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Are we game for it?

Soumik Sen

Is the Escorts group taking a gigantic gamble on the zap or be zapped world of video games? The tractors to heavy engineering group has hired 200 programmers/animators and put them into a 20,000 sq ft state-of-the art studio from where they are racing against time to turn out their own homegrown video game by 2004.

Even more ambitiously, the games division of Escosoft Technologies hopes to build its own game engine - the complex software on which individual games are built - in the not too distant future.

These are ambitious goals but there could be a big payoff if Escosoft pulls it off. Game engines cost around $5 million to develop and only about 15 companies sell them globally. But that isn't stopping Escosoft from its giant-sized bet.

Says Manvendra Shukul, head, interactive games, Escosoft Technologies: "By developing India's first game engine, we hope more developers will be able to work on our engine and manufacture games a lot cheaper in future."

Navin Chandok is playing for much smaller stakes. About 12 years ago he spotted the potential for 3D modelling and design, bought a 386 machine and started Base 77. Now Chandok and his small team are designing screen replicas of race tracks in Germany and Malaysia for Infogram, the second-largest game producers in the world. Turnover jumped to Rs 2 crore (Rs 20 million) last year and this year he expects to touch Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million).

This is an industry in which the action takes place at warp speed. Till now, however, Indian companies have been unable to get a share of the action. But a handful of companies are trying to build up their zap factor.

It isn't surprising that Indian companies are trying to muscle their way onto the colour screens of the video games world. The games software industry has revenues of about $18 billion worldwide. What's more, in the US, video games are a bigger business than Hollywood. And the potential for growth appears to be boundless.

Vishal Gondal, the 26-year-old founder of indiagames, has blasted his way into a new combat zone - mobile telephony video games. Indiagames has developed action-packed games like Chopper Rescue, Smashin' Spiders and Combat Tank Attack that are being played on mobile phones around the globe. He says that customers include users on 25 global networks like SingTel in Singapore, People's Telecom in Hong Kong, Vodafone in Europe and AT&T in the US. Says Gondal: "The opportunities are immense and the revenue model assured."

Gondal may have made a smart move by making a splash in the mobile games segment. About 70 per cent of indiagames' turnover comes from the sector. It's also a cheaper segment to penetrate because the Java-based software is less advanced and cheaper to produce and the visuals are of a lower resolution because the screens are smaller.

Other new opportunities are also opening up even in the mainstream games industry. Indiagames has been commissioned by Sony to develop a game for the Playstation 2 console. And Chandok's Base 77 is developing a section of Microsoft's international train simulator game. The company is designing the tunnels, the topography and the tracks. Besides that it is also developing 3D characters for a Denmark-based company's international game.

But Escosoft is more ambitious than all the others. It won't reveal the exact contours of its game but says that it will be based on Indian mythology with rakshasas, asuras and fantastic settings. The game is scheduled to hit the bazaar by early 2004. Around the same time it plans to come out with a game engine.

Says Shukul: "Making a game is a long process. While a complete 3D game can take as long as 18 months, the game engine takes almost four years to develop. That's why we are taking this long a time."

But Escosoft's games and animation division, believes it will build the base for a bigger market by developing the game engine. At the moment, companies have to pay royalties of about $300,000 to $500,000 to manufacturers like Lithitech and Net Immerse. Says Shukul: "By developing India's first game engine, we hope more and more developers will be able to work on our engine and manufacture games a lot cheaper in future."

Are these smart moves? Shukul admits there could be slips between the cup and the lip and that India isn't much of a games market. But he is firmly convinced that Indian-flavoured games complete with rakshasas and asuras can be sold in the international market. He says: "India is not a games market today. People are used to playing games on the computer and games that are developed by internationally renowned manufacturers. Developing games that cater only to the Indian market will not work."

Gondal, however, is convinced that earnings are about to climb. A single game download costs around $3 in the US and £4.5 in the UK. A game developer like indiagames retains a 70 per cent to 80 per cent share per download. It is reckoned that worldwide there will be 420 million Java phones by the year-end and a billion Java phones by 2006.

The games developers are also looking at other innovative ways of making money. Indiagames, for instance, has tied up with Mukesh Khanna's Bheeshma International to develop games based on the popular children's TV superhero, Shaktimaan.

Similarly, indiagames' game character Yoddha stops during a mission to take a swig of Pepsi. Gondal is considering various other money-making options for Yoddha and other characters. A warrior could, for instance, wear branded shoes.

Says Gondal: "Although it is a nascent concept in India, games developed for products with suitable product placements, guarantee quality view time from the game player."

Escotoonz - which is the brand name of Escosoft's games and animation division - is looking at other ways to rake in cash. It does a lot of animation work for ad agencies like Hindustan Thompson and O&M. Also, it is doing a 13-part TV series for Canadian production house FunBag Productions.

In recent years, many games companies have gone to countries like Korea and the Philippines for software development. Now, however, it looks as if they are zeroing in on India. Says Ravindra Datar, senior analyst, Gartner India: "Though India has traditionally been a software developing superpower and branded products are not our forte, there is enough scope for game developers."

But even India could find it tough to produce enough of the right type of people. Says Shukul: "Ours is an extremely specialised industry where lots of training is needed. Though we provide in-house training to the engineers and designers we recruit, that might not be enough." So the question remains whether India will get zapped off the screen even before it really gets started.

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