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  • ‘In India, we want games to be the prime reason why people buy PCs’ : Quentin Staes-Polet – Kreeda Games CEO and co-founder

    ‘In India, we want games to be the prime reason why people buy PCs’ : Quentin Staes-Polet – Kreeda Games CEO and co-founder

    Quentin Staes-Polet is the CEO and co-founder of Kreeda Games, one of the first Indian internet companies dedicated to massively multiplayer online gaming (MMOG). The company received its first round of funding in March 2007 from US based IDG Ventures and Japan’s Softbank.

    Kreeda’s flagship Bollywood music and dance game Dance Mela (The Carnival of Dance) recently made it to the Changemakers gaming honours and according to Quentin, it managed to do so because it successfully merged fitness and entertainment into a deeply localized game for India.

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com’s Arcopol Chaudhuri, Quentin talks about the opportunities, challenges and gives his perspective on the larger gaming industry in India, which is beginning to gradually stand-up on its own feet.

    Excerpts:

    Your first round of funding took place in March. When is the next round likely to take place?
    Well, I cannot share that with you, but it’s not anytime soon. We’re quite satisfied with the way things are going at the moment. Corporate interest in the gaming business is increasing, not just in India, but globally as well.

    The gaming industry in India is still at a nascent stage. How is Kreeda combating alternate entertainment options like TV and cinema in this phase?
    Gaming is the TV of the future. And there’s online gaming as well. With the bandwidth increasing, we see a lot of interactivity coming in. Although India is still a couple of years away from where we can get healthy bandwidths, we see the combat happening slowly and surely.

    What’s the current size of the current gaming industry in India?
    The Indian gaming market is very very small. Currently it is evaluated at about $5 million. Nobody really knows the exact size and there are various numbers floating around. It is estimated to reach $200 million by 2010.

    But frankly, I wouldn’t bet on any of the numbers. Because a lot of these numbers are part of revenues paid to companies outside India.

    Has the gaming industry woken up to in-game advertising?
    We’re one of the first few companies to have deployed in-game advertising. I can’t tell you which brands are advertising, but the good news is we have the necessary technology to incorporate it into our games.

    What are the advantages it offers to advertisers compared to conventional mediums?
    In-game advertising is a much better media for advertising than TV because the user involvement is so high and it allows for content integration. It’s not interruptive nor is it intrusive. Customization features are high and I can even make it the sole reason why the user is playing it.

    What about measurability? How is Dance Mela a valuable proposition for an advertiser?
    Indeed, the best part is the measurability it offers. For online and mobile games at least, the advertiser comes to know exactly how many users are interacting with his brand and what demographic do they comprise. Being an immersive medium, it offers much more promise to the advertiser.

    There’s a notion that a gamer is too immersed in the game to actually notice brands in the background?
    Well, I’d beg to differ on that. Ad avoidance is high on TV too. Unless of course, you customize the branding to the gamer. The idea is to create intelligent clickable opportunities for the advertiser. For example, I create a shop inside my game where the user can buy branded accessories which helps him improvise his gameplay.

    What revenue model is likely to work in a market like India?
    For us, I think subscription model is a little early in India. A game where there is no entry level fee, can be monetized at whatever the gamer is willing to give – his disposable income, in this case.

    What offerings has Kreeda lined up, post Dance Mela?
    We are looking to release 3-4 games a year. Dance Mela will be our flagship product for the next few months. The strategy is to pick up successful games from abroad and localize them for India. We’ll be looking at sports games, adventure games and games which are easily adaptable to Indian cultural milieu.

    How challenging was it to localize Dance Mela?
    Bollywood and dance are two themes that are very strong in India. This helped us get in new gamers, especially females. Dance is a strong theme – we couldn’t have had Korean dancing, Chinese – dance has its own identity and Dance Mela is, therefore, the most localized game in this world. It is the deepest example of localization in any country. We devoted about eight months putting into place the characters, dance steps, clothes, sets and music for Dance Mela.

    So is that what your strategy going to be from now on? Licensing them from abroad or developing games in-house?
    Actually a high-end game takes about two years to launch. But we licensed the game from China and then localized it for India, fine tuning several aspects of the game for the Indian gaming audience. It’s easier and more sensible to do this, for a market like India and the returns involved.

    Why aren’t you developing games in-house?
    As long as the gaming market crystallizes in India, we don’t see developing games ourselves. The costs are anything between $3 million-$15 million, which makes no sense in a market that is emerging. As the market matures, we would look at developing our own games. India is a unique market and there is vast potential for developing games specifically targeted towards Indian gamers. We will do it eventually, but only when the market justifies the cost and effort involved.
    ‘Our strategy is to pick up successful games from abroad and localize them for India‘
    How much are existing international gaming majors like EA a challenge to your business in India?
    The gaming majors are not a challenge at all. They cater to a hardcore gaming audience – people whom we at Kreeda are not after. Of course, we would love it if they played Dance mela as well, but then to be a successful gaming company in India, you need to think 100 times that number. You compare that to the projected $200 million and you think it’s not going to happen.

    Look at China – the country jumped from zero to $1.5 billion in a period of seven years. In 1999-2000, China was no different than India in terms of internet connectivity and PC penetration, amongst other things.

    So what according to you is going to be a compelling reason for people to take up gaming?
    In US and China, the reason for PC penetration has been the perks it offers in the form of broadband connectivity, softwares and games. In India, as a gaming company, we want games to be the prime reason why people buy PCs. Gaming should be the driver of PC penetration in India.

    What’s the audience strategy for Kreeda right now – converting existing gaming population to Dance Mela or wooing a fresh audience base?
    We would be looking to convert them of course, but that’s not an audience we’ll be banking on in the long term. Currently there is a gaming population of 50,000 to 60,000 in India today, we look to expanding that to 2-4 million in the next few years.

    Which genre is going to be the catalyst for growth in this sector – mobile, console, PC, online gaming?
    Well, I think its going to be across genres. Console gaming will offer premium experience and will contribute a larger share to the gaming revenue. Meanwhile, mobile gaming already has the advantage of a huge user base which is waiting to be aggressively tapped once connectivity issues are resolved. But the PC and online gaming scene is most promising since penetration in both broadband and PCs is showing rapid growth.

    How much have perceptions towards gaming been a challenge in India? Violent actions packed games are a strict no-no, if academic opinion is to be believed?
    Perceptions, of course, matter but as of now that’s not a cause for concern for us, since Dance Mela is not a violent game. There is moderation involved and we make sure that there is no abuse in any form. For the gaming industry right now, there are many more issues much more than perception that are worrying.

    What are these issues?
    Distribution, PC penetration, marketing channels. There is still no entity yet, that takes care of the distribution requirements of the entire country.

    And how is Kreeda addressing these issues?
    We’re tying up with retailers who are embracing box-game distribution for the first time. We are setting up our own sales force who visit internet cafes and take our games over there.

    What hurdles are you facing while you do this?
    The biggest hurdle we are facing is that the retail scene in India is undergoing a huge churn in terms of nature of operations, infrastructure and monies involved. It’s great in a way since it gives us many more outlets, but the scene is slightly messy right now.
    Is the market too fragmented right now?
    The scene is very fragmented. In India, to reach your game to all the malls in the country there is no single channel distributor. Plus there are transaction issues involved like octroi and transportation which add to the costs of an emerging retail distribution scene for gaming. However, we are hopeful that it will stabilize very soon.

    It’s not just our problem, even majors like Sony, Microsoft and Apple are facing similar issues for selling their boxes and iPods in India.
    What is Kreeda’s presence across shelves in India?
    Currently we are in about 4,000 retail stores and 2000 internet cafes across the country.

    What payment mechanisms are you offering users?
    The current crop of payment options include credit cards for transactions over the internet and prepaid cards. We are also introducing our own gaming cards which can be used at internet cafes where our games are present.

    How are you promoting Dance Mela?
    We are planning to associate with college festivals where we can give students a full-demo of Dance Mela and our company profile. Soon we will also be looking at associating with a TV programme where the game will be integrated into the show’s proceedings. Our objective is to reach 1 million users by March 2008 and we’re working aggressively on our sales strategy to reach that target.

    How does a start-up company like Kreeda see the inroads of Reliance’s Zapak in the gaming market? Are they creating an over-powering presence?
    I think Zapak’s entry is great for the gaming industry. We’re all grateful to Reliance for taking so much interest in this market. Thanks to Zapak, curiosity and following has increased dramatically in the country. The sector is just emerging – there are 4-5 players when there is space for about 50. We’re right now creating a pie and then we will work together in growing it. When it’s grown big enough, we can fight for market share.

    If you were to do a SWOT analysis, how would the gaming sector look like?
    The strengths would include interactivity, demand, business models and high profit margins in India. The weaknesses are distribution, perception and novelty while the opportunities comprise cafes distribution, Indian retail boom, advertising and educational gaming

    As for threats, fragmentation is definitely there. The government might also come up with a regulatory policy when the industry scales up.

  • I&B mulls sending reminder to NBA over Content Code

    NEW DELHI: Upset over News Broadcasters Association’s (NBA) silence on the Content Code almost a month after sending a letter, the Information and Broadcasting ministry (I&B) is now planning to send a reminder.

    Meanwhile, the government-drafted Code remains in place till a regulator comes up.

    “We have no word from them and it may be they have not taken this seriously,” an official told Indiantelevision.com, despite the fact that during a meeting with the minister for Information and Broadcasting, journalists had said they would draft their own Code and send it to the government.

    “We are considering sending a letter to remind them on this soon,” the official said, and added that the government was looking at getting the Broadcast Bill out as soon as possible.

    However, though the Bill was termed as a priority, the official was unable to give a definite deadline for it to be in place. The Bill has to be passed early, the official said, as that would be the only route of setting up the regulator.

    It may be recalled that while most broadcasters are agreeable to having a regulation, they had vehemently fought the idea of a government-drafted Code of Content, terming that as infringement of free speech.

    In the context of the Bill, when asked whether the ministry officials had interacted with the chairperson of Ofcom, the British media regulatory body, the official said they had “a lot of interaction.”

    So, is the Indian ministry taking points from the Ofcom system?

    “They have an interesting system of setting up the Commission, which is basically that the old body of the Commission gets the new body in and this gives them autonomy. We are looking at this and studying it, and may be some parts could be considered,” added the official.

    The system of setting regulatory bodies and Commission is different from that in British media affairs, the official said, and this merits study.

    However, the ministry could not give a deadline of getting the Bill on the house of the Parliament, saying that there is need for more guidance. That guidance would come from within the ministry itself “as we are pretty much aware of who has to say what on the issue”.

    Meanwhile, the Code of Content drafted by the government has not been scrapped and will be there as a referral point as and when the regulator is set up. The government might scrap some provisions obnoxious to the industry and put it for more healthy debate, the official said.

  • ‘Over one third of BBC’s revenue comes from Asia’ : Sunita Rajan – BBC Worldwide VP- advertising sales, Asia and Australasia

    ‘Over one third of BBC’s revenue comes from Asia’ : Sunita Rajan – BBC Worldwide VP- advertising sales, Asia and Australasia

    BBC is expanding in the media space in India with not just new channel launches but also in the arena of FM radio and TV production.

    Among the recent launches are BBC Entertainment and Cbeebies. BBC World which was for years a free-to-air news channel, has gone pay to open up subscription revenues.

    BBC has also taken a minority stake in Mid Day Multimedia’s private FM station Radio One.

    And to expand its footprint in India, BBC has recently set up a production centre in Mumbai to tap the rapidly growing TV content market.

    In an interview with Indiantelevision’s Nasrin Sultana, Sunita Rajan, BBC Worldwide VP – advertising sales, Asia and Australasia, talks of BBC’s growth plans for this market.

    Excerpts:

    How is BBC giving the Asian region a push with its content, marketing and ad sales strategy?
    We have a strong presence in the Asia Pacific region. As far as the editorial position goes, our news bureaus are spread widely all over. We have Asia centric programming like Asia Business Report, Asia This Week and news features for Asians. We recently launched an Asia specific show – World News Today presented by Nik Gowing. All the shows are produced in London but our target is Asian audiences.

     

    Our India specific show India Business Report was favoured so much that we had to bring it back on air. But we are an international news channel. So our competition is not the local news channels of any country.

    Asia has been a strong revenue driver for BBC. How much does India contribute as a percentage to BBC’s total ad sales kitty?
    Over one third of the revenue comes from Asia. We do not break it down market by market. So I won’t be able to tell you about the Indian market alone. We have six beams of ad slots and rates across the globe. So an ad rate can be similar for India as well as in Latin America or South Asia. We kind of dice and slice it all across the globe.

    But the good thing is a good amount of ad sales comes from the Asia Pacific region. In recent times, we have seen a huge interest from our Indian clients to reach out to the Asia Pacific markets. At the moment, we are carrying campaigns by Indian clients targeted at the international audience.

    With this trend, how has BBC evolved an ad sales strategy?
    After some amount of internal research we found that there is a common trend among our audiences across countries. One commonality is that they are internationalists. Internationalists are those who are concerned about international news and have an international lifestyle. Keeping this in mind, we launched the “Internationalists campaign.” The campaign is nothing but telling “this is what our audience looks like”. What we did was we picked and chose the basic commonality of all the internationalists, which we identified.

    What is the basic idea behind the ‘Internationalists campaign’?
    Reaffirming and re-auditing that our audience are affluent. It is to give us a profile of our audience. We are focusing on this – through our content as well as on the advertising front. We are talking about Indians who are ‘internationalist’ in their attitude. We also did the Global Indian survey to find out who are affluent, who work in MNCs, who travel abroad, who use foreign products, and who are interested in the stock market.

    What is BBC’s audience profile in India?
    Affluent Indians living in the top 20 cities form the BBC audience profile. They are reflected in the ‘Internationalist’ campaign. The Indian audience or the ‘Internationalist’ is identical to any other Internationalist living in Tokyo, Korea or USA.
    ‘Affluent Indians living in top 20 cities form BBC’s audience profile’

    Who are your major advertisers in India?
    We have 90 brands advertising coming from India on our channel. They are from various categories – financial institutions, IT and auto. Blue chip companies like Nokia and Samsung are strong advertisers on our channel.

    Since BBC has also launched a GEC, how are you tapping advertisers beyond the traditional news genre?
    GEC definitely has a different profile of advertisers. FMCG companies are an important breed of advertisers who back GECs. We are looking at tapping such companies.

    What are the marketing and advertising plans for the kids channel Cbeebies?
    Cbeebies is for pre-schoolers. No kids channel in India has such a target group. Cbeebies is very popular in other markets where we have launched. BBC’s Teletubbies is a most liked brand. We are looking for advertisers for our kids channel.

    Cbeebies is still restricted to a DTH footprint. How are you getting into carriage deals with the cable networks?
    Right now we are available on the TataSky DTH platform. But we are in talks for distribution deals across cable networks.

    How do you tap advertisers for Radio One where you are an equity partner with Mid-Day Multimedia?
    Though BBC has a stake in Radio One, we do not handle the advertising at all.

    BBC recently launched BBC Knowledge in Singapore. When are you bringing it to India?
    We launched BBC Knowledge in August on the IPTV platform. The channel showcases some of the best features and documentaries. We have 3000 hours of content in our archives. We are soon to launch BBC Knowledge in other markets too.

    How is the recently launched commercial venture BBC.com faring?
    BBC.com is our commercial venture to offer advertising on BBC’s international online service for users outside the UK. The current site has been very successful in attracting international traffic. Currently, it has more than 40 million unique users per month from outside the UK who mainly access the news pages.

  • NBA Content Code put in cold storage

    NEW DELHI: The proposed Code of Content drafted by news broadcasters in retaliation to the government’s attempt to ‘curb press freedom’ through the latter’s Content Code is gathering dust, with no one in the news TV industry interested in talking about it.

    “There is no forward movement and nothing is likely in the short run, that is for sure,” said a senior editor who also revealed that the draft that had been placed for the consideration of all news channels is mundane and routine: “there’s nothing that can be talked about”, the source said.

    Arnav Goswami, Editor of “Times Now” channel had been given the task – on behalf of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) of developing a draft Code of Content, with specifics about what would be penalties and who would impose them, but not much of that has found place in the draft, sources said.

    The NBA, which has been closely guarded on the issue of their own draft from the beginning, had also decided to rope in news broadcasters beyond the periphery of Delhi and Mumbai based channels to give their proposed Code a national character, but so far this process too has not take off.

    “We shall place a Code with the government,” said the source. “But that will take a long time, and the government playing on the back foot and the prime minister almost supporting our cause by asking the ministry to go slow, has given us the opportunity.”

    Sources in the industry say that the news TV channels are not at all seriously inclined towards any Code, and the mandarins are not sure they will ever be able to come to a consensus on the Code the industry itself is developing.

    “In a situation where every editor is an intellectual in his own right and with their own egos to serve, it is practically impossible to have a commonly acceptable Code, for each one is going to haggle over every word, all in the name of protecting the rights of the press,” a senior broadcast lawyer told Indiantelevision.com.

    Officially, NBA is not speaking at all, insisting that this is not in the public domain. A senior executive in a broadcasting cmpany said that discussions are going on and “may be in three or four months time this will bear fruit”.

  • ‘What we are telling the regulator is that the sheer volume of content this industry generates is impossible to police’ : Paritosh Joshi – Star India advertising, sales and distribution president

    ‘What we are telling the regulator is that the sheer volume of content this industry generates is impossible to police’ : Paritosh Joshi – Star India advertising, sales and distribution president

    It’s nigh on one-and-a-half years since Star India brought in a “media outsider” Paritosh Joshi as president – advertising sales & distribution, thereby consolidating the two major revenue streams of India’s lead broadcast network under one position.

    That it’s not been exactly hunky dory for Joshi since his induction is putting it mildly. His arrival has coincided with the return to the ratings reckonings for the former number one Hindi entertainment network Zee TV while on the distribution side the story has been one of the sector regulator’s increasingly watchful eye on the industry. There is also the government mandated CAS rollout timetable that Star has stated it will fully support.

    Joshi spoke at length on this and a number of other issues in an evening tete-a-tete with Indiantelevision.com.

    Excerpts:

    It’s close to one-and-a-half years since you joined Star. What have you done and managed that made a difference?
    Well, for one my coming to Star challenged many notions, since I had no prior media experience. But it had its advantages in that I came on board carrying no baggage and no preconceived notions.

    Interestingly, your induction also coincided in a time frame sense with Sameer’s pet theory that the entertainment business operates in a four-year cycle…
    The real reason for Sameer’s continuing success is that not only does he challenge his own beliefs but he encourages others to challenge his beliefs.

    As for me, my task was to look at both sides (distribution and ad sales) from above and approach revenue in a derisked sense. What we have realized is that the different parts of our business are not functioning as silos but have a number of linkages that need to be tapped into in a more holistic manner. This involves making decisions on a continuous basis.

    The converged new world is what it sounds like. Could you expand on that?
    We are developing a new understanding of the TV ecosystem. How do all these work in tandem is what we are trying to get a grip on. There are interactions across the businesses as well as new opportunities.

    For instance, we have put in Nanette D’Sa as head of licencing and merchandising; there is the branded entertainment division we have launched.

    Then there is our internet play. We have the online rights for ICC cricket and we’ve launched iccchampionstrophy.indya.com. We will soon be bringing myspace to India. Ajay Vidyasagar is actively involved there.

    On the mobile front we have the 7827 shortcode that works across all networks. A lot is happening on that front, which is Viren Popli’s baby.

    What are the principal challenges that you are confronting?
    There is an extremely complex regulatory environment in place.

    One could say there was hardly any worthwhile regulation earlier, so it’s about time.
    You have a point, but from no regulation to over regulation in one shot is also not the best way to do it either.
    ‘We will have to demonstrate by behaving right that we are willing to work on a collaborative model than an antagonistic model‘

    Well, if you were to place the kind of content that is put out on our networks before Britain’s Ofcom for instance, I am sure virtually all channels would have quite a few questions to answer.
    That’s not really a correct comparison. We (the Indian television industry) have had to grow from infancy to adulthood in one dozen years while it is a 50-year-old story in Britain. The government should make some allowance for that.

    What we are saying is that we will work with you (the government) in each part of the business to get the system in order. What we are also telling the regulator is that somewhere along the line, the sheer volume of content that this industry generates is impossible to police.

    Look at it this way. We (Star) produce 12 hours of original content every day. And there is virtually no time lag between production and delivery. If our degrees of freedom are circumscribed, our ability to deliver a quality product to our constituency gets diminished.

    Agreed, but the flip side is that whenever you try to bring order into what has been a free-for-all, there will be some amount of pain and chaos involved. That has been shown when PAN cards were introduced, as too VAT. As long as the intent is not malafide, shouldn’t industry leaders be taking the long term view?
    We’ve got too much at stake to think in the short term. And I am sure the same applies for the other big networks like Zee and Sony. The big networks should be and can be trusted to do the right thing.

    We will have to demonstrate by behaving right that we are willing to work on a collaborative model than an antagonistic model. Dialogue across constituencies is important and I am actively involved on this front.

    How many know that Star has substantially contributed to the working of the content code?

    Coming to the specifics of your network, where do you see the biggest upside on revenues coming, going forward?
    DTH will be truly it, over the next couple of years, though in discontinuous spurts. By this time next year we should be looking at between 2.5 to 3 million subscribers between the two networks (Tata Sky and Dish). Even at the Rs 27 per sub that we have been forced into agreeing to (as per the TDSAT order), you can do the math.

    That’s assuming that all subscribers will take your offering.
    As far as our current crop of channels go, we will be on the basic packages across all services so would expect to get those numbers.

    What about addressable cable. Isn’t that where the real big numbers are? More so with CAS getting rolled out?
    The addressable cable rollout is unclear as to its shape at this juncture. I think that what will happen is that while there may be some false starts, it will all settle down in due course.

    If addressable cable rolls out well, then great. We are platform agnostic on addressable systems so it can only benefit us.

    Speaking of CAS, how do you see that impacting revenues?
    We are close to signing all our CAS contracts. Star is ready to roll on CAS. The IBF will work together with other stakeholders to facilitate this in any way we can.

    Another difficulty that has hit both Star Movies and HBO is on the issue of certification of films. The Festival season is here, is there any resolution in sight there?
    We expect some solution but it will take time. We’ve basically written it off for this quarter.
    What does that mean in percentage terms?
    That would mean a write-off of about one third of the revenues we would normally have expected for the quarter.

    The most recent addition to your bouquet has been Neo Sports. Word is that you have committed a massive MG to Harish Thawani.
    I can’t comment on the size of the MG but we have to work on the fundamental premise that cricket played in India will get viewership like nothing else can, which is why Harish made the punt he did…
    What about the regional language story?
    In Bengali, we have already started our activity with a two-hour entertainment band in the afternoons on Star Anando (news channel). You could say that is the test run though we are yet to fix a date on a full fledged Bengali entertainment channel launch.

    We’re looking at the Telugu channel sometime early next year. Probably March or April.
    Are you considering the acquisition route for the Telugu channel?
    Not at all. We will be launching a completely new channel from ground up.
    On the advertising front, what are the issues that are worrisome?
    With no disrespect to LV (Krishnan, CEO of Tam India) meant, considering the heterogeneity of the country, the present ratings system is inadequate. In India we have 5,000 meters, there are 18,500 in the UK where the population is much more homogenous.

    I’ll end this by saying, ‘As providers of content real estate, our value proposition has been reduced to the absurdity called CPRP that determines and assesses everything. We would argue that this obsession with one single metric destroys value rather than creates it.’

  • MCCS’ Barun Das to join Zee News as CEO

    MUMBAI: Zee News has roped in Barun Das as the CEO. The channel was operating without a CEO after former CEO Harish Doraiswamy resigned in mid-September.

    Das, who will be based in Delhi was earlier working as executive vice-president with Media Content and Communications Services (MCCS).

    At MCCS, Das has put in his papers and is currently serving notice period. Speaking to Indiantelevision.com Das confirmed, “I am currently serving notice period at MCCS.”

    Prior to MCCS, Das was working as the head of international business development with Astro All Asia Network. He was based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

  • ‘Challenges of cultural adaptability of international formats in India are tremendous’ : Siddhartha Basu- Synergy Adlabs CMD

    ‘Challenges of cultural adaptability of international formats in India are tremendous’ : Siddhartha Basu- Synergy Adlabs CMD

    Synergy Communications founder Siddhartha Basu shot to fame as the curt quizmaster in BBC’s Mastermind India. But he sure knows a thing or two about drama. And that comes across as no surprise since he has a background in theatre.

    No wonder then that Basu was able to blend drama and quiz in the immensely popular Amitabh Bachchan-hosted show Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) that turned around the fortunes of Star Plus.

    Post the acquisition of Synergy by Adlabs, Basu now plans to scale up operations to produce content across various genres. And he is already making inroads into the regional content market.

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com’s Arcopol Chaudhuri, Basu speaks about how the Adlabs association has helped and shares his views on the rapidly changing Indian television scenario. He hopes the relationship between content providers and broadcasters will be redefined.

    Excerpts:

    How has the acquisition of stake by Adlabs helped Synergy grow its business?
    With the Adlabs association, we have the resources to specialize in various genres and programmes. We may not have been able to do this as we were a small production house. We were known for large productions, quality of content and conduct. But whatever new challenging projects we took up in the recent past, we did not have the resources. We needed the manpower and the infrastructure to strengthen our hands as content producers to make quality programming across all genres.

    The association with Adlabs, thus, gives us a more sound financial grounding and standing amongst the competition. It empowers us not only to grow creatively, but also as a business.

    Have you expanded your production facilities post the formation of Synergy Adlabs?
    It’s a developing story. We are already functioning through two production offices in Delhi and Mumbai. Adlabs has made substantial investments in high-end infrastructure and equipment, which we are using for Jhalak Dikhla Jaa and our fiction show Jiya Jale.

    Are you looking at producing regional content as well?
    We are looking at a couple of assocations down South. Synergy Adlabs has taken a strategic stake in Chennai-based production house Shri Om Comtech, which will serve as our hub for producing Tamil content, to begin with.

    Which shows are you producing on the regional front?
    Post our association with Shri Om Comtech, we already have two daily shows on air on Kalaignar TV. One is Manjal Mahime at 8:30 pm, while the other one is Akkatangai in the afternoon at 1:30 pm. Both the shows are doing well.

    In the coming days, we are also looking to produce regional content in languages for Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada. But we have done regional content before as well. That was before the Adlabs association. It was a cricket-based quiz show called Howzzat which aired on Tara. But then again, regional content is our secondary market. Hindi GEC programming still remains our primary interest.

    Will Synergy Adlabs make inroads into films and animated content?
    We are currently focused only on television. But we’re going to go deeper into providing dubbing services, creating promos and formats.

    How would you describe the existing equation between content providers and broadcasters?
    Till now, it’s been a very one sided relationship and the plea from broadcasters has been that you operate under slender margin of profits and be happy about it.

    There has been lack of accountability on key creative and programming decisions on many occasions. Often you have proxy producers and creative directors, who are arbitrary and unaccountable and it becomes a ridiculous situation.

    We fortunately have had cordial relationships with broadcasters, but that has been the generic equation between the channel and production house. They retain the IPR and we work on a commissioned basis. We are hoping to see that equation change and settle down into something that benefits both parties.

    With the huge demand for content coming from the existing and upcoming channels, how do you see the relationship evolve between the content providers and the broadcasters?
    I think content producers have a wonderful opportunity now by not only creating content for the new players but also for the existing players. We will now have to generate more, produce better and produce it on better terms. When I say better terms, I don’t just mean better financial terms, but with better control over the content. There is ownership of the formats we as content producers own and create and in our case, we are looking at associations and relationship, not only as a job shop where a network merely uses a content producer on a work-for-hire basis. Hopefully, you should see production houses literally work as producers, maybe get into a revenue sharing arrangement, or establish their presence as a production partner. And that’s the kind of association we are seeking.

    Which broadcasters have you really enjoyed working with?
    We’ve had a good working relationship with almost all broadcasters – Star, Sony and now even Sahara’s Filmy.

    Any shows that you’re doing for Zee?
    No shows for Zee at the moment.

    Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) really took Star Plus up the ratings ladder. Ironically, the channel, it seems needs another KBC to make it regain its lost audience share to Zee.
    I think shows like KBC and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa work as tent poles, since they lift the overall audience share. Indian Idol did something similar for Sony. So there are several non-fiction shows which act like that. But to really lift a channel, you need all kinds of programmes and a variety in programming, which creates a bandwagon effect.

    You have been largely associated with quiz-based shows. Until last year you worked on Jhalak Dikhla Jaa, which is a celebrity-dance show. What prompted the foray into this genre?
    We’ve been best recognized for our format shows. But it was always a desire to do a variety of genres. Today, we as a production house are looking to specialize in all genres – of which talent shows are one. We are also handling a couple of fiction projects. The motive will be to associate with every genre thoroughly and professionally. We somehow got linked to the quiz-based shows.
    ‘Till now, it’s been a very one sided relationship between content providers and broadcasters. We are hoping to see that equation change‘

    There were a number of quiz based shows that followed Kaun Banega Crorepati, none of which could replicate it’s success. Why do you think quiz-format shows have dried up now?
    I think it depends upon what the format is. In one sense, for some formats, the audience base is becoming much larger and on the other hand, some shows make it even more fragmented. So certain formats will appeal across segments and communities, like KBC did. That was a sort of tent pole effect it created.

    But as it happens in films and television, there were attempts made to replicate the format in some way or the other and they did not work. Some shows work, some don’t. It’s not necessarily the format that is to be blame. But we hope to tap popular genres for wider appeal. Bollywood Ka Boss is one such show – it’s a film based quiz show and we hope that it will catch up. At the end of the day, a show has to have a specialized audience.
    How much has KBC changed the profile of your company?
    The profile, I believe, changes with every new show that we do. With Jhalak Dikhla Jaa, the question mark transformed into an exclamation mark. A quiz master had now put on his dancing shoes. We are known for our thorough backend technological setup for the execution of television programming, a certain quality of content and class of presentation. That is the benchmark we will take to any genre we work upon.

    We have seen different phases in the Indian television scene. There was the time ofHum Log, Buniyaad and Mahabharat. Then there were the soaps which continue even today. Now reality TV and talent hunts have become popular. How do you view this change?
    I think Indian television is at the cusp of change. We’re still seeing the dominance of ultra-traditional soaps – a dulhan is titled bahu in one and lakshmi or a beti in another soap and there’s the saas that comes along as well (laughs). So we are becoming a nation of weepy family soaps.
    Which direction is Indian television moving in? Any genres of programming that are still missing?
    I don’t think it’s moving in one direction. I think we are still in an adolescent phase. The range within which we have been operating is still very limited. This is something that will now start finding definition. We are still a very amateur television watching community. We’ve been used to Doordarshan, which created a sort of a monoculture. Surprisingly we had a lot of variety then within those one or two channels of the public broadcaster, than we do now.

    The reason why I see the change coming is because broadcasters are actively seeking things that differentiate and mark them out. There are still so many genres that are waiting to be tapped – comedy in the form of sitcoms is something that’s missing.

    Do you see more of localization coming in?
    Definitely. I think Indian television will get intensely local. People with the raw, strong local cultures and flavours will see rapid growth. And these are audiences who are not looking at the Hindi GECs and English channels. Regional channels are more dynamic and they will experience a strong following. The storylines and concepts adopted by the regional channels are often more liberated and open-minded than the ultra-modern, regressive approach adopted by Hindi GEC programmes. Some trends will be borrowed across both genres of channels as a cross fertilization process.

    It is said that interactive TV is the key driver to the future of television programming?
    Interactivity of programming is important and they will drive key shows, but fatigues will set in after a point of time. Audiences will want to participate – maybe vote, for a dancer, a singer they really like. But you cannot build an entire programming strategy around that.

    What kind of associations or affiliations are you looking to build up internationally?
    We are looking to forge associations with various format owners and not merely confine ourselves to one. We have worked in the past with Endemol and even on Bluffmaster, but then how many of our broadcasters are keen on format shows? Very few.

    Why is that?
    Several factors account for it. It’s the cost, the complications, restrictions, adaptability and also the format that must deliver for them. In many ways, the Indian market is responsible for it. Here Thums Up outsells Coke, so you can’t have a McDonalds outsell the existing local delights. You cannot transplant a certain experience already tried in one country and hope that it will work. It’s a cautious decision. India is the only country in the world where Dancing with the Stars is Indianised, indigenised with the rules as well. So the challenges of cultural adaptability in India are tremendous.

    What are your views on the existing audience measurement practices?
    I think our advertisers and broadcasters are too heavily dependant on it. And I don’t think that’s a rational approach and I question it. Look at the number of SMS votes the talent hunt shows receive…they run into several lakhs. And the existing rating system merely confines itself to seven thousand boxes. So it’s far from a perfect system. And in a heterogenous demographic for a country like ours, the measuring system is full of ifs and buts.

    Okay. When are you getting back to hosting a show?
    Me as a host? No. I’ve never really fancied myself much in front of the camera. I’ve always liked to be involved in the conceptualization and execution of programming. I know the kind of effort that goes into it and there is enormous amount of satisfaction in putting a certain piece of communication together.

    How did you narrow down upon Boman Irani as a host for Bollywood Ka Boss?
    Boman is a fantastic host on stage. He’s also a national Bollywood buff. He can sing, joke, dance, do impersonations and can really perform. Having said that, it was the channel (Filmy) which really circled on him and was game for it. And I went along. Even the format of the show was something they were very keen on. The show aims to find the best informed person in the world of Bollywood.

    When is KBC back for its next season?
    Sometime next year. And Shah Rukh Khan’s hosting it. The agenda is different everytime. In KBC 2, it was about conquering the weekends. In KBC 3 it was about strengthening the 9-10 pm slot. You never know what they decide upon this time. Would you believe, once upon a time the Sunday 9-10 am slot was the most sought after slot since it aired Mahabharata!
  • ‘The game development and design visualisation markets have grown the quickest for us’ : Rob Hoffman- Autodesk Global product marketing manager media and entertainment division

    ‘The game development and design visualisation markets have grown the quickest for us’ : Rob Hoffman- Autodesk Global product marketing manager media and entertainment division

    Autodesk which manufactures software technologies for the media and entertainment industry as one of its major activities, is looking to grow the business in India.

     

    Realising that a lot of production facilities in the US are doing their film, TV and gaming work from India, the company is keen to aggressively tap this market segment.

     

    Indiantelevision.com’s Ashwin Pinto caught up with Autodesk Global product marketing manager media and entertainment division Rob Hoffman to find out more on how the firm’s software is helping the media industry.

     

    Excerpts:

    For a software solutions company catering to manufacturing, building and construction, how much of revenue does the media and entertainment segment contribute?
    The 3D entertainment space is a sizeable business for Autodesk. Our core areas have always been R&D and designing products like Autocast. We cover the areas of film, television, game development and design visualisation.

     

    For us, the game development and design visualisation markets have grown the quickest. You now have next generation gaming consoles like Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo. There is a huge demand for game titles.

    Could you shed light on how your solutions accelerate collaborative digital content creation workflow?
    We have 3Ds Max 2008 and Maya 2008. We have done a lot of work to accelerate the creative work that our clients do. We do this in two ways. We have worked on the two softwares so that they perform much faster on the new generation of hardware – whether they be multicore or multiprocessor workstations, latest operating systems or graphics cardsware.

     

    We are trying to take advantage of new technologies coming out and take advantage of the speed these technologies give our software. We have also done a lot of work with the user interface and the workflows of both our softwares. The aim is that artists complete their projects much faster. Something that takes six steps to complete in the past we have managed to reduce to three steps.

     

    This is a very important goal for us as it represents time savings for the artist. Modelling and animation type features have helped us achieve this. Our aim is to enable clients achieve their tasks with much more efficient tools.

    In what manner have your products been used to enhance films?
    Our 3D products are used extensively on films like Pirates Of The Caribbean, Shrek, Spiderman. Maya has been used a lot here. It has been an extensible software from the standpoint that production facilities and artists are able to enhance the software or extend its capabilities through different kinds of scripting. The software also has rich features in animation, modelling and the ability to create different types of visual effects.

    You mentioned gaming as growing the quickest. What is the work being done here?
    We work closely with the large game facilities globally to find out what challenges they face and then we try to address that within our software. We have added games specific features and functionality in the 2008 releases of our software.

    Could you shed more light on how the two products have been enhanced?
    With Maya one of the big things that artists and production facilities have been telling us is that they needed the product to run faster not just on existing hardware but also on new hardware.

     

    They also need the artists to work faster on the software in terms of the graphic user interface and the workflow. We have done work on modelling capabilities. We have enhanced the functionality of features that artists are used to.

     

    We have also done a lot of work on performance. So we have done a lot of work to take advantage of either a single core or a multicore workstation. We have rewritten a lot of the software algorithms to make it inherently faster.

     

    The Maya Mesh Smooth workflow, for instance, has been dramatically streamlined. You can now preview a smoothed mesh while editing the mesh cage – with a strong performance, particularly on multiprocessor workstations. Other much-requested workflow enhancements include the ability to position objects along a curve, replace objects within a scene, and convert instances to objects.

     

    To make it more effective on game consoles we have a new hardware shader API. With Maya clients can effectively create and display sophisticated looks for content destined for the next-generation game consoles. In particular, native support for DirectX HLSL shaders in addition to the existing CgFX support lets clients work with assets in the viewport and see them as they will be seen on the target console. Artists get better representation of the content they are creating using Maya. They don’t have to continuously go back and forth between Maya and the game engine.

     

    We have also done work on character animation. We have new rigging and skinning capabilities. We have got new non-destructive skin editing capabilities. The animator can now add more bones to an arm without disturbing the surface object. Maya also supports a large number of operating systems from Windows to Linux. We now also support Windows Vista 32 and 64
    bit.

    What about 3Ds Max?
    For 3Ds Max we have worked on the viewing of a large, complex scene. It has been known to work with large amounts of data. Artists can have a character with several million polygons. The performance is really good. The issue was that if the artist had tens of thousands of objects with millions of polygons the performance would be slow.

     

    We have worked on 3DS Max so that the artists will get the same performance with several objects that they would get working with one object.

     

    It is about being faster and working with larger amounts of data. Our aim is to allow the artist to focus on the art itself as opposed to focussing on the tools and spending time trying to find out how to use them. Our product also allows artists to get a better representation within the interactive environment. Clients also do not have to go through a trial and error process.

     

    We have done a lot of work on the pipeline. A lot of artists have used scripting as a way to automate or enhance 3Ds Max. We have made the software become more intuitive for artists who are not as technically savvy. This way the scripting capabilities are opened up for artists who traditionally would not have used it in the past.

    What advantages does Autodesk provide vis-?-vis the competition?
    Our products are industry standard software. So there are more people trained on our software. This is because our software is used widely. Artists can get a job more easily if they know how to use our software. We also spend heavily on education. We invest in building an education curriculum for schools.

     

    We also print our own learning tools. We have DVDs. We do community work as well. We have a community website where artists can come and share ideas. Since Autodesk is a big and stable company it allows to invest in supporting software development or customer service or technical assistance.
    ‘Due to education programmes we are seeing the number of artists grow rapidly in India. We see India as a market that has come in and will help out the rest of the world create content‘

    What potential do you see in India for growing the business?
    The potential is great. Right now you are seeing more work being done in India not just to create local content but also for the global market. A large number of talented artists can be found in India. So a lot of production facilities in the US are doing their film, TV and games work from India.

     

    Due to education programmes we are seeing the number of artists grow rapidly in India. We see India as a market that has come in and will help out the rest of the world create content.

    How many Indian clients do you have and what is the strategy being followed to grow the business here?
    We have a huge number of artists using our software. It is growing daily. We are doing different types of awareness activities. We will be conducting roadshows across the country. We will have super user events where we will bring customers from large production facilities like Industrial Light and Magic. People will talk about projects like Pirates Of the Caribbean.

     

    A lot of development work for our software has been done in India. As far as partnering with Indian software firms to enhance our offerings, this is something we will always look into. It is a question of whether or not it makes sense at a certain time to do so.

    Globally who are some of your major clients and what have been the key learnings working with them?
    We have clients throughout the world. Some of them are Planet Digital in New Zealand, Industrial Light and Magic, Disney, Dreamworks in the US, The Moving Picture Company in Europe. These firms really push the capabilities of the software. So we constantly learn about their requirements and challenges.

     

    They do things never done before. It is about learning where the industry is going and what are the issues that will come up.

    What are some of these issues?
    There are two challenges right now. The first one is that there is a need for talented artists. If an artist has talent, any job they want can be done with any production facility in the world. This is why we work on education initiatives. We do a lot of work on learning tools and work with schools and universities.

     

    The other challenge is that the entertainment industry’s work is getting more complex. Films like Lord Of The Rings mean that viewers expect to see bigger and more beautiful effects. So production facilities have to constantly outdo themselves. In television we are moving from standard definition to high definition.

     

    The themes and characters are more complex. On the games front, the amount of data the consoles can handle is larger than the amount of content that the companies had to deal with in the past. Can software work with these large amounts of data in an efficient manner? That is what clients look for.

     

    With the transition from standard to high definition in television, there is a need for new software capabilities. For those working in traditional broadcasting they have to now adopt a more film like production process. The data complexity that they work with is starting to come close to film.

     

    The other issue that they run into is that although they are working with more complex data, their budgets are much smaller compared to film. The timelines to finish the production are much shorter. Our aim has been to see that artists get high quality of work in a less amount of time. Our software has been used in commercials, interviews as well as episodic TV shows.

    Could you talk about Autodesk’s R&D facilities?
    For 3Ds Max we have development facilities in Montreal, and Toronto. We have development groups working on the software. We also have a pure science group that works on new technologies. They work on different ways to approach problems.

     

    The other thing to remember is that when we develop software, we work closely with the production facilities using them. We use their knowledge to help our developers create better software. Production facilities give us their perspective and ideas on how we can better serve them.

    What role does the Autodesk reseller network play in expanding your presence globally?
    They play an important role globally for us. They are the ones who work and talk with our customers on a day to day basis. We have a close relationship with our resellers throughout the world.

     

    Resellers give us feedback on customer’s opinions. We also ensure that our resellers are knowledgeable and skilled. They have to be familiar with the industry they are addressing.
    What is Autodesk University?
    This is a networking event held annually. As of now, we only hold it in the US. This year it will be in Las Vegas. The event allows us to better understand the requirements of clients.

  • Content code draft submitted to NBA

    NEW DELHI: The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has received the draft code of conduct from the member who had been entrusted with the job, and are going to take legal counsel on the issue soon, sources said.

    Times Now editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami sent the draft code to the NBA yesterday, and after the process of legal opinion taking is over, the draft would be sent to all the members of the association for their study and a discussion to finalise the Code some time later, and there has been no deadline fixed for that so far.

    Sources however said that the NBA would not push the deadline too far, as it is keen to submit the code to the I&B ministry.

    The real problem is getting most of the other channels not based in Delhi or Mumbai to give their inputs, as the NBA leadership would like to broaden the base of the organisation as well as support for the draft code of content, so that the government is not able to dismiss it as the will of a handful of journalists.

    “There is need to make this a national consensus, and hopefully we shall be able to do that, as we are keen on this,” a source in the news TV industry told Indiantelevision.com.

    The code is a response to the ministry wanting to foist a code of conduct on the news channels, which the latter have slammed as an infringement of the right to freedom of speech and expression.

    In fact, the government had promised to redraft the original code it had issued for consultation, and said it would keep a minimalist approach.

    Despite that, in a meeting with the minister last month, the news broadcasters had refused to have anything to do with a government created code.

    The key aspects of the code drafted by the NBA – though no details are being divulged about the actual content – are sting operations, privacy, decency and measures to be taken against an errant channel.

    Issues as to how far is too far, and what to do with a situation like the one in which a news channel repeatedly aired the footage of a former film starlet bathing in the nude inside a jail bathroom, will be central to the concerns of the NBA code, as it had told the government that the industry was mature enough, just a few days before this scene was aired on TV.

    “We have the concerns of the government relating to cultural values in mind, as the government is as Indian as we are and share the same values, but we want only self-governance, not government gagging of the media,” a senior editor told Indiantelevision.com.

    Meanwhile the entire issue of Broadcast Bill and hence the government drafted code has been put on the back burner, seemingly for an indefinite time, as the PMO does not want the media upset to the extent it had become, especially with some critical elections coming round the corner.

  • ‘Convert pirate users into paying consumers & gaming industry will be worth Rs 3 billion’ : Vishal Gondal – Indiagames founder

    ‘Convert pirate users into paying consumers & gaming industry will be worth Rs 3 billion’ : Vishal Gondal – Indiagames founder

     Gaming firm Indiagames is on the move. It recently came back into the online gaming space with its Games on Demand concept. UTV also took a majority stake in the company. Indiantelevision.com's Ashwin Pinto caught up with Indiagames founder Vishal Gondal to find out how the company has evolved and the plans ahead.

    Excerpts:

    How has your business model evolved over the years?
    We started off as an online games company. We did free flash games where money came from advertising. However, we found that it was not scalable and limited. So we took a call to move out of online gaming and into the services business.

    Then we saw the opportunities in mobile gaming and so we became a developer and then a publisher of mobile games. Last year we returned to online gaming with a new strategy games on demand. We have a subscription based gaming service. Users can play unlimited games for a flat fee.

    Right now we are at a time when gaming is starting to take off in India. How do you see the gaming space faring vis-a-vis traditional entertainment like TV, films?
    Globally gaming is bigger than film. In the US, it is bigger than Hollywood. The same thing will happen in India eventually. In every mature market where it has spread it has done that – like Korea, China. India has a lot of young people who do not watch 'Saas Bahu soaps.

    They are not as much into current television, which is dominated by the housewives. I am not saying that this segment is bad. However going forward more people will get into interactive entertainment. Gaming is part of this, along with activities like Second Life. More and more people will take to the virtual world.

    What would you say is the main challenge gaming faces
    in India?
    The problem in India is not that people don't game. The problem is that people buy pirated games. Nobody was paying for legal games. Indiagames is trying to build an eco system where price points are such that the consumer does not want to pirate anymore.

    If we are able to convert the pirate users into paying consumers, that alone will make the gaming industry worth Rs 3 billion.
    'We are about to launch a Godzilla game; we are about to release a cricket Twenty20 game'

    What kind of price points are you looking at?
    To give you an example; for the games on demand service we offer unlimited games for Rs 200. Today when you pay Rs 150 for cable TV, do you want to buy pirated tapes of TV content? Our logic is the same. When consumers can get all games for Rs 200 why would you buy pirated games for Rs 100?

    Who are your partners for games on demand?
    We have partnered with pretty much all the major gaming publishers in the world for content. So we have distribution deals with firms like Popcap, Atari, Activision, Codemaster Playfirst. We also have a tie up with MTNL, Sify, among other platforms. We also work with Qualcomm, Microsoft to make sure that our games are cutting edge.

    UTV recently bought a majority stake in Indiagames.
    What synergies do you see here?
    UTV is an integrated entertainment firm. If you see what Ronnie is doing, he is building a business that encompasses the entire gamut of entertainment from TV, to films, to online entertainment. So the UTV deal allows us to be a part of the bigger picture. Bindass is UTV's effort tap into the youth. The youth want gaming and so we will work with Bindass to see how we can integrate gaming with their offerings.

    UTV also has a stake in Ignition, which is a console game publisher. Between Ignition and us we have capabilities across all platforms. We will be looking at how we can exploit IP into the console space and vice versa. UTV will also create IP in the form of movies and TV shows. So we can adapt some of these into games, which we then market.

    Are we going to see more tie ups like this as traditional entertainment firms seek to broaden their horizons?
    The Indian film and media industry are getting more professional. They are also converging a lot. Previously, the film industry was a different silo, the broadcasting sector was a different silo the net industry was a different silo.

    However Fox buying MySpace triggered off a chain of events where media firms want to have their share of the pie in every segment to boost customer interaction. So if customers are increasing their time spent on the internet, mobile then for traditional media firms who are in TV or print it is a natural progression for them to look at exploiting the other screens too.

    You will see more corporate deals. Traditional media firms realise that it is difficult to build a new media business from scratch. It is better to buy such businesses from market leaders in their respective fields. Adobe and Cisco also have a stake in Indiagames.

    What targets have been set by Indiagames in terms of market share?
    It is too early to talk about revenue targets. On the market share front on the mobile side we enjoy upwards of 50-60 per cent share. On the online front we are the only firm to offer games on demand service. The other players are trying to sell MMOPGs which is a niche segment. It is early to say if there is competition online as the market is new.

    What have been some of your biggest properties so far
    and what have you learnt from their success?
    We have worked on properties like Bruce Lee, Jurassic Park, Rush Hour 3. In India, we also distribute content from the likes of Electronic Arts, Fifa, Batman, Transformers.

    It is important to work on the right kind of property. You cannot take any movie or any story or any character and convert it into a game. The brand has to lend itself to gaming. In the past games have come out of family drama. However cricket, action, sports games work better than love stories.

    Which are your five big markets globally and how many
    partners do you have?
    We have 150 partners globally, Our key markets are the US, Australia, Japan, Europe and India. We have offices in London, Los Angeles, Beijing, Mumbai. These are the core hubs where we do business from. We recently set up an office in Madrid, Spain to cover Southern Europe.
    What would you say is the main difference between
    developing games for the internet and for the mobile?
    The screen size is the first major difference. Attention spans differ. For the mobile you design a game for someone on the move. His time with a game is limited. He/she also has limited access to 10 different keys. Online people tend to spend more time on a game. The control is wider.
     
    When you work with a firm like NBC how much of a
    collaborative process is it?
    It is very collaborative. We have to work with the production team, share creative ideas with them. We have to get approval for game concepts. We work together to exploit the complete commercial value of the property.
     
    Could you shed light on the relationship between gaming and social networking?
    Gaming was the first social network. If you look at xBox Live you see gamers wanting to connect with other gamers. This is how social networking was born. After that social networking was adapted to other common interests. We have had social networking since the first multi player games came up.
     
    Where does Indiagames get creative ideas for new games from?
    We have a team that brainstorms on creative ideas. We have to see whether properties are relevant in different markets. You do not want to have a situation where a property is only well known in one market. So we have to do research to find out whether people in the US, Australia, Europe, India know about the property. If it is less or more in one country then what is the extent? Our business is about taking calculated bets.
     
    From a client viewpoint what does Indiagames bring to the table vis-a-vis the competition?
    People know that India is good for technical execution. India has been looked at as an outsourcing base. We have changed this perception. We were the first firm to start licensing games from India. Nobody in the world thought that Indian firms could go the publishing route. Our first success was Spiderman which we worked on with Marvel. We proved that we could not only produce quality stuff in India but that we could market the same globally.
     
    Going forward are you looking to sign long term deals with entertainment conglomerates like NBC Universal for games or will it still be on a project to project basis?
    It is better to work on a project to project basis as all projects that they do may not be relevant for us and vice versa. I don't know if this will change in the future but as of now we work on a case by case basis.
     
    What are the major projects Indiagames is now working on?
    We are about to launch a Godzilla game. We are about to release a cricket Twenty20 game.
     
    Do you think that game developers in India have an advantage in terms of being able to learn from the experience of mature markets like Korea?
    There is always an advantage in being able to learn from different markets. At the same time each market has its own nuances and challenges. It is important not to just blindly follow what a country like Korea is doing as there are cultural issues and local intelligence.

    Indian preferences for games tend to lean more towards the West than the East. Indians play games like Counter Strike, Fifa, need For Speed. China and Korea on the other hand have a lot of massive multiplayer online gaming.
    How important is organising on ground events for you?
    Very! We have been doing the Cybergame championships for sometime now. We are working with the CII and the government to see if T-Sports and gaming can be recognised professionally as a sport. It should be given equal status as any other sport. We have the Indian national champions who will be going to Seattle to compete in the Cybergame Championships. We also organised an India versus Pakistan event where Kapil Dev was the chief guest. They played various games like Counter Strike.
     
    Finally where do you see Indiagames five years from now?
    Right now we are leading in the mobile space. Five years from now I see Indiagames leading in all gaming spaces.