Eyeing the fast-growing Indian gaming industry worth Rs 270 crore (Rs 2.7 billion), Zapak Digital Entertainment is all set to open 1,000 gaming cafes across the country by December this year. The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company, which presently runs 51 gaming cafes under the brand name Gameplex, will henceforth expand through franchisee model.

Gameplex cafes would also be set up in tier two and tier three cities across the country as part of the company's expansion plans. The company's website has more than 50 lakh (5 million) registered gamers and the number is increasing fast.

Zapak Digital's chief marketing officer told Business Standard, the company would set up 1,000 gaming cafes through franchisees. "The gaming community is building fast in India. Our market study has shown that young generation has a passion for games instead of music and that is where, we want to score," Mehra stated.

The Gameplex cafes provide popular games such as Counter Strike, Age of Emprie, Fifa'07 and Need for Speed and has tie-ups with a number of prominent game developing companies.

The company, on an average, invests Rs 13 lakh (Rs 1.3 million) to Rs 20 lakh (Rs 2 million) to set up one gaming cafe and the investment is generally recovered within six to eight months. "We have registered high occupancy at almost all our cafes. A regular gamer generally spends Rs 500 every month on gaming, which helps us recover investments fast," he said.

Over next six months, the company will add five more gaming cafes apart from two cafes at present in Pune, which alone has more than 200,000 registered Zapak gamers.