Game developers are increasingly eyeing Bollywood production houses to create content. For instance, a recent entrant into the gaming world, FXLabs, a content developer for personal computers (PC) and console games, is in talks with at least five Bollywood production houses for creating movie-based games. By the end of the year, the company will release games based on Dhoom2.
FXLabs is simply a case in point. Hungama has launched more than 80 games based on Bollywood and Hollywood titles. And players such as Reliance Entertainment’s Zapak have been roping in celebrities around whom games are being developed.
Industry experts say that Bollywood-based games on the PC and Internet, though just five per cent, are growing fast, while Bollywood games on mobiles is approximately 15-20 per cent of the total content generated.
However, industry players caution that India as a gaming market is yet to mature and bring in the big bucks. Neeraj Roy, managing director and CEO, Hungama, said, “We were the first to introduce multi-player PC games with Don in India. Now everyone is talking about online and mobile gaming. The entire PC-based gaming in India is just about $15-16 million (Rs 60-70 crore) whereas mobile games is Rs 65-80 crore from the end user perspective.”
Roy also feels that movie-based games inherently garner maximum hits or downloads due to their popularity and a natural affinity from the users. When it comes to games, Roy is bullish about the growth of console games. With biggies such as Microsoft and Sony getting serious about the Indian market, he believes it is just matter of time for the uptake of these games.
PC gaming is expected to witness a growth in value terms from Rs 25 crore to Rs 200 crore by 2008, according to a recent report by PricewaterouseCoopers and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
The console games market is expected to witness a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 75.2 per cent over the next four years, increasing its share in the total gaming market to 30 per cent. The report adds that the demand for online games is increasing due to a growth in Internet usage.
Rohit Sharma, chief operating officer, Zapak Digital Entertainment, says: “We are in talks with 3-4 big production houses and we are primarily looking at action flicks.” Meanwhile, they have roped in Mallaika Arora, Bipasha Basu and Salman Khan to promote their games.
“The innovative thing about our approach is that the celebrity is involved in the development of the game right from the conceptual stage. We will be launching Salman Zone in the next few days. Games on Salman receive at least 40,000-50,000 page views per day,” adds Sharma.
But right pricing is a crucial element to make online games popular. That is the focus area for FXLabs. The company is also clear that pricing will be key in gaining market shares.
Tony Garcia, CEO, FXLabs said, “Though we are yet to decide on the pricing for Dhoom2, it should range between $10-15 (Rs 420-630).”
Garcia is gung-ho about the Indian gaming scenario. “Today, India is the largest untapped market for gaming. I think the potential of PC and console gaming in India is very huge,” he added.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Hungama Mobile has inked a deal to provide mobile content to UAE based telecom operator du. First up, Hungama will distribute content related to the Hollywood movie Spiderman 3, including a mobile game, animation, ringtones, videos and theme music. Content in the pipeline is from Sony releases, including the next James Bond and Zorro movies. As per the release, the company has done similar deals in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Israel and Saudi Arabia. In India, Hungama will also be launching local language content related to Spiderman 3, in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Bhojpuri. Currently, only English language content is available, only on Hutch.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
- January 16th, 2007
- 10:16 am
It’s official - Bollywood is going mobile in a big way. Roamware and Hungama Mobile have joined forces with the GSM Association (GSMA) to announce the launch of a ‘Mobile Bollywood Initiative’ to create short movies tailored for mobile devices, taking the world’s largest film industry onto mobile devices all over the globe.
In conjunction with the GSMA, Hungama Mobile and Roamware have teamed up with leading Bollywood film maker, Sanjay Gupta, to premiere three Bollywood short movies for the mobile medium. These films will be premiered at the GSMA’s 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, which runs from the 12th to 15th of February 2007. The Congress, the largest annual mobile event, is expected to attract over 60,000 attendees from across the global mobile value chain. Bollywood today is the world’s largest movie industry, producing more than 1,000 movies a year with an audience of more than 2 billion viewers across 127 countries.
The Mobile Bollywood Initiative builds on the announcement earlier this month that Roamware has become an exclusive sponsor of the Sundance Film Festival: Global Short Film Project, a joint initiative of the GSM Association and the Sundance Institute.
“We are very excited by Roamware and Hungama Mobiles’ commitment to bring the spectacle of Bollywood to mobile phones - the fourth screen - at the world’s most important mobile industry gathering,? said Craig Ehrlich, Chairman of the GSM Association. “The Sundance and Bollywood communities represent some of the most creative, vibrant and diverse talent in the movie world, and we are delighted to be able to showcase these extraordinary films in Barcelona. In doing so, we hope to catalyse a truly compelling mobile entertainment experience for mobile users globally.?
“Hungama Mobile has pioneered the delivery of Bollywood entertainment content to the world and has been instrumental in promoting Bollywood in the wireless world. From providing music, imagery, video and games we are now preparing to introduce full features and this project with Sanjay Gupta is a step in the same direction. Hungama Mobile has worldwide exclusive rights to over 70% of Bollywood content on the mobile and digital platforms and this content comes from the world’s fastest growing mobile market – India and the most vibrant film industry. We believe it offers tremendous promise as a content category for carriers in over 125 countries.? said Neeraj Roy, Managing Director & CEO of Hungama Mobile.
“We are honoured to be part of the Sundance Institute and the GSMA’s pioneering vision of the distribution of movies via the mobile phone. Bollywood is a huge force in the global film market, and we look forward to helping the mobile industry realise the potential of this partnership,? said Bobby Srinivasan, CEO of Roamware.
“Bollywood is a massive presence in the world movie industry, and South Asia represents the fastest growing mobile market in the world. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to be involved in a project that has a promise and the potential to create a whole new distribution model for Bollywood cinematic entertainment,? said Sanjay Gupta, who is well known for directing several super-hit movies including Kaante and Musafir. “Our project ‘Dus Kahaniyah’ has been made keeping the mobile and digital medium in mind and the fact that today the market for short films has been given a huge impetus as the quality of video experience on mobile has improved significantly.?
Bollywood is one of the fastest growing entertainment industry segments and has an appeal not only for the 140 million mobile phone users in India but for markets across all continents. Indian cinema is now dubbed in over 35 languages and accounts for as much as 18% of theatrical business in markets such as UK. Indian films have made it into the top 10 charts in markets such as USA, UK, Germany, Australia, Singapore and South Africa.
-ENDS-
About the GSM Association:
The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade association representing 700 GSM mobile phone operators across 217 countries of the world. In addition, more than 180 manufacturers and suppliers support the Association’s initiatives as key partners. The primary goals of the GSMA are to ensure mobile phones and wireless services work globally and are easily accessible, enhancing their value to individual customers and national economies, while creating new business opportunities for operators and their suppliers. The Association’s members serve more than two billion customers - 82% of the world’s mobile phone users.
See: www.gsmworld.com & www.3gsmworldcongress.com
About Hungama Mobile
Hungama Mobile is the largest aggregator, developer and publisher of Indian Entertainment Content globally. It has exclusive worldwide rights to nearly 70% of all Bollywood content for all formats of mobile and digital rights. Hungama Mobile has today over 100 content alliances with leading Bollywood, Hollywood and TV studios. Hungama Mobile is the exclusive worldwide licensee to Sony Pictures International for 21 countries, including titles such as James Bond, Spiderman etc.
Hungama Mobile is the only company in the world that has created a mobile and digital distribution platform for Bollywood content in over 30 countries. Today it runs a dedicated channel with networks such as SingTel, O2, Maxis, MTN, Telis etc with over 70 operators and publishers worldwide.
About Roamware
Founded in 2001, Roamware is the leading and fastest-growing global roaming solutions provider, servicing more than 250 networks in over 100 countries servicing 700 million + mobile consumers globally. For more information on Roamware, please visit www.roamware.com
About Sanjay Gupta
Sanjay Gupta has been responsible for such critical and commercial successes as Kaante, Musafir and Zinda. He, along with Sanjay Dutt, founded White Feather Films in 2001. White Feather Films is one of the leading entertainment companies in India with operations encompassing motion picture and ad film production. Drawing upon their dynamic production experience and unique history, Sanjay Dutt and Sanjay Gupta have been providing filmmakers the opportunity to create innovative and ground breaking cinema that challenges, provokes and inspires. Their forthcoming releases include the ambitious Dus Kahaniyaan, Hansal Mehta’s tribute to film noir, Woodstock Villa, Apoorva Lakhia’s realistic crime drama, Shootout at Lokhandwala, and an expected film from Sanjay Gupta, Alibaug.
- September 18th, 2006
- 10:00 am
Hungama has launched India’s first free multi-user online gaming portal, www.gaminghungama.com. Hungama is targeting at achieving a registered user base of one million in the first year.
Commenting on the launch of its latest offering in the digital space, Neeraj Roy, CEO and MD of Hungama states, “It is estimated that, the online gaming market in India is at $30 million, of which mobile gaming and internet-based gaming contribute $8 million each in revenues. It is being expected that by the year 2010-11 the software gaming industry will be $700 million in size and console, mobile and broadband or internet-based gaming will each be one-third of the pie and through gaminghungama we will be ready to meet this ever growing demand.”
The games have a simple and easy to understand gaming interface coupled with a chat window. This allows the user to interact with his opponent as he plays a game, a first among gaming sites. Along with games the site also has the latest reviews of PCs, consoles and mobile games from across the world, gaming news relayed using RSS feeds, a user forum and a downloads section.
“The prime focus of the site is to provide an engaging platform for the gamers across the world and our aim is to become the de-facto gaming portal in India within six months” says Carlton D’Silva, Creative Director, Hungama.
The games are original concepts and are based on popular themes with titles such as Bollywood Squares, a hilarious take on Hollywood Squares, the popular American TV show. The other titles include Quick-Et, a really fast cricket game, Star Gaze, a Bollywood Celebrity Quiz game, Top The Class, a Massive Multi-User game that can support over 500 users at any given point.
“The site will be launched with multi-user games to begin with which will serve as an educational exercise for the gamers that are not so used to multi-user games. The games are kept simple in nature and at sometime in our lives played the physical form of the game. This makes it easier for the gamers to comprehend the games and quicker to get started. Post the initial push of multi-user games; we will eventually release single-user online and casual games”, adds Carlton D’Silva.
Source- http://newmedia.agencyfaqs.com
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Game developers eye Bollywood for content
