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Category: Gaming

  • Ex-Fnatic India lead Nimish Raut joins NODWIN Gaming

    Ex-Fnatic India lead Nimish Raut joins NODWIN Gaming

    Mumbai: Esports company NODWIN Gaming has appointed Nimish Raut as the head of global esports partnerships and business development.

    In his role, Raut will oversee global partnerships, business development and media rights for all NODWIN properties across the world. He will be based out of Singapore and report to NODWIN Gaming, MD, Akshat Rathee, said the company.

    Raut comes in with over 15 years of experience in sports and esports experience with companies like Star Sports where he led strategy for new sports and was previously the head of sports marketing at Red Bull India. He kickstarted his esports passion at Redbull and then joined Riot Games (Southeast Asia) for League of Legends. Over the last few years, he has been actively involved in propelling the growth of esports in India as the India lead at Fnatic.

    “It’s exciting to have Nimish on board given his vast experience with key players in the industry,” said Akshat Rathee, welcoming Raut on board. “He has a high-spirited persona about him. I have known him for over a decade and he shares my passion for transforming esports and we have strong faith in his capabilities to build valuable partnerships for NODWIN.”
    Raut has already secured partnerships for NODWIN Gaming with brands such as Gillette, OnePlus, HP, Red Bull and looks to continue the great form, said the company.

    “I’m personally excited to be a part of a driving force that is NODWIN Gaming,” said Raut on his new role. “The value that NODWIN brings to the developing world esports market is massive and I’m in line with their vision and plan of action. I am very excited of joining forces with Akshat again and bringing substantial value to the esports ecosystem.”

  • OptimiZEE’s web-based innovation marks its foray into gaming

    OptimiZEE’s web-based innovation marks its foray into gaming

    Mumbai: OptimiZEE, the social content hub at ZEE, has rolled out a first-of-its-kind endless front-runner game on the web, “Happu Ki Nikali Savaari” for ZEE show Happu Ki Ultan Paltan currently airing on &TV and streaming on ZEE5.

    With a whopping 433 million gaming enthusiasts as of FY21, India stands as the second-largest country in the online gaming universe. Increasingly, brands too are leveraging the medium to further engage with their audience and build affinity. OptimiZEE’s launch of hypercasual games truly offers brands a chance to reach out to a highly engaged and invested audience, the platform said in a statement on Wednesday.

    For gamers who crave an experience in vernacular languages, the device-agnostic game truly serves as the perfect platform to step into the shoes of their favourite TV character in a virtual world through a game that’s uncomplicated and exciting, it added.

    “Our audience is continuously engaging with the compelling stories and their popular characters at Zee and this engagement is growing across screens and formats,” shared OptimiZEE, ZEE – head, Kartik Mahadev. “Gaming is one such format which has witnessed significant growth and is no longer limited to serious gamers alone. The OptimiZEE solutions team along with the content teams and the tech partners worked in quick time to develop this format to engage with fans of Happu. It required that we delved into the world of Happu to pick attributes that would suit the gaming format and give the fans an enjoyable gaming experience. The team chose a web-based solution for greater access to fans of the show. This is just the first of many solutions that we hope will delight our audience. It will create value for our customers as well as brands are looking for innovative ways to interact with consumers. Over the course of last year, casual gaming has truly made its way from the basement to the boardrooms. The solutions in the pipeline will offer brands in-game integrations to engage with the immersed audience.”

    “The pot-bellied Daroga Happu Singh has made our viewers laugh like no other. His incredible comic timing, Kanpuria quirks, and dialect make him an audience favourite,” &TV – business head Vishnu Shankar said. “Given his mass appeal and with viewers who are always craving new opportunities to engage with their beloved television characters, launching ‘Happu Ki Nikali Savaari’, a hyper-casual game, was a natural step for us. The game will enable his fans to immerse themselves into a whole new exciting world of Happu Singh. We at &TV are extremely proud of the fact that Happu Singh is the first character across the ZEE Bouquet on whom a game has been developed.”

    Yogesh Tripathi, who plays Daroga Happu Singh in  “Happu Ki Ultan Paltan”, said, “You all have loved Daroga Happu Singh, his oil-slicked hair that perfectly twirls on his forehead, his goofy paan-stained grin that highlights his atypical moustache to his typical Kanpuria one-liners – Niyocchavar Kar Do, Arrey Dada, Gurde Chheel Denge. Now you have another reason to rejoice and get entertained at your fingertips. Happu Ki Ultan Paltan was a dream come true for me and now, to be immortalised in the form of a gaming character fills my heart with immense gratitude. I am sure our hypercasual game will add several moments of laughter and fun to fans’ lives. I hope our fans will shower the same love and affection to ‘Happu Ki Nikali Savaari’ as they have for ‘Happu Ki Ultan Paltan’ and keep enjoying both the show and play the game too.”

    Poised to be the first in the series of web-based games, “Happu Ki Nikali Savaari” will be amplified across social media, on-air and digital platforms of &TV and ZEE5. As part of the promotions, fans are invited to participate in an exciting contest on social media platforms.

  • SonyLIV basks in football glory, EURO 2020 viewership outstrips FIFA 2018

    SonyLIV basks in football glory, EURO 2020 viewership outstrips FIFA 2018

    New Delhi: SonyLIV continues to make the most of the football fever that has swept the country over the last few weeks. The home-grown OTT platform is streaming the football action LIVE from UEFA EURO 2020 since it began on 11 June and has already clocked a total of 14 million hours of streaming.

    According to the platform, the engagement level of users has increased ever since the sporting extravaganza started on 11 June, and it is now gearing up for the finals to be held in Wembley, London on 11 July.

    “Before the final kick-off, Euro has already outdone the FIFA world cup 2018 views and watch time,” it said on Wednesday, with a remarkable rise in viewership with matches like Portugal vs Germany, followed by Croatia vs Spain, France vs Switzerland, and England vs Germany from the playoff stage (Round of 16). The Portugal vs Germany match on 19 June (Saturday) was among the most watched in the tournament. The defending champion Portugal led by Cristiano Ronaldo was defeated by 4-2 in the match in the group stage despite the ace player’s goal and an assist.

    SonyLIV had sold out 100 per cent of its inventory with seven sponsors onboard which included WazirX, Cred, Acko General Insurance, Dell Technologies, Mahindra, Betway and Black&White, said SonyLIV, Ad Sales and revenue head, Ranjana Mangla.

    “Euro 2020 has been a great tournament for us. We successfully sold out 100 per cent of our inventory with seven sponsors and more than 35 brands from across categories like Auto, Electronics, Banking, Finance, Insurance, Technology & FMCG.  During this period Spotlight Roadblocks on the platform have also been a huge hit amongst advertisers,” said Mangla.

    According to the platform, Euro 2020 is being viewed across more than 400 cities in India and has recorded significantly higher viewership from football loving states like West Bengal, Northeast, Kerala and Goa. “Also, the streaming of the matches in six different languages has seen encouraging traction in smaller non-metro cities. The uptake of subscriptions in non-metros has doubled as that of metro cities,” it said in a statement.

    Riding high on the success of Euro 2020, the platform is now gearing up to on-board more advertisers for Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 as well as the upcoming line-up of global sporting events.

    Talking about the association with SonyLIV, WazirX founder and CEO Nischal Shetty said, the success of Euro 2020 drew a great number of viewers and that has helped us engage better with our target audience. “Associating with a platform that caters to a vast audience with their various entertainment offerings has been a great association,” he added.

    Another sponsor, ACKO, EVP Marketing Ashish Mishra said, “Our association with SonyLIV has been a fruitful one as it helps ACKO reach niche audiences across top cities. They have some great live sports content lined up, starting with the Euro 2020 which has been a huge success, bringing in diverse viewers. Our goal was to introduce the brand to newer audiences and through this partnership we successfully managed to get the desired reach and have continued to stay top-of-mind.”

  • Krafton launches PUBG successor Battlegrounds Mobile India

    Krafton launches PUBG successor Battlegrounds Mobile India

    Mumbai: South Korean video game company Krafton has officially launched Battlegrounds Mobile India in the country, a successor to the popular mobile game PUBG that was blocked by the government last year. Battlegrounds Mobile India is meant to be a replacement for PUBG Mobile.

    Krafton announced the launch via an official post on Facebook. “Fasten your seatbelts and get your squads ready, we welcome one and all to the official launch of BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA!,” the post reads. “We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the fans in India who have been waiting for the official launch of Krafton’s BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA. As of July 2, 2021, thanks to your support, BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA has been officially released.”

    The new mobile game, developed exclusively for gaming enthusiasts and fans in India, had received 40 million pre-registrations that went live on May 18, 2021, the company said in a statement.

    PUBG Mobile was one of the more than 200 Chinese apps banned in India last October following the Galwan Valley clash with China. Battlegrounds Mobile India had recently also stirred controversy over the alleged misuse of Indian players’ data by sending it to servers in China. The company, at that time, had said it will continue to closely monitor and protect any data being transferred to “unexpected and restricted IP addresses”. The company had also said it is working to fully comply with the Indian laws and regulations.

    “We at Krafton are delighted to introduce Battlegrounds Mobile India for our fans in India today. Designed exclusively for our Indian fans and gamers, Battlegrounds Mobile India will provide a superlative gaming experience,” Krafton Inc CEO CH Kim said speaking on the launch of its new game, as mentioned by PTI.

    “This is just the beginning of a series of new content, collaborations, and esports tournaments coming users’ way and the company will strive to ensure that fans and community in India can fully enjoy the battlegrounds experiences”, he added.

    Krafton recently also made its first India investment in Mumbai-based game live-streaming startup Loco. The company was among the multiple investors in the startup’s first-ever fundraising.

  • Eurosport and GCN gear up for Tour de France 2021 coverage

    Mumbai: The iconic bike race speeds back onto screens this summer as the crème de la crème of cycling come together to battle for the yellow jersey. Capturing every stage, every sprint and every climb, Discovery-owned broadcaster Eurosport and its Global Cycling Network (GCN) are all set to live-stream 2021 Tour de France for viewers in more than 60 markets across Europe and Asia.

    With total exclusivity in 35 markets, Eurosport and GCN will offer live, on-demand and ad-free coverage of every stage of Le Tour via its digital platforms the Eurosport App and GCN+. For the first time, Discovery’s global streaming service discovery+ will also show all the action via Eurosport with Eurosport 1 also offering live broadcasts of every stage, it said in a statement.

    Eurosport and GCN’s international experts Sir Bradley Wiggins and Alberto Contador will offer LIVE insights to viewers in the UK and Spain respectively. Eurosport and GCN will bring fans closer to their favourite riders with a unique view of the action as its ‘Brad on a Bike’ feature returns for 2021 with Sir Bradley Wiggins and Bernie Eisel reporting live from the heart of the peloton. GCN+ will also offer subscribers exclusive content and original documentaries, both online and via the GCN App.

    Expressing his excitement about the upcoming event, Eurosport’s SVP – content and production, Scott Young said, “With the Grand Départ just days away, we are gearing up for the most comprehensive coverage of the Tour de France anywhere by harnessing the full power of Eurosport, GCN and discovery+ to excite and entertain viewers everywhere.”

    “We are looking forward to having Brad and Bernie back on the bike, offering viewers an innovative and unique insight to life in the peloton, as well as dissecting the drama of each stage through our local analysis and highlights shows. This year, the action does not end at the Champs-Élysées, and with the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 following just a week after we find out who takes home the yellow jersey, there is so much racing and so many stories to look forward to over the coming weeks,” Young added.

    The exclusive coverage begins on 24 June, before stage one begins from the French city, Brest – on 26 June.

  • Nazara’s WCC brings aboard Abhinav Mukund as Tamil commentator

    KOLKATA: World Cricket Championship (WCC), from the house of Nazara Technologies, has touched the 155 million download mark, with addition of 15 million new downloads this year. The mobile gaming company is now looking to reach out to its fans in the vernacular markets, and has brought aboard former team India player Abhinav Mukund as Tamil commentator.

    Former Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden and Indian cricket commentator Aakash Chopra will manage the English and Hindi audience respectively, said the company.

    As the Covid crisis staggered the world with lockdowns, and live sports took a hit owing to lockdown restrictions, WCC served as an alternative to authentic cricket experience from the safety of homes. Given the growing user-base, the game aims to further penetrate the regional markets and cater to a larger share of the audience with better access to smartphones and data connectivity.

    Next Wave Multimedia CEO and co-founder P R Rajendran said, “With the introduction of professional commentators into the game, the aim is to bring users as close as possible to the actual game of cricket. With the recent suspension of live sports, we would be glad for WCC to bring respite to the cricket fans confined in their homes.”

    While Aakash Chopra and Matthew Hayden will add to the realism of the game, Abhinav Mukund will further accelerate the feeling and connect further with the vernacular audience, bridging cultural boundaries.  Players would be able to manually switch to the Tamil version of the commentary.

    “Cricket is the highest watched sport in the country and undoubtedly transcends language and boundaries with its popularity. Due to the pandemic-induced lockdown, live sport has been in the doldrums but with the realistic cricket experience that WCC provides, cricket entertainment is at the fingertips, albeit in a virtual form. I am excited to bring a Tamil twist for the players and hence expand the game’s periphery,” said cricket commentator Abhinav Mukund.

    WCC3 has featured in some prominent esports tournaments in the country including Redbull M.E.O., Skyesports, and LXG WCC tournaments. Being one of the only ‘Made in India’ games to feature in esports tournaments in the country, WCC is looking to make it easier for players and tournament organisers to conduct tournaments on the game with its recently launched esports mode.

    The World Cricket Championship series was created by Chennai-based Next Wave Multimedia Pvt. Ltd., which is a subsidiary of Nazara Technologies Ltd., a leading India-based diversified gaming and sports media platform. Launched in November 2020, the third installment is the latest in the series. The game has won the Indian Game Developers Conference’s “Studio Game of the Year” award and Google Play Store’s “Users Choice” Award 2020.

  • Nazara Technologies notches up good financial scores in Q4

    Nazara Technologies notches up good financial scores in Q4

    Mumbai: If you are a gamer, you will know that at times, it looks like you are lagging far behind, with most of your shooters gone. But things turn around and you start scoring, knocking out the rival’s gunmen, and you come out on top. Just like recently, the publicly listed Nazara Technologies has done. The Indian gaming and esports major has reported operating revenue of Rs 123.38 crore in q4, 41.7 per cent higher than the previous year’s corresponding quarter.

    The company has erased all the red ink on its earnings report by notching up growth of 84 per cent year-on-year in profit to reach Rs 4.2 crore, as against a loss of Rs 7 crore (q4 last year).

    “As we operate in the high growth business segments of gamified early learning, esports, and freemium, we continue to prioritise growth over profit maximisation, to achieve and maintain market leadership in the segments we operate in,” said an excited Nazara Technologies group chief executive officer Manish Agarwal.

    The esports segment revenue ballooned to Rs 48.57 crore from Rs 39.77 crore in the same quarter last year. Gamified early learning nearly trebled to reach Rs 50.61 crore, compared to Rs 19.52 crore. However, revenue for the freemium segment declined to Rs 4.32 crore from Rs 4.03 crore. Telco subscription also marginally declined to Rs 17.83 crore from Rs 18.08 crore for the corresponding period in the last fiscal.

    “Prudent financial management is in our DNA. This is clearly visible from the Rs 4,784 million (Rs 478.4 crore) in cash reserves, including liquid investments, as well as the zero debt on our balance sheet. We will efficiently utilise our cash balance to fund any inorganic growth opportunities- ranging from building capabilities to geographic and demographic expansions in our operational domain. To conclude, we are in a good position to continue executing our strategy and maintain our market leadership position in the years to come,” Agarwal added.

    For the financial year 2020-2021, operating revenue grew 84 per cent year-on-year to Rs 454.2 crore. While EBITDA has gone up by 508 per cent year-on-year to Rs 59.6 crore, EBITDA margins have also improved from 3.7 per cent in FY2019-2020 to 12.7 per cent. It has delivered profits of Rs 13.6 crore in the just-ended fiscal year.

  • Game on: PUBG returns as Battlegrounds Mobile India

    Game on: PUBG returns as Battlegrounds Mobile India

    NEW DELHI: It’s ‘winner winner, chicken dinner’ time again as popular mobile gaming phenomenon PUBG is all set to make a comeback in India, in a new avatar. The game’s South Korea-based developer Krafton has officially announced the relaunch of the game, now rebranded as Battlegrounds Mobile India.

    While Krafton has not revealed the exact date of the launch, it has assured that the multi-player game will be available to play soon. The official website of Battlegrounds Mobile India has already gone live and the company has also released an official teaser of the game.

    Ever since the government imposed ban last year, PUBG fans have been playing a game of Schrödinger’s cat, as the game developers teased a relaunch every now and then without any concrete details to offer.

    Battlegrounds Mobile India, a battle royale experience, will have a period of pre-registration before the launch. The game will be available to play only in India. Krafton will collaborate with partners to build an esports ecosystem while bringing in-game content regularly, starting with a series of India specific in-game events at launch, to be announced later.

    With privacy and data security being a top priority, Krafton will be working with partners to ensure data protection and security at each stage, the company said in a statement. “This will ensure privacy rights are respected, and all data collection and storage will be in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations in India,” it added.

    Even though gameplay and other related details are yet to be revealed, the privacy policy and terms of service for the game, published under its new website by Krafton, detail at great length how Battlegrounds Mobile India is approaching its widest base of to-be users – minors, or any gamer under 18 years of age. These details include limitations in terms of duration of gaming, maximum daily spending limit and parental consent.

    According to the Battlegrounds Mobile India privacy policy, gamers under the age of 18 will only be able to play the game for a maximum of three hours per day. Krafton has also restricted the maximum spending limit in the game down to Rs 7,000 per day. The two limits likely seek to address controversies that had surrounded PUBG Mobile prior to its ban, in terms of the levels of addiction that it stirred among gamers playing the title in the country.

    With this, Battlegrounds Mobile India looks set to begin its journey in the country again. The title will be up for pre-registrations soon, and open access will follow soon.

  • Nodwin Gaming gets Rs 164 crore backing from PUBG creator Krafton

    Nodwin Gaming gets Rs 164 crore backing from PUBG creator Krafton

    KOLKATA: Built on the world's largest youth demographic and fuelled by affordable smartphone and data prices, e-sports has seen a surging demand which has led to Nodwin Gaming receiving a minority investment of Rs 164 crore from South Korean gaming firm Krafton. 

    Nodwin Gaming will channelise these funds to accelerate the development of e-sports in South Asia, Middle East and Africa, support talent, provide better gaming infrastructure and technology and conceptualise, organise and execute a multitude of tournament IPs at the national and international level.

    This round of funding follows previous investments from Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Nazara Technologies and from JetSynthesys backed by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan. 

    “Esports will be a key pillar to the growth of sports entertainment in the future. It sits at a wonderful intersection of sports, entertainment and technology where nations such as India can pave the path. With Krafton coming on board, we have an endorsement from the mecca of gaming and e-sports – South Korea, on what we are building from India for the world based on our competence in mobile first markets,” said Nodwin Gaming co-founder and managing director Akshat Rathee. 

    Krafton is one of the top gaming companies in South Korea and is the creator of intellectual properties and games such as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), TERA, Golf King, Castle Burn among others.

    India banned PUBG and hundreds of other apps with affiliation to China last year citing cybersecurity concerns. Krafton has been attempting to bring PUBG Mobile back in India, with no luck yet. To assuage the Indian government’s concerns about users’ security, the South Korean firm said it had cut ties with Chinese publisher Tencent.

    Krafton CEO Changhan Kim said, “Krafton is excited to partner with Nodwin Gaming to help foster the promising esports ecosystem and engage with our fans and players in India. Taking the momentum from this partnership, we will explore additional investment opportunities in the region to uphold our commitment and dedication in cultivating the local video game, esports, entertainment, and tech industries.”

    Post the transaction, Nazara will continue to own a stake in excess of 50 per cent in Nodwin Gaming. Nazara invested the e-sports firm in 2018 and this investment has created a value in excess of 6.44X in three years.

    Nazara technologies CEO Manish Agarwal said, “Nazara has been an early and strong believer in the potential of esports to disrupt the sports entertainment market and we believe this partnership between Krafton and the Nazara group will accelerate the growth of esports and open doors for collaboration between Indian and Korean gaming companies in future.” 

    JetSynthesys VC and MD Rajan Navani, the founder investor who helped envision Nodwin Gaming at the conception stage itself, added, “We identified the early opportunity in esports as a key pillar to build the gaming ecosystem in India and this investment is an endorsement of the tremendous potential of esports in the journey of a new Atmanirbhar Bharat. Akshat, Gautam and other members of the founding team are true gems of a youthful India that is raring to conquer the world and we at JetSynthesys are excited about what the future holds for us.”

  • Madras HC refuses to stay Tamil Nadu’s ordinance banning online gambling

    Madras HC refuses to stay Tamil Nadu’s ordinance banning online gambling

    NEW DELHI: The Madras high court has declined to grant an interim stay on the Tamil Nadu government’s ordinance banning online gambling and games, including online rummy.

    Appearing for the state, advocate general Vijay Narayan today sought more time and urged the court to adjourn the matter till after Pongal. He also mentioned that there is a possibility that an act against online gambling may be presented in the legislative assembly in January, which may or may not be in the same form as the ordinance. However, the court clarified that no further extension would be given in the matter to file the counter.

    He argued that children are playing online rummy using their parents' credit card and the ordinance would nearly have any effect on the operations of the petitioners given that only two states – Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh – have banned online rummy.

    Previously, the court had refused to stay the ordinance on a petition moved by online gaming platform Junglee.

    Appearing for Junglee, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi argued that the petitioners wanted an early resolution of the matter, adding that they can establish that online rummy is safer than rummy played in other places. He claimed that the business is getting impacted as it wrongly stopped.

    Meanwhile, Gameskraft Technologies also joined in the challenge mounted against the ordinance, in so far as it relates to online rummy. Advocate Mohan Parasaran, the counsel appearing for Gameskraft, urged the court to at least pass orders that no coercive action be taken against the petitioners in the interim.

    However, the bench refused to grant any interim relief save for the filing of a counter-affidavit by the state, and fixed the matter for further hearing on 18 January.

    Last month, Tamil Nadu became the third state in India to enforce a ban on online games and gambling after governor Banwarilal Purohit promulgated an ordinance on the same. The move came in the wake of a spate of suicides in the state by gamblers who lost money playing these online betting games.