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Tag: Vishal Gondal

  • BAFTA reveals names of latest industry supporters for BAFTA Breakthrough in India

    BAFTA reveals names of latest industry supporters for BAFTA Breakthrough in India

    Mumbai: The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) on Tuesday announced award-winning film producer and BAFTA nominee Guneet Monga, acclaimed CEO and gaming entrepreneur Vishal Gondal and award-winning and celebrated actor Ratna Pathak Shah as industry supporters for the BAFTA Breakthrough programme, supported by Netflix. As credible experts, Monga, Gondal, and Shah will offer their professional expertise to participants on the programme across film, games, and television.

    As industry supporters representing their respective crafts, they will help BAFTA navigate India’s diverse and creative talent pool as well as educate audiences about BAFTA’s charitable remit; increasing global opportunities for people to pursue careers in the arts. BAFTA’s Breakthrough initiative in India is authentically amplified by Monga, Gondal and Shah, inviting more talent to apply.

    BAFTA Breakthrough aims to celebrate Indian talent by offering a bespoke programme of support – helping participants develop knowledge about the industry, develop their craft, address barriers to progression, and network globally with people who can influence their careers.

    “India has been one of the world’s fascinating centres of storytelling, and the heritage of Indian cinema is unparalleled. As the rising talent and fresh voices long to tell their untold stories, the BAFTA Breakthrough programme aims to offer tremendous support and a global stage to this raw talent,” stated film producer and Sikhya Entertainment founder and CEO Guneet Monga. “It is an honour to be working with this ground-breaking initiative, and I look forward to worthwhile talent from the Indian film community receiving the right honing from an academy of this stature.”  

    “BAFTA Breakthrough is one of the unique worldwide art initiatives to work across films, television and games. It is truly exciting to be associated with a programme that seeks to bring together and support the raw Indian talent working in the games industry,” said GOQii founder and CEO Vishal Gondal. “The programme offers a prolific experience to the ‘breakthroughs’ that can enhance their career trajectory through a network and development approach. By introducing them to industry experts and offering them the opportunity to upskill themselves, the initiative gives them recognition in their respective industries, worldwide.”

    “BAFTA Breakthrough India is a unique, ‘breakthrough’ opportunity for practitioners of the screen arts to be supported by the world-renowned organisation,” said acclaimed actor Ratna Pathak Shah. “I am elated to be working with a programme that will help amplify our country’s brilliant new voices and emerging talent across genres in television, and offer them learning, networking and growth opportunities on a global level.”

  • The Mumbai Marathon lures media professionals

    The Mumbai Marathon lures media professionals

    MUMBAI: The 2014 edition of the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon drew media professionals like a fish to water. A  whole bunch of executive right from broadcast to media agencies to marketers to advertising professionals donned their sports shoes, and pinned their numbers to their T-shirts, and pounded the streets as they joined 40,000 other runners to test either the Dream Run, the half marathon or the entire distance.

     

    Among those who woke themselves early on 19 January included: Meenakshi Menon (she and 10 others ran for an NGO Vanashakti), Suki Dusanj, Times Television Network CEO Sunil Lulla, former Indiagames CEO Vishal Gondal, Mindshare’s Jai Lala, Vizeum India head S. Yesudas, Sahara group’s Kailashnath Koppikar, Sapna Bhavnani, MindShare’s Rajit Desai, Sony Entertainment’s Deep Drona, Star India’s  Kevin Vaz, Lashmi Narasimham, Bharat Kapadia, Mindshare’s Amin Lakhani, Paritosh Joshi, HDFC Life’s marketing head Sanjay Tripathy, CNBC TV18 marketing head Suranjana Ghosh Aikara.

     

    Some of them ran for charity; some to challenge themselves. Their facebook accounts and twitter posts were replete  with their individual experiences and how they bettered their previous best times. Or how they braved aches and pains to complete the course they had set for themselves.

     

    Rajit Desai completed his first half marathon in 2 hours 47 minutes, a feat which he felt was not spectacular, but “satisfying for a debut.” Jain Lala wore the number 34377 on his jersey and had all his colleagues and friends going ga-ga over him. Sony’s Deep Drona ran his half marathon in 2 hours 4 minutes and 9 seconds. Said he: “Bettered last year by 2 mins. Great result compared to the work put in this year.”

     

    Viacom18 Pictures Ajit Andhare ran with his friends from the times of his GE days and also to promote the studios upcoming Abhay Deol film. Yesudas hit the  asphalt for the half marathon, adding to the tally of long distance races he has participated in. Entertainment Network India Ltd (ENIL – Radio Mirchi) CEO Prashant Panday completed his half marathon in 1 hour 53 minutes, which is by all standards a good time for a non-professional runner.

     

    Media industry veteran and now marketing consultant Bharat Kapadia says he ran his seventh consecutive half marathon and completed it in 2 hours 17 minutes.

    Viacom18 Media group CEO Sudhanshu Vats, on his part, ran the full marathon in a classy time of just under four hours. 

    Times TV’s Sunil Lulla did well too. Said he: ” Mumbai Half Marathon, 2014. My first and I am grateful to complete it in. 1 hr: 54 mins: 29 sec , ranking 650 overall and 78 in Veteran. I pledged a healthy sum of money to CMCA, and am glad I could deliver on my promise. Thank You.”

     

  • ‘The Pitch’ season 3 kicks off tomorrow

    ‘The Pitch’ season 3 kicks off tomorrow

    MUMBAI: After seeing two successful seasons of ‘The Pitch’, the third season is back with its set of ten entrepreneurs. About 5000 entries were received which finally boiled down to ten. The entries were selected by jury members- Mahesh Murty, Vishal Gondal and Neeraj Roy.

    Presented by Reliance Commercial Finance and powered by Hyundai, the show which kicks off tomorrow (27 September) will be aired at 10: 30 pm on Fridays. Big Daddy Productions are the concept partners. The winner will receive up to Rs five crore from Seedfund as a push to his venture. This amount is decided by the investors depending on the requirements of the business.

    The format this year has been slightly changed. According to a UTV official the past two seasons saw a huge number of entries from the entrepreneurs who had already started their ventures and were looking for funds to grow their businesses. The channel discussed this with the Seedfund team and a joint decision was taken to focus on entrepreneurs with existing businesses.

    This year, the contestants are established entrepreneurs who will compete to win the prize money that will assist their project. Some of them include CvBhejo.com founder Nilesh Tayal that helps recruit local talent for local jobs, Pandurang Taware who set up agriculture tourism and Sudeepa Sanyal who found The Blueberry Trail to help people travel to offbeat locations.

  • The Pitch season 3 search for the top 10 begins

    The Pitch season 3 search for the top 10 begins

    MUMBAI: Bloomberg TV India, the nation’s premier English business news channel’s third season of THE PITCH moves into its second phase. The first phase, which was a nationwide call-for-entries, saw the channel receive close to 5000 entries.

     

    Subsequently the jury, comprising of successful entrepreneurs Mahesh Murthy, Vishal Gondal and Neeraj Roy, have identified the top 25 contenders. These 25 contenders will present their Elevator Pitches to the Jury for a place in the TOP 10 of THE PITCH Season 3. The Jury will evaluate these aspirants on the brilliance of their business pitches and their individual excellence.

     

    Starting 6th September, Bloomberg TV India will exclusively telecast THE PITCH Season 3 at 10.30 pm on Fridays and 5.00 pm on Sundays.

     

    The final 10 contestants will face challenges thrown to them by some of India’s most prominent new age entrepreneurs each week. In every episode, an entrepreneur will assign tasks to the participants. The tasks will challenge the aspirants on the most critical skills required to be a successful entrepreneur and by eliminating the weakest performer, narrow down to the most competent and deserving aspirant who goes on to receive the funding of up to Rs. 5 crore from Seedfund.

     

    The Pitch Season 3 is presented by Reliance Commercial Finance and powered by Hyundai. Big Daddy Productions are the concept partners for The Pitch. The show will be supported by a 360 degree marketing campaign spread across Television, Outdoor, Print, OOH, Online, Mobile, Radio, Multiplex, Retail, Restaurants, Malls, etc

  • App monetisation remains a challenge

    App monetisation remains a challenge

    MUMBAI: App monetisation remains a challenge in India, experts at Ficci Frames 2013 said here today, while outlining factors that could trigger growth in the sector.

    An important change is the explosion of connected devices which could transform India from being the largest consumer market for apps to also one of the largest revenue generators.

    “What will help the app market is the fact that phones are getting cheaper and the technology is getting better. Mobile will be a game changer from a data perspective,” said DisneyUTV MD Digital Vishal Gondal.

    With advertising being the main business model, monestisation is a challenge. There is also the issue of operators taking away 70 per cent of revenue. "Vodafone changed this by taking only 30 per cent and giving the rest to the app developer," Gondal stated.

    Oovoo.com CEO Jay Alan Samit feels that voice calls will go the way of the fax machine and become extinct. "People today prefer sending text messages. If it is somebody they love and care about, then they will use video," he said.

    Samit also noted that apps are viral and can come from anywhere. Angry Birds, for instance, comes from Finland. "Also celebrities will use apps if they connect people. This was seen during the Oscar awards where stars like Hugh Jackman used apps to reach out to fans," he averred.

    India has a base of 2.5 million app developers. "This gives us strength. Our plan is to ensure that an app is present regardless of whether a user has a smartphone or a feature phone," said Nokia India marketing director Viral Oza.

    But what are the challenges the app market faces in India? The absence of a venture funding system for apps is surely one major deterrent. The other challenge is that innovations in the user interface are not happening outside of the US, Samit said.

    The fact is that many users discard an app after using them just once. Oza touched on the importance of app quality. Nokia, for instance, has a filtering system before an app is put on the Nokia Store. "About 50 per cent of apps downloaded in India are from a Nokia store. This shows that apps have quality as well as stickiness,” he said.

  • ‘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.
  • UTV buys Indiagames, Ignition Entertainment for Rs 1.28 billion

    UTV buys Indiagames, Ignition Entertainment for Rs 1.28 billion

    MUMBAI: UTV Software Communications Ltd. is making a foray into gaming by acquiring controlling stakes in UK-based Ignition Entertainment and Indiagames for a total for Rs 1.28 billion.

    While UTV will pay Indiagames, a mobile and broadband gaming company, Rs 680 million, the acquisition of 70 per cent in Ignition Entertainment will cost Rs 600 million. Ignition Entertainment is a console gaming company with an annual revenue of around $15 million.

    “We presently create, develop and aggregate content for TV, movies and animation. With an objective to create content across all entertainment platforms, the company has ventured into gaming. This will give us exposure to the rapidly growing mobile, PC and console gaming industry,” UTV said in a release.

    Indiagames CEO and founder Vishal Gondal will continue to head the company and evolve synergies with other UTV businesses in the creation of cutting-edge games. The company reported annual revenues of around $5 million for the last fiscal and has an employee strength of 270 people. “Post transaction the shareholders of the company will include Cisco Systems, Adobe Inc. and Management. IG is presently involved with mobile game development, publishing and distribution across 67 countries through 80 telecom partners like Vodafone, Verizon, Hutch and Airtel. Its latest venture into PC games distributed online through broadband ISPs like BSNL, MTNL, Airtel and Tata VSNL amongst others is expected to be a major value driver,” the release said.

    The acquisition of Ignition Entertainment will bring to the table relationships with hardware manufacturers, game developers and distributors such as Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, SNK, Konami, Atari, Virgin and Wal Mart. “Ignition is presently developing a top end game ‘WarDevil’ budgeted at around 10 million pounds and is expected to release it in the year 2008 exclusively on the Sony Playstation3(tm) (PS3) platform. PS3 was launched in November 2006 in Japan and the US and it is expected to sell more than 30 million units by the end of 2008,” UTV said.

    UTV plans to invest Rs 1.35 billion in the development of animation movies over the next three years. “Simi Nallaseth, one of the key animators of the international smash-hit animation movie Ice Age is developing one of the productions. Arnab Chaudhury, former Head of Channel [V] and Creative Director of Turner International (Asia), will be working on another project. We are now in the scripting stage of our CG animation production with Will Smith’s Overbrook,” UTV said.

    UTV’s scrip, however, fell 4.83 per cent on the BSE, closing the day at Rs 263.95.

  • Indiagames launches Games on Demand cyber cafe partnership program

    Indiagames launches Games on Demand cyber cafe partnership program

    MUMBAI: Indiagames has announced the launch of its Games on Demand partnership program for Cyber Cafes. This initiative from Indiagames will help over 100,000 private internet cafes in India compete with organised players in the market.

    Says Indiagames founder & CEO Vishal Gondal, “Besides broadband subscribers and home PC users, there is a large percentage of people in India who access the internet through internet cafes. With the launch of the Games on Demand Cyber Café Program, we hope to take a world class gaming experience to the masses.”

    When it comes to gaming in India, there are a host of issues like software piracy and the high prices of gaming software. Games on Demand is a unique offering that aims to successfully address all these issues. In addition to access to licensed original games, the Games on Demand service will prove to be a new source of income, as well as a great customer retention and loyalty tool for internet cafes, states an official release.

    Games-on-Demand is a unique service which enables a user to choose and play from a catalogue of over 300 games without ever needing to purchase or install them on the local PC. Games on Demand features popular international games like Age of Empires II, Brian Lara’s Cricket, IGI 2 Covert Strike and Toca Race Driver 2 amongst others. New games will be added every month thus offering consumers something to look forward to, the release adds.

    Games on Demand is currently available to home internet users via Indiagames’ partnership with leading broadband service providers like Airtel, MTNL, Tata VSNL, and You Telecom. The service will also be soon launched on BSNL which has India’s largest broadband subscriber base.

    The Games on Demand retail initiative from Indiagames will be supported by a host of advertising and publicity initiatives as well as on-ground events. The company is in the process of starting an online advertising campaign to support the initiative. Currently, the service has over 100 games on offer at just Rs 225 per month. These games will cost almost Rs100,000 at retail prices for legal software. Indiagames has tied up with leading publishers like Microsoft, Codemasters, Playfirst, Atari and Activision amongst others for this service, the release further adds.

  • Indiagames launches Games on Demand with MTNL Tri-band

    Indiagames launches Games on Demand with MTNL Tri-band

    MUMBAI: Online and mobile games company Indiagames has launched its new service – Games on Demand with MTNL broadband service Tri-band.

    The service promises to offer existing and new MTNL Tri-Band subscribers unlimited consumption of PC games at monthly subscription fees of Rs 300 for the premium package and 150 for the casual games package.

    As per an official release, the tie-up will give MTNL users the benefit of :

    1) Accessing a broadband gaming service from Indiagames on MTNL Tri-band at an affordable subscription fee

    2) Unlimited game play of premium international games

    3) Saying goodbye to pirated games, with full versions of the latest PC games

    4) Free mobile game download with every subscription

    Commenting on the launch of the service, MTNL Mumbai executive director M S Rana said, “Games on Demand one of the most important value added services offered by MTNL for its consumers. We have always been on the lookout for enhancing user experience and feel that the new service would bring affordable world class gaming entertainment within the reach of consumers.”

    Indiagames Ltd CEO Vishal Gondal says, “The Games on Demand service will have a catalytic effect on the currently nascent but rapidly growing gaming audience in India by bringing compelling content at a great value for money price point. Further, with over 80 per cent of games in India being sold illegally, we believe that our unparalleled price and service offering will significantly expand the segment of legitimate game sales in India”.

    Gondal further added that “We have been delighted by MTNL’s speed of response and turn around times and are looking forward to rolling out the service on India’s largest basic telephony provider in metros.”

    The service will include popular international titles such as Age of Empires II, Brian Lara’s Cricket, Flight Simulator, Rise of Nations and IGI 2 Covert Strike amongst others, adds the release.

    As an additional value add, Indiagames and MTNL will offer the service with all its features on a free trial basis for the first 4 days and a free mobile game download on registration. To experience this service and register, customers can log on to http://god.indiagames.com/mtnl or call 1504 for further details.

  • Indiagames develops mobile game for NBC’s sitcom ‘The Office’

    Indiagames develops mobile game for NBC’s sitcom ‘The Office’

    MUMBAI: Indian gaming firm Indiagames is helping US broadcaster NBC Universal in its push into the lucrative mobile games market. It has made a mobile game based on the sitcom The Office.

    The series of six mini-games is in soft release. The game will be available on all cellular devices and providers by September.

    NBC’s The Office Games features the characters from the television series participating in a selection of cubical game-play including Wasteketball, Paper-Football (Hateball), Table-Top Golf, Office Paper War, Chair-Racing and more, everything that Michael Scott would not approve of.

    Indiagames developed these user-friendly games to be played at your office or at home. With shorter play times, the array of games is easy to navigate and simple to play–perfect for a break, after a stressful meeting or on an awkward phone call.

    Indiagames CEO Vishal Gondal says, “We’d like to see America’s workplaces fraught with the tension of intense competition at chair races and wasteketball! And, we wanted to give our consumers a game that is fun and provides value for your money. We think we’ve accomplished both of these goals with the launch of NBC’s The Office Games”.