what I percieve. If you associate gaming with prizes (just like reliance is doing) I guess you can make a good profit for yourself. Atleast I think so. And why shouldn't I, yesterday I saw an Ad in which they were giving 25 rupees talk time for free if India wins and to register you have to pay 5 rupees. This makes me wonder, how much money they will make if India looses. And they say betting and gambling is banned in India. I can't understand the difference between this and betting.
So, in short if I start writing what can work and what can't in Indian market, it would take me ages. All I am trying to say here is, the mobile gaming market in India is still in its nascent stage and I am glad to have identified that. If you too want to enter, be prepared with your strategy in mind and I am confident if you have planned your finances well, then there is a lot of public out there to spend on your plan....
posted by Kamal Saboo @ 4:27 AM
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