Indiagames Ltd: Mobile Games and Beyond
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Case Code: BSTR218 Case Length: 22 Pages Period: 1999-2006 Pub Date: 2006 Teaching Note: Not Available |
Price: Rs.400 Organization: Indiagames Ltd Industry: Media, Entertainment, and Gaming Countries: India Themes: Growth Strategy, Strategic Alliances |
Abstract Case Intro 1 Case Intro 2 Excerpts
Excerpts
Indiagames: The Initial Years
Indiagames was one of India's first game development companies. Right from its initial years, the company followed a 'product driven' strategy, concentrating its efforts on developing unique and innovative products for the games market. The company developed games for touch screen kiosks, handheld gadgets, and the console games market. While the games were developed on game engines written by overseas developers, the interfaces were developed in-house. To target the Indian audience, it tried to create a distinct local flavor in some of its games. Gondal and his team also felt that games based on Indian themes could have a market in other countries because of their uniqueness. In early 2000, Indiagames launched 'Yoddha - The Warrior', India's first 3-D, PC-based, first person shooter (FPS) game. This game was sponsored by Pepsi. In the game, the central character, Yoddha, halts to drink Pepsi during a mission. Another game based on cricket was sponsored by ICICI Bank...
Indiagames Enters The Mobile Games Market
In 2001, with the dot com crash, Indiagames lost much of the market for its online games and advergames. The alliance with FUNnGAME, through which Indiagames hoped to earn large revenues and greater market access, turned out to be a non-starter. The company's revenues declined and it had to undertake several cost cutting measures. However, it survived this downturn owing to a strong offline games market and a committed core team. Moreover, it had not completely run out of capital. After the dotcom crash, Indiagames' investors wanted the company to focus on outsourced work in design and servicing of online games for foreign game companies. The fact that major game companies were looking to outsource their work in order to reduce their costs of production and development time meant that companies in low cost countries like India could expect to get a lot of work. But Gondal and his team preferred to create original content as they felt that there was not much of a future in doing outsourced work...
Indiagames In The Console Games Arena
In early 2004, Indiagames announced plans to develop a cross-platform game based on Ashoka, a 2nd century BC warrior-emperor of India. The game was to be set in ancient India and included bloody battles, exploration, and elements of strategy. The game was also to include the warrior-goddess - Kali - and other characters. "We wanted to have an edge. It's a storyline that hasn't been seen before." said Gondal. Ashoka was set to be a game that incorporated innovative integration between mobile and console platforms. "We're not just taking the brand onto multiple platforms -we're taking the game itself onto multiple platforms," said Gondal. Gondal hoped that the universal playability of the Ashoka game would further differentiate Indiagames from its competitors. Though Indiagames had previously developed games for the console market, the games were sold under the names of other publishers. Ashoka was to mark Indiagames' entry into the console game market...
Challenges
Despite the huge opportunities, Indiagames had to contend with several challenges. A major challenge was to create a culture of gaming in India. Though Indiagames was doing well in Europe and the US, its market in India was limited to a few pockets. With most Indian parents frowning on video games as a waste of their children's time, the country did not have a large market for any kind of game, and being one of the pioneers in the Indian gaming industry, Indiagames was faced with the problem of creating the market. One of the things the company did to promote gaming in India, was to organize video game competitions regularly. Later, it started organizing competitions in mobile games too...
Outlook
The single biggest boost to the mobile games market in India was expected to come from the increase in the number of Java- and Brew- enabled handsets. Manufacturers such as Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson had begun to introduce trendy new models, with a host of features at affordable prices, in the Indian market. As a result of this, mobile game downloads were expected to increase by 300% in 2006-2007. Low data transfer charges and a high growth rate in the number of mobile subscribers were other factors that were likely to expand the mobile game market in India...
Exhibits
Exhibit I: About Mobile Gaming
Exhibit II: Characteristics Of A Good Mobile Game
Exhibit III: The Mobile Game Value Chain
Exhibit IV: Mobile Game Technology/Platforms
Exhibit V: Electronic Arts
Exhibit VI: Mobile Gaming In India
Exhibit VII: The Game Market In India
Exhibit VIII: Gaming Competitions
Exhibit IX: Popular Downloadable Mobile Games In India
Exhibit X: Departments In A Typical Game Development Firm
Exhibit XI: Top Companies In The Mobile Game Space
Exhibit XII: A Scene From The Ashoka Game
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