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Mobile gaming is growing fast, and movie studios are finding new ways to monetize it
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Search for the name of any major Hindi movie today, and you’re going to find a game of the same name on the Google Play store and Apple’s iTunes Store. Big-budget movies like Chennai Express, Krrish 3 and Dhoom: 3 all have stand-alone video games. Though this is still fairly unusual in India, what is interesting is that most of these games are pretty enjoyable, though admittedly lacking in originality.
While Indian games studios have had limited success with original game development in India in the past, the growing popularity of mobile as a platform is bringing a new wave of growth, and opening up opportunities that were simply not available. For gaming used to involve an expensive console—something which automatically limited the audience in India, where gaming is still in its nascent stages.
Mobile games are cheaper to make and can be put on the market more quickly, helping them to launch in the short window of opportunity around a movie’s release. According to Sameer Ganapathy, chief operating officer—digital at Disney UTV, a movie-based game may cost just around ₹ 5-20 lakh, and be released within just four-eight weeks.
Better games pay for bigger movies
With the cost of making movies in India rising, studios are looking at new ways to monetize their intellectual property (IP), and with the growing number of smartphones in the country, mobile gaming is an obvious tactic to pursue. “We look at developing games on movies which lend themselves to sticky gameplay that would entice users to play it and pay for it. All our games are profitable, it’s not just about publicizing the movie," Ganapathy explains.
Rohith Bhat, CEO of 99games, the developers of the Dhoom: 3 video game, largely agrees. “We work as licensed partners for the whole Dhoom franchise, and that means that we’re not tied to a single movie and its storyline. This is very important because then you can create a great game that people will enjoy, instead of worrying about the exact story. By doing this, we make something good that can help monetize the movie as well," he says.
For example, the Dhoom: 3 mobile game released by 99games two months before the movie hits the theatres has already seen four million downloads and, Bhat claims, become profitable. “We released well before the movie because we were confident in the quality of the game we’ve made. The movie name helps people to discover a game, but it’s also an opportunity for the film-makers," Bhat says.
Since the game is now seen as a revenue stream, the developers have to make sure it’s something people will actually play. The Chennai Express game, for example, is very close to Subway Surfers in gameplay design. Cartoon visuals keep the cost low, but also look better on mobiles, and the game itself is well made and enjoyable.
For Dhoom: 3, the developers wanted to keep a theme of motorbikes to tie in with the movie, but the gameplay remains pretty much the same. It’s actually not a bad idea, because making a proper racing game at a low cost would have led to pretty awful results. As it is, the game looks great, and for short play sessions (on the metro, in a cab) it’s a lot of fun.
The diaspora effect
With the number of smartphones in the country on the rise, and experience building up, this trend will only continue. Companies like Nokia, which leads the Windows Phone platform in India, are also heavily promoting these movie-based games to help people get used to apps on their smartphones.
Viral Oza, Nokia India’s director, marketing, says good apps get good traction among customers. “Bollywood and cricket are like religion in India, apps in these categories always see a large numbers of downloads, and in fact, they are equally popular among Indian diaspora across the globe. For example, the Dhoom: 3 app, 52% of downloads actually came from outside India," he says.
Demand from the diaspora means that companies build apps for all platforms and not just Android (which dominates in India), explains Uthsav Ahuja, vice-president of marketing at Gameshastra, the developers of the Krrish app.
“Bollywood movies are popular not just in India but around the world wherever there is an Indian diaspora. We’re a game studio with a long history, and the worldwide popularity of Bollywood convinces me that we should be making games on all platforms, not just mobile, around Indian movies," Ahuja says. He adds, “In fact, that Krrish game which we first launched on mobile will also be getting a console release."
Made in India
But Agarwal also has to take a bigger risk than many studios working on Bollywood projects, for the costs are higher and the time taken to make a game is longer. “We start by looking at IMDb, to identify upcoming projects that will be a good fit for the gameplay ideas that we have," he explains. “We then submit a five-page concept to showcase the IP’s scope, and show the existing games, demographic information and all the other details that the studio needs. If they’re convinced, then we basically license the IP from them, and work with them to make the game," he adds.
This process, from the first concept note to the final game, can take up to a year, compared to the month or two on Bollywood games. In addition, says Agarwal, the games are updated twice a month for six months to a year after the movie launches too—they work on the content and the money-making elements.
As Indian game studios grow, it’s safe to say that more of them are going to get into the same Hollywood business as Agarwal. “We lack the risk appetite to build something completely new," Agarwal explains, but having a ready-made audience from movies is helping game developers get the green light in India too.
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