Mobile games: No child's play

A new generation of mobile phone games is slated to hit the market in the next two months: Ramayan 3392 AD, 3D-Sachin Tendulkar, Rounders (a poker game based on a Hollywood movie) and a host of other film celebrity games.

While Ramayan 3392 AD is a futuristic science-fiction game based on a comic by the same name from film-maker Shekhar Kapur's Virgin Comics, the three-dimensional game on Tendulkar will try to re-create the experience of console games on mobiles.

Apart from India, these games will be released at the same time for mobile users in the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and West Asia. These games have been made at a cost of Rs 40-60 lakh (Rs 4 to 6 million) each. This is nearly four to six times what companies have spent so far on making mobile games. For consumers, there will not be an extra cost for playing these games as companies have kept the price at Rs 50 per download, or Rs 5 per play.

"These high-end games will add more consumers and the volumes will drive growth," said a mobile game expert. These new games are expected to accelerate the growth of the Rs 130-crore (Rs 1.3 billion-) mobile gaming industry by 40-45 per cent. Currently, cricket games account for almost a quarter of the one million games mobile users download every month, followed by games based on Bollywood stars.

Mobile games and content company Nazara is coming out with the new 3D game on Tedulkar which has the feel of a console gaming device.

"Cricket is big and it accounts for one-third of our revenue. We have the mobile gaming rights of Sachin Tendulkar and M S Dhoni," says Nitish Mittersain, CEO of Nazara Games.

Nazara is also introducing a poker game based on a Hollywood movie -- you can take your own picture and transfer it to the game so that you become the main character of the game. The company has invested Rs 45 lakh to make the game.

Mumbai-based Jump Games has invested Rs 60 lakh (Rs 6 million) on the Ramayan 3392 AD game.

"We have used high-quality graphics to replicate a comic book. We also need to put in a lot of visuals and sound effects like thunder and rain which makes the game expensive," explains Salil Bhargava, chief executive of Jump Games.

Though Bhargava is confident of getting volumes, others say mobile users in the country are not yet ready for such games.

"We are still a small industry and our focus remains offering simple and entertaining games rather than creating expensive ones," says Neeraj Roy, chief executive of Hungama Mobile, which made mobile games based on films like Don and Krrish and other Bollywood stars.