Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders, basking in the glory of their back-to-back wins in the DLF Indian Premier League, are ready to take on the online world as well.
They have signed on Zapak Digital Entertainment, a Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) venture, to develop online games for them.
As part of the exclusive one-year tie-up, Zapak will create a cricket gaming zone on the official website of the Knight Riders and is said to make an investment of Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) in the deal. The exact value of the deal is not known.
The portal has already gone live with two games. Zapak will release 4-5 games in the next two weeks' time. They will launch a total of 10 games.
Confirming the deal, Rohit Sharma, Chief Operating Officer, Zapak, said, "The idea is to create a community feature on the portal. So we will not only provide games for the Knight Riders but also run contests and other content about the players and the game."
Sharma said that while the games are free for download, the gaming portal would earn money from advertisements.
Zapak will develop flash-based games on the team as well as individual players. Cricket is the most popular genre on the Zapak portal. Of the 4.5 million registered gamers on the site, 3 million access cricket-based games.
Online content seems to be extremely valuable for IPL. For instance, Vancouver-based Live Current Media bagged a $50 million contract to host the IPL's online content.
