Gaming is not new to UTV. The company used the acquisition route to enter the segment in 2007, when it acquired online and mobile gaming firm, Indiagames. It simultaneously acquired the UK-based console gaming firm, Ignition. And finally in 2008, it acquired US-based True Games, an online gaming firm.The strategy has worked so far. For fiscal 2009, the gaming content segment revenue (comprising online, console and mobile games) almost doubled to Rs 110.5 crore. By FY10, the company expects the gaming segment to contribute 32 per cent to its total revenue (18 per cent in FY09).

Taking its gaming plans forward, UTV Media recently showcased three games — War Devil (a third-person player game), Reich (a first-person player game) and El Shadai (an action and adventure game) — at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) gaming conference, one of the biggest events for the console gaming industry. The company has invested Rs 280 crore in the development of these three console games alone.

“I was taken by surprise and awe. Surprise, as we have had a first look of not one or two – but three high-end games. Normally game companies track each other well – so they are all surprised as to where and how long we have been working. And awe, as the quality and the game play, as well as the diversity, of the three games has really created an impact,” Screwvala told Business Standard.

These games are being develped from its studios in Japan, London and Florida (US). The company, though, is yet to work out the additional investment that will go towards marketing and distribution of these games.

The focus of its console gaming segment is clearly the international market. “Our three markets are international and there is nothing Indian about them. Our market in India for these games, too, is insignificant. Besides, in many cases we are creating our own patented technology for the games,” added Screwvala.

While he did not share the revenue estimates these new console games will contribute, he explained that “The upside for even a moderately successful game is huge. We know our cost for creation is very competitive and lower than most in the industry. The gross margins on games can be anywhere between 40 and 300 per cent and if they are even a moderate success, they go into sequels and the margin increases.”

In the online segment, UTV’s True Games unit will be launching its own massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORG) by the second quarter of FY10 in the US and emerging markets like Turkey, Brazil, etc. This unit is also working on additional intellectual properties (IPs).

Indiagames, on its part, is focused on the mobile segment and has grown 120 per cent in FY09, with 60 per cent of market share in India, according to UTV. The company expects this will continue to have a growth rate of 50 per cent year-on-year for some more years.

Source: Business Standard

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The games industry as a whole grew 18 percent year-over-year in October and is still poised to top $22 billion in annual sales through the end of the year, ignoring all signs of a recession.

The top-selling Wii game in October was, again, Wii Fit, with 487,000 units sold. Mario Kart Wii sold 290,000 copies and Wii Play picked up another 282,000 converts. The top-seller for the month, however, was Fable II, with a massive 790,000 copies sold during the month.

The top three best-selling Wii games demonstrate the unprecedentedly long shelf life that some software enjoys on Nintendo’s system. Not only has Wii Play, packed with a remote, sold upward of 7.2 million copies in America, but a quick glance at Wii Fit’s sales progress would show an increase in momentum as the months have passed, virtually unheard of.

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Developer of the first ever QUAKE III Arena port is Olli Hinkka who is also the developer of some of the best previous QUAKE ports for Symbian phones. This time he decided to enable a full Bluetooth keyboard and mouse support to achieve a better gameplay, which is otherwise unreachable due to the rather uncomfortable phone controls.

There’s also a possibility to run a game server on the mobile phone to enable multiplayer gaming.

Compatible with the QUAKE III Arena port are the S60 3rd Edition phones powered by a TI OMAP 2420 processor. Those include the Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia N82 and Nokia E90. Despite having the same chipset, the now elderly Nokia N95 isn’t among the compatible models as it has less RAM than the N95 8GB (half the amount, actually).

Ok, Ranger, go draw some blood – QUAKE 3 style!

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