Gaming Industry in India

Topic index
1Executive Summary 2About Connection Events 3Year Over Year 4The Year Ahead 5 Platform Perspectives 6 Digital Distribution 7MMO Marketshare 8Future Business Models 9Future Audience Demographics 10..New Lines of Business 11..Preparation for the Future 12..Conclusion 13.Bibliography
Gaming industry in india*
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Executive Summary
We have witnessed a rise in digital forms of gaming in India. This rise is mainly attributed to the growth in digital medium in the country. The ownership and usage of digital devices and applications have been on the rise. For instance, PC-ownership in houselholds has increased to 7.8 Mn, active Internet using population to 36 Mn (Source: I Cube 2008) and mobile subscribers to more than 471 Mn (Source: TRAI Sep. 2009). An involved user of these digital formats is young; belonging to the 18-25 years of age. As a result, services offered on these formats are generally focused towards youth. With the assumption of continued growth in such usage and dissemination of digitized options; digital gaming industry provides a promising future for India. Presently, the gaming genres are primarily derived from various sporting themes such as cricket, racing, shooting and the like. These genres are immediate markets as Indians seem fanatics of such kinds of sports. Lately, however, there has been a shift in attitude of gamers towards enjoying role-playing games and other online games that provide an option of socialising. There is also a predilection towards platforms that offer on-the-move gaming due to which some forms of console and mobile gaming are popular. Based on our research, the ecosystem of the gaming domain, in India, has grown to include certain divergent stakeholders which did not exist in the recent past. Further, there have also been concrete changes in the existing structure. India, with its recognised abilities, is poised to be an important centre for offshore gaming development. Another avenue that could present a fundamental shift is through advertising. Using the model of In-game placement of online advertisements, game developers or publishers can monetize their offerings. Distribution has always been a challenge for digital game providers in India for offline gaming the bone of contention being the piracy market. To dissuade piracy practices, better distribution and pricing models need to be developed. For online gaming, newer distribution models are emerging: through portals, dedicated gaming sites, or gaming centers.
Gaming industry in india* Page 2
Similar to past trends, there are barriers that continue to present obstacles towards seamless growth in the industry; which include any number of infrastructural impediments, industry limitations as well as cultural issues with consumers. Nonetheless, there are certain factors that could facilitate the growth of the industry. These include monetizing online and offline games through advertisements, innovating gaming content, marketing and distribution as well as differentiating overall appeal so that gamers are hooked on to it. Given the high potential of the market in terms of demand, Indian Gaming Industry is still at its nascent stage. Innovations in various aspects of the ecosystem are required to ensure that it is self-sustaining. The weighing scale remains tilted towards demand side with a growing gaming segment staying underserved.
Research Methodology
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The research team at eTechnology Group with IMRB International adopted a combination of research approaches for this report. Given below is the research methodology used for the report: Quantitative Research Relevant datapoints were extracted from 'I-Cube 2008' reports , an annual syndication of eTechnology Group, IMRB International The syndicated research is based upon primary survey covering 20,000 households, 90,000 individuals, 1000 SMEs and 500 Cyber Cafes Secondary Research Secondary research was done using information from various published and private sources and other research bodies to triangulate our findings
Introduction to Gaming in India
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Indians are obsessed with entertainment and various media vehicles delivering entertainment are seeing enormous growth in the country. There have been a spate of Television channels like Real, NDTV Imagine, Colours, etc. which are broadcasting content to Indian audience. Several new newspapers and supplements have emerged. Spicy magazines with gloss covers are hounding for attention of the Indian consumers. Not to be outdone, even the Indian Internet industry has embraced entertainment as one of the key offerings. A few years ago, Internet in India was dominated with functional content catering to news updates, reviews, classifieds, etc. However, re-packaging of the content to deliver more entertainment value is clearly visible now. The blogs have employed celebrities to give regular updates from their lives. Movie reviews and discussion related to movies appear much earlier than the actual movie hitting the silver screen. Several Internet companies have been experimenting with gaming in the past, but with little success. Way back during start of the decade, players like Contests2Win, Hungama, etc. began with an excellent business model of merging brand experience with gaming. And why not! Gaming offers one of the best ways to reach audiences of all ages. With gaming, technological sophistication is not really a factor because games come in a host of forms, ranging from simple casual card and arcade games to sophisticated flight simulations. Further, Gaming requires a player to pay attention, minimizing multitasking and hence the clutter, which has been bane of the traditional media (TV and Print) for quite long. However, somewhere along the way, the companies were not able to capitalize the audience. Or should we say, were going slow on the innovation. Or probably both, and in effect getting caught in the viscous circle of innovation and monetization. As a gaming publisher, if I am not able to monetize, I wont have necessary resources and investments to innovate. And, if there is no innovation, monetization would be harder to come by. A couple of years back the circle was shattered by domestic and international companies.
These companies identified the right opportunity and put huge investment behind creating content and delivering it to the right audience. These gaming companies did not limit themselves to one or two genres of games and having 56 games in each genre. They actually made themselves present across multiple genres, with a plethora of games in each genre offering an unprecedented choice to gamers. Zapak was one such company which burst into the scene with huge number of games developed in-house and sourced from other publishers. And the Internet community in India responded very well. The percentage of gamers amongst the Active Internet users increased from 25.3% to 41.2% at a massive growth rate of 89%. In the social scene as well, a lot of Internet users have started to go beyond the regulars like Orkut, Facebook, iBiBo, BigAdda, etc. Virtual worlds have been in the news quite a bit in the last year. The Virtual Worlds also known as Metaverses or Massively Multiplayer Universes are attracting a lot of attention. The most popular ones are the World of Warcraft and Second Life accounting for more than 20 million worldwide residents. The numbers from India have not been that high, but all the same, Internet users are sitting up and noticing these. Recently, Travian, a browser-based game that enables users to play games with others has caught Indian gamers interest. With 3 servers (3rd server launched in 29th June 2009), it has a user registered base of nearly 60,000. The above was coupled with high profile launches of Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sonys PS3 in India. These two brought in a new dimension to gaming altogether. The jittery gameplay and graphics gave way to movie-like story line with super cool graphics and animations. The real-life simulation games, looked less like simulation and more real life, making the game play more engrossing and captivating. However, the highpriced consoles have still not reached the Indian masses. Couple of years back Sony had lowered its PS2 prices which have seen revival since then maybe a learning that a console needs to be lower than $100 in India. Encouraged with the above, EA, Zapak and several other game publishers entered the Indian shores allowing for easier availability of their software.
While the PC gaming industry has been plagued with piracy, there has been a tremendous growth nevertheless with correct pricing, better support and easily availability of games in various branded and non branded outlets. The other thing going right for the Indian gaming industry is the high growth of mobile subscriptions in India. India already has more than 300 million mobile subscribers and still going strong. Most of the mobile users in India are either teens or in their early twenties, making mobiles that they own a big platform for proliferating gaming related content. In the last few years, it has been observed that two biggest entertainment formats in India Cricket and Cinema are keen to integrate gaming in their offering. There is unconfirmed news that IPL would feature in EA Sports Cricket 09 version expected to release in late 2009. The movies Hanuman and Ghajini had a presence in the gaming arena. In fact, with the Ghajini game, Eros Entertainment, a popular film distribution and marketing house has made a foray in the gaming industry as well. The gaming industry has experimented with Bollywood games in the past as well including games based on movies Dhoom, Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Agni. However, the results of these initiatives have not really been there. All the same, the times are great for the Indian gaming industry. It has a mass of users coming the online and mobile way. The console and offline PC games are bringing in the hardcore gamers. And then with the new emerging formats Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG), Social gaming (gaming on social platforms like Facebook and Orkut) and Bollywood games the gaming industry is likely to see another good year ahead. Browser-based MMOGs such as Wanted by Zapak.com are recent introductions in the Indian online gaming market. In this report we capture details of the current scenario of the Internet and Gaming industry in India. Further we analyse the entire gaming ecosystem such as the stakeholders in this industry, types of models being used, indepth analysis of gaming platforms, types of games being played, attitudes and behaviour of gamers, etc.
Additionally we point out the drivers and issues facing the industry at the moment and ways to move forward successfully. We try to analyse all the factors playing a role in this industry, how they shape the future and what makes India such a strong bet for Gaming glory in the future. Game on!!
Overview
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Considered by some as a curiosity in the mid-1970s, the computer and video game industries have grown from focused markets to mainstream. They took in about USD$9.5 billion in the US in 2007, and 11.7 billion in 2008 (ESA annual report). Modern personal computers owe many advancements and innovations to the game industry: sound cards, graphics cards and 3D graphic accelerators, CD ROM and DVD-ROM drives, Unix and CPUs are a few of the more notable improvements. Unix in particular was developed in part so that the programmers could play a space traveling game. Sound cards were developed for addition of digital-quality sound to games and only later improved for music and audiophiles. Early on graphics cards were developed for more colors. Later, graphics cards were developed for graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and games. GUIs drove the need for high resolution, games drove 3D acceleration. They also are one of the only pieces of hardware to allow multiple hookups (such as with SLI or CrossFire graphics cards). CD- and DVD-ROMs were developed for mass distribution of media in general, however the ability to store more information on cheap easily distributable media was instrumental in driving their ever higher speeds. Modern games are among the most demanding of applications on PC resources. Many of the high-powered personal computers are purchased by gamers who want the fastest equipment to power the latest cutting-edge games. Thus, the inertia of CPU development is due in part to this industry whose games demand faster processors than business or personal applications.
Game industry value chain
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Ben Sawyer of Digitalmill observes that the game industry value chain is made up of six connected and distinctive layers:
1. Capital and publishing layer: involved in paying for development of new titles and seeking returns through licensing of the titles. 2. Product and talent layer: includes developers, designers and artists, who may be working under individual contracts or as part of in-house development teams. 3. Production and tools layer: generates content production tools, game development middleware, customizable game engines, and production management tools. 4. Distribution layer: or the "publishing" industry, involved in generating and marketing catalogs of games for retail and online distribution. 5. Hardware (or Virtual Machine or Software Platform) layer: or the providers of the underlying platform, which may be console-based, accessed through online media, or accessed through mobile devices such as the iPhone. This layer now includes non-hardware platforms such as virtual machines (e.g. Java or Flash), or software platforms such as browsers or even further Facebook, etc. 6. End-users layer: or the users/players of the games.
History
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1970s By the late 1970s, the computer game industry formed from a hobby culture, when personal computers just began to become widely available. The industry grew along with the advancement of computing technology, and often drove that advancement. 1980s The early part of the decade saw the rise of home computing, and home-made games, especially in Europe. This time also saw the rise of video game journalism, which was later expanded to include covermountedcassettes and CDs. In the mid 1980s the North American industry crashed due to the production of too many badly developed games (quantity over quality), resulting in the fall of the North American industry and giving rise to the Japanese and professional European industries, particularly the games companies Nintendo and Ocean Software. The latter part of the decade saw the rise of the Game Boy handheld system. In 1987, Nintendo loses a legal challenge against Blockbuster Entertainment, which enables games rentals in the same way as movies.
1990s The 1990s saw advancements in game related technology. Among the significant advancements were:

The widespread adoption of CD-based storage and software distribution Widespread adoption of GUI-based operating systems, such as the series of Amiga OS, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS Advancement in 3D graphics technology, as 3D graphic cards became widely adopted, with 3D graphics now the de facto standard for video game visual presentation Continuing advancement of CPU speed and sophistication Miniaturisation of hardware, and mobile phones, which enabled mobile gaming The emergence of the internet, which in the latter part of the decade enabled online co-operative play and competitive gaming
Aside from technology, in the early part of the decade, licenced games became more popular, as did video game sequels.
2000s
Today, the video game industry is a juggernaut of development; profit still drives technological advancement which is then used by other industry sectors. Though maturing, the video game industry is still very volatile, with third-party video game developers quickly cropping up, and just as quickly, going out of business
Economics
Early on, development costs were minimal, and video games could be quite profitable. Games developed by a single programmer, or by a small team of programmers and artists, could sell hundreds of thousands of copies each.
Many of these games only took a few months to create, so developers could release several titles each year. Thus, publishers could often be generous with benefits, such as royalties on the games sold. Many early game publishers started from this economic climate, such as Origin Systems, Sierra Entertainment, Capcom, Activision and Electronic Arts. As computing and graphics power increased, so too did the size of development teams, as larger staffs were needed to address the ever increasing graphical and programming complexities. Now budgets can easily reach millions of dollars, even if middleware and prebuilt game engines are used. Most professional games require one to three years to develop, further increasing the strain on budgets. Some developers are turning to alternative production and distribution methods, such as online distribution, to reduce costs. Today, the video game industry has a major impact on the economy through the sales of major systems and games such as, Grand Theft Auto IV, which took in over USD$500 million in sales during its opening week. The game's income was more than the opening weekend of Spider-Man 3 and the previous title holder for a video game Halo 3. Many individuals have also benefited from the economic success of video games including the former chairman of Nintendo and Japan's third richest man: Hiroshi Yamauchi. The video game industry is currently facing financial strains as it attempts to fairly compensate its talent, while continuing to turn a profit. The result is that the game developerthe traditional source of new gamesis essentially dying out or is being incorporated into large publishers. The game industry is currently experiencing a phase of consolidation and vertical integration as a reaction to spiraling costs. This climate has also given birth to vibrant indie game developers comprising tiny companies trying to use the internet rather than traditional retail channels to reach an audience.
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Practices
Video game industry practices are similar to those of other entertainment industries (e.g. the music recording industry), but the video game industry in particular has been accused of treating its development talent poorly. This promotes independent development, as developers leave to form new companies and projects. In some notable cases, these new companies grow large and impersonal, having adopted the business practices of their forebears, and ultimately perpetuate the cycle. However, unlike the music industry, where modern technology has allowed a fully professional product to be created extremely inexpensively by an independent musician, modern games require increasing amounts of manpower and equipment. This dynamic makes publishers, who fund the developers, much more important than in the music industry.
Breakaways
A particularly famous case is the "original" independent developer Activision, founded by former Atari developers. Activision grew to become the world's second largest game publisher.[12] In the mean time, many of the original developers left to work on other projects. For example, founder Alan Miller left Activision to start another video game development company, Accolade (now Atari ne Infogrames). Activision was popular among developers for giving them credit in the packaging and title screens for their games, while Atari disallowed this practice. As the video game industry took off in the mid-80s, many developers faced the more distressing problem of working with fly-by-night or unscrupulous publishers that would either fold unexpectedly or run off with the game profits.
Piracy
The industry claims software piracy to be a big problem, and take measures to counter this. However, digital rights management and other measures have proved unpopular with gamers.
Creative control
Some people disapprove of publishers having creative control since they are more apt to follow short-term market trends rather than invest in risky but potentially lucrative ideas. On the other hand, publishers may know better than developers what consumers want. The relationship between video game developers and publishers parallels the relationship between recording artists and record labels in many ways. But unlike the music industry, which has seen flat or declining sales in the early 2000s, the video game industry continues to grow. Also, personal computers have made the independent development of music almost effortless, while the gap between an independent game developer and the product of a fully financed one grows larger. In the computer games industry, it is easier to create a startup, resulting in many successful companies. The console games industry is a more closed one, and a game developer must have up to three licenses from the console manufacturer: 1. A license to develop games for the console 2. The publisher must have a license to publish games for the console 3. A separate license for each game
In addition, the developer must usually buy development systems from the console manufacturer in order to even develop a game for consideration, as well as obtain concept approval for the game from the console manufacturer. Therefore, the developer normally has to have a publishing deal in place before starting development on a game project, but in order to secure a publishing deal, the developer must have a track record of console development, something which few startups will have.
Alternatives
An alternative method for publishing video games is to self-publish using the shareware or open source model over the Internet. However, it remains to be seen whether freely made and distributed games can survive in the era of multimillion dollar production.
Japanese video game industry practices

The Japanese video game industry is markedly different from the industry in North America and Europe. Generally, games have a greater market share of total entertainment in Japan than in the West. Japan has created some of the largest and most expensive titles ever made, such as the Shenmue,Final Fantasy, Metal Gear and Mario series of games.
Arcades
Video game arcades are still relatively popular in Japan; for every arcade game released in the US, nine are released in Japan. The history of the Japanese arcade is very significant in the story of the decline of the American arcade, and in the shape of game design in general.
Media
Consoles and arcade games are the main media for Japanese game design; PC games are nowhere near as popular. This necessarily dictates that there are fewer independently developed games coming from Japan, as it is much harder to develop independently for a console than it is for a PC.
Development environment
The structure and culture of a Japanese game developer is different from a western one. Throughout the history of Japanese game design, many developers have seen fit to remain mostly anonymous, even using pseudonyms to a large degree in video game credits. Also, the division in labor for video game development is different. For example, Japanese game design teams had a dedicated designer (which they called a "director") much earlier than American design teams adopted the practice.Secondly, Japanese game designers throughout history generally had
far more people working on a particular game than a comparable western design team. For example, Street Fighter 2 (1991), a Japanese title, had almost one artist working on every character in the game, plus two programmers and a musician, with the result being a team of twenty or more people. Mortal Kombat (1992), a comparable American title, was developed by four people: a programmer, an artist, a musician, and a background artist.
UK video game industry practices

The UK industry is the fourth largest in the world in terms of developer success and sales of hardware and software by country alone. The country houses 23 of the top 100 successful studios in the world. In recent years many of the studios have become defunct or sold on to other rival companies such as LittleBigPlanet developer, Media Molecule and Codemasters Though the country houses many of the world's most successful franchises such as Tomb Raider, Grand Theft Auto, Fable, DiRT and Total War, the country is trying to find its identity, with many of the games without any cultural influence coming from the UK, with most influence derived from North America. The country also goes without tax relief, which means most of the talented development within the UK may move overseas for more profit, along with parents of certain video game developers which would pay for having games developed in the UK. Though in its current state it is large, at the rate the industry in the country is going it will lead to the country being moved down in the rankings and falling behind countries such as France and, most significantly, Canada.
Latest trends in the game industry

A fairly recent practice, since the mid-1990s, of the video game industry is the rise of game players as developers of game content. The rise of video game players as fourth-party developers of game content allows for more open source models of game design, development and engineering. Game players create user modifications (mods), which in some cases become just as popular, maybe even more popular, as the original game created. An example of this is the game Counter-strike, which began as a mod of the video game Half-Life and eventually became a published game that was very successful.
While this "community of modifiers" may only add up to approximately 1% of a particular game's user base, the number of those involved will grow as more games offer modifying opportunities (such as, by releasing source code) and as the international community of gamers rise. According to Ben Sawyer, as many as 600,000 established online game community developers will exist by 2012. This will effectively add a new component to the game industry value chain and if it continues to mature it will integrate itself into the overall industry.
Internet: Driving the gaming market in India
Gaming in India got an impetus from Internet. With Internet, international content was available easily to Indian users. This exposed them to various gaming formats and the new titles and versions available in the market. This has definitely increased appetite of gamers in the country. Thus, to understand the adoption and potential of online gaming it is essential to assess the overall environment for Internet usage and the penetration of PC hardware in the country. These variables have a direct impact on gaming in India. Some of the key variables that need to be understood are the total number of PCs, Internet
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connections, size of the Internet user base, affluence levels of users, enabling infrastructure and trends in adoption of other applications.
Internet and Broadband penetration in India

To begin with, I-Cube 2008, a syndicated research conducted by IMRB International estimated the number of PC Owning Households in the country at 7.8 Million (growth of 36% over last year). Out of these households 62% of them (4.85 Million) have subscribed to Internet. Out of these 76% are broadband subscribers while 24% are still on the dialup. While the above scenario looks positive especially from the point of view of downloading heavy applications like gaming, the picture may not be completely rosy. TRAI defines broadband in India as 256 kbps (much lower than the global definition of 2 mbps). Further, the Indian ISPs are offering high speed Internet even at 64 kbps and 128 kbps under the garb of broadband. More so, most of the Internet connections are actually on a shared platform of DSL and Cable. Hence, even 256 kbps is the highest browsing speed that is promised. In reality a user may be getting much lesser, given that the contention ratio of various ISPs exceeds 70 in most of the cafes. Another worrying issue from the gaming point of view is that the limited data download packs are very popular in India. Incidentally, they also happen to be the cheapest. The unlimited data download tariffs are much higher (upwards of Rs. 1500 p.m. for a 256 kbps connection). The gaming users are thus not allowed to freely experience true online gaming and in the online formats it is the simple flash games that are gaining more popularity. Some publishers like Indiagames are defying this by entering into direct agreements with various ISPs. However, there is a dire need for the ISPs to look into this issue.
Internet Users in India

I-Cube 2008 estimates put in that there are around 85 million individuals who know how to use PC. Out of these 85 million individual around 57 million individuals have ever accessed Internet (recall having accessed Internet in the past). From these, there are around 42 million Active internet users as on September 2008. An Active Internet User is defined as someone who has Internet at least once in last one month and hence are regular users of Internet. Currently the penetration of Internet in India is still around 5% of the countrys population. However, if we consider the 300 million urban population of India, then the Internet users are a significant 20% of the population. Thus, the mass is there on the Internet. Further, the school going kids, College going and Young Men form 70% of the Internet user population in India. Further point of interest is that Internet in India has got rather addictive with users accessing it at least 2-3 times a week. Even the number of hours accessed per week has increased from less than 7 hours per week in 2007 to almost 9.3 hours a week in 2008. Hence the internet user audience today is young, accesses Internet more often and is spending more time on the Internet ever. This has naturally helped witness growth in many applications being accessed online, gaming being one of the frontrunners of this phenomena. The breakup of applications accessed in 2008 by demographics is depicted below:The above chart depicts the primary application that drives various demographics to connect to the Internet. While the School Going Kids and College Going Students continue using Internet for information related content, the proportion of entertainment as an application is highest among school going kids (20%) and college going students (10%). The need of the hour is to capitalize on the above population and derive applications which are well suited to them. Also given the fact that they are more into communication and information related applications, some applications need to be developed that merge entertainment in the communication or information platforms.
A case in point here is Facebook which has very effectively integrated several applications including gaming applications in its stream. Popular ones here include Mafia Wars, Street racing, Dragon Wars, etc. Even the traditional games like scrabble, chess, etc. can be found as Facebook applications. Users can use these applications to play with their friends or connect with other users on Facebook. Similarly, QQ a well known communication platform from the Chinese giant Tencent has quite effectively integrated gaming applications with its messenger platform. QQGame is a gaming platform that has a wide assortment of games, including basic games such as chess and poker--which are free--to more intensive games such as massive multiplayer online role playing games, which cost money. In game advertising in QQ has contributed significantly to Tencents revenues. QQ is not available outside China as of now, but still has 250 million user base. Interestingly, QQs revenues are at least three times that of Baidu, the largest search engine in China. With such patterns, it is quite evident that online services such as portals and social networking websites could be effective avenues in attracting persistent Internet users.
Gaming Ecosystem
The Gaming ecosystem consists of the following five main players. Each player has their own specific role to play in the development of this industry. Some of these roles and interactions are enlisted below. Game developers: These individuals actually create the game. They design the features, program the software and test the game before actually launching it. These are the technical brains behind the game. It is these developers who help enhance features such as gameplay, sound, etc with their valuable modifications. Recently, outsourcing development work to countries like India, China, Russia and Eastern Europe has been found to be an emerging phenomenon. Game publishers: They are the ones who promote and market online games, educate users and create awareness. These publishers can be stand alone or part of the developers as well.
Telecom and PC hardware manufacturers: These are the infrastructure providers for the industry. They design the hardware equipment with which the game is essentially played. This consists mainly of console manufacturers, mobile device makers, computer components, etc Advertisers: These are one of the prominent revenue sources for this industry. They look to attract and appeal to the growing urban and tech savvy gamer Cyber caf owners: In a country like India with low PC penetration in homes, they play a vital role in the development of gaming in India. The cyber caf owners are always on the lookout for addictive games which can attract large number of users to the caf and also utilize plenty of hours making it a great revenue driver.
Distribution Model reaching the gamers
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Distribution through Gaming Portals: Portals such as Zapak.com, Indiagames.com and Yahoo! generally provide the greatest possible distribution, particularly for mass market content, by showcasing the game on their service. These sites score high on advertising spots and hits offering the greatest exposure to the game. Additionally, such portals are capable of handling online technical development issues on their own. Dedicated Online Game Site: Online gaming companies offer websites that are designed specifically for a particular game. Examples include WorldofWarcraft.com by Blizzard Entertainment, and Runescape.com from Jagex Limited. In these sites, gamers are expected to register, make their avatar or character and play games. These sites tend to generate substantial traffic, often as a result of their agreements with portals, ISPs, or other sites. Additionally, dedicated online game sites provide more targeted marketing. These sites often deliberately seek professional online users who are more likely to be interested in games. Ecommerce Sites: Certain eCommerce sites sell gaming CDs/DVDs through their websites. As of now, this is not an effective avenue to distribute gaming software due to lower adoption of eCommerce services.
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Retail Shop: In this method, the game manufacturer simply stocks the game in regular shops. The gamer purchases the game in the shop and goes and plays it online using the CD/DVD purchased. This is method ranks high for convenience factor and is slowly gaining popularity now. Quite a few branded electronic retail outlets are now stocking game titles. Other Forms of Distribution: There are certain alternative forms of distribution that are emerging in the gaming market. They have achieved some measurable success till now. The jury is still out on arriving at a concrete decision regarding their acceptance. o In case the game is linked to an event such as movies, music, etc. the distribution could be largely influenced by the offline occurrence. For example, the case of Ghajini game it made more sense to distribute CDs outside movie theatres itself and then expect the buyer to go play the game online. Such kind of distribution could be simply through promotions or a fee could also be charged.
Gaming Revenue Models
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Subscription based pricing model: These are a very common and popular model where the user generally pay a monthly fee that entitles them to unlimited usage during that month. Time based pricing: In this type of subscription model, users pay an hourly/ monthly fee depending totally on the number of hours actually being used Flat fee pricing: Here the user is charged once for downloading the game, then is allowed to play the game for free henceforth Microtransactions/Item Purchase: Coupled with the above pricing, incremental revenue for gaming companies is generated in numerous ways. For example, subscription content may be combined with additional payment for special services, such as participation in an event or in-game ownership of a specific object. Also, some providers charge extra for downloading the same game to play on multiple platforms such as online and mobile.
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ii) Advertising based pricing model: These generally rely on some sort of sponsorship or advertising. Games derive their revenue from the sponsoring company which pays for the development of the game and generally recognizes value in messaging provided by the game. Other games may be supported through general advertising; revenue is generated through sales of banner ads, interstitial advertisements, rotating sponsorships, or other types of online advertising. Within the advertising model, developers further build saleable advertising opportunities through the following: In game placement: A brand is placed in a game such that it becomes an integral part of the game and creates many opportunities for the consumer to interact with it. A good example is the logo of Nike placed on the sidelines of a football match in FIFA. The advertiser pays a fee for this in-game placement. On-site advertising: Internationally the most common revenue model, though not the largest source of revenue. In this model the advertisers pay for placing their advertisement (usually banner ads) on the website. Games are monetized by advertising units sold around the game
Type of Gaming Platforms
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Currently there are 4 main Gaming platforms in India namely PC- Offline, PConline, Consoles and Mobiles. According to a leading game publisher in the country, the total PC and console market in India can be estimated to be around the 20 million dollar mark out of which the breakup in terms of revenues will be split equally into PC and Console. Hence it comes as no surprise that all the game developers are vying for the console space which is still very nascent in India in terms of number of gamers.
If we consider the above, it is the PC gaming and online gaming which has got maximum number of users. Considering that the PC gaming industry has been present since the time PCs have been here, it would be interesting to look at the emerging online gaming industry in more detail. The various types of games available online are as follows: Browser based games: These are nothing but your web based games. They use simple keyboard controls or mouse with hardly any need to even read the instructions before starting to play. Examples of these are the vast variety of games found on sites such as Zapak.com, Yahoo! games, miniclip.com, etc. Downloadable single player games: These games are downloaded onto ones computer and then played by one player alone usually against the computer.
These games have to be small in file size in order to entice the gamer to make the download and try to play the game. Arcade games and puzzle games are rather popular for this category. Downloadable Online Multiplayer Games: These games are usually downloaded from the Internet either as the full game itself or as client software is installed the person has to simply log in and play against many players online itself. Examples include Multiplayer games in Zapak.com, FIFA Online. PC CD-ROM Games with Online Components: Such games include hardware purchases with the game loaded on it. This hardware such as CD/ DVD contains a product key which when loaded during installation allows the user to play online after competing a simple registration process. E.g. Battle.net by Blizzard Entertainment. Console Games with Online Components: These games enable the gamer to play via console with many players via an Internet connection at very little extra cost. This attracts gamers due to the possibility of playing with people who are available at any moment online and also using their preferred console. Xbox Live (http://www.xbox.com/hi-IN/live) has created such a community for gamers in India. All types of games can be classified into 3 main game playing modes as shown in a pyramid in the next page. Each level denotes the most likely progression shown by a gamer during his life. Initially all gamers start at the base of the pyramid playing alone and independent sessions. As the gamer gets more confident of his abilities he tends to reach the middle where he interacts with other gamers and friends while gaming. Finally once a good skill level has been developed by the gamer he starts with Multiplayer games with persistent worlds. Currently in India, Single player games dominate the market with 80% of the active Internet using gamers playing such games. This accounts for 5.8 Million people who form the base of the pyramid. The next level of the pyramid are those who play games with other counterparts but play either on LAN or Online in virtual worlds which cease to exist once the game finishes. These gamers have grown significantly over the last year to reach 63% of all gamers across the country. MMOGs form the apex and the ultimate gaming experience for the passionate gamer as the gamer gets to play with multiple players with different levels, customizable options and that too in a world which never ceases to exist.
These form 27% of all gamers currently, up significantly from last years 19%, which does shows the popularity of the MMOGs now.
Single player- single session games: This represents the largest category of Online games played in India with 80% of gamers playing it and 46% preferring it the most. Such games emphasize the need for good levels, simplicity of play and strong addiction in order to keep the gamer playing alone for long periods. Card games, arcade games are very popular in this category. Multiple players- single session games: All games which allow two or more players to play against each other or against the machine falls in this category. Here there is no continuation between gaming sessions which means every time it gives both gamers a fresh start unlike persistent worlds which save information even while not gaming. All genres of games usually have representation in this type of games with Sports and fighting games being very popular for this category Multiple players persistent session games: These games are relatively more complex in gameplay and technologically far more advanced. Persistent gaming worlds have some real benefits like continuation even after disconnecting from the server, they offer the ultimate global gaming experience and have maximum interaction within the gamers. Names like World of Warcraft, EverQuest and Sims Online are synonymous with MMOGs.
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Game developers are always on the look out for the answer to this one questionWhat does the hardcore gamer actually want? How to make my content applicable for all? The answer to these lies in innovation at every step of the gaming ecosystem- game design, platforms, distribution, marketing, etc. Or simply newer formats for gaming are required.
Emerging Gaming Formats
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These days, the avid gamer is not easily satisfied with one type of content, one type of game or any kind of monotony, thats why the great attraction to gaming. Game developers are always on the look out for the answer to this one questionWhat does the hardcore gamer actually want? How to make my content applicable for all? The answer to these lies in innovation at every step of the gaming ecosystem- game design, platforms, distribution, marketing, etc. Or simply newer formats for gaming are required. Some of the most popular emerging formats have been briefly touched upon below: Digital Downloads: Is the latest phenomenon to hit the Indian Gaming market wherein users are allowed to download the games directly using the Internet for a fee. This technique has its many advantages such as reduced distribution time from game development to final usage, lesser cost burden on end user, greater
profit margin per game for developers and most importantly tries to tackle the flourishing grey market for games. Another very popular feature observed in this format is the global availability of the game for simultaneous launches in different countries becomes much easier. As per Icube downloads of games from Internet is already done by 48% of gamers which indicates this methodology has some promise for the future. Social Gaming: Social networking and games go hand in hand. Social gaming is a new genre of gaming which adds the Social factor to the games. Whether it's taking advantage of the relationship data in social networks to build novel gameplay or building community among people who play games, game developers are discovering clever ways to build real communities around the games they're developing. Social networking sites such as Orkut and Facebook have multiple applications and games to play for their registered users, India too, has its very own social network for casual gamers- Nunook which allows users to play games without signing up but also provides lot of exclusive content to those who do sign up and gain sufficient points gaming. Now people can play and socialize at the same time on their already well established social networks. MMOGs: Massively multiplayer online game are simply video games where thousands of players simultaneously in a virtual world. The last year has seen a rapid increase in the number of gamers trying out MMOGs, up from 19% last year to 27% this year. (Source: I-cube 2008). There are a number of factors shared by most MMOGs that make them unique. Firstly they allow users to play among millions of others thus encouraging community. Secondly they allow you to continue playing from where you left off last. Thirdly they let you create a new identity or become someone else which especially appeals to those users who idolize someone. According to a leading publisher there are already around 50,000 Indians in such communities and judging by the growth rate of this format this number could well double over the next year. Conclave Gaming/ Gaming tournaments: This kind of format has already become very popular in western nations with gaming championships where many gamers compete to see who is the best gamer for a selected list of games. Such competitions are recently being carried out in certain institutes across the country and are bound to increase in popularity in the near future due to the great prizes being dished out and large number of advertisers already ready to promote such events. Fantasy Gaming / Real Life simulations: These games are almost like simulation games or role playing games, multiplayer in nature and existing in a
persistent virtual world. An example of one such game is stock market or share simulation games where a person gets to experience the real life scenario in a stock market. Other popular games among Indians were Cricket super selector and EPL Fantasy league where the user gets to become a manager of a team and select his own players and earn points based on their performances in matches played in real life. Players can form leagues of their own and compete among each other and against the rest of the world. Such games bring together large number of followers of the sport itself and also help all demographics play a part in the gaming experience. Mixed environment gaming/ Motion sensing games: These games primarily comprise of video games which include physical activity as part of the gameplay. These games emphasize listening, repetition and rhythm into gameplay. Such games make the person perform life like activities to simulate tasks such as playing a DJ, playing a musical instrument, learning to dance, etc. Some very popular examples which have succeeded in Japan are Guitar freaks, drum mania, parappa the rapper and dance dance revolution (DDR) which has also been praised for its innate ability to help people lose weight while gaming. DDR, the game, consists of a floor pad controller with four directional arrows, leads players to dance along with the music, stepping on the floor arrows that correspond with increasingly rapid onscreen commands. As games continue to develop it is apparent that gamers will be interested in a variety of different interactive formats, including those that rely on physical activity. Nintendos Wii is a real life example of this . Educational Games: are games that have been specifically designed to teach people about a certain subject, expand concepts, reinforce development, understand a historical event or culture, or assist them in learning a skill as they play. They include board and card games, and video games. These games are also quite often referred as edugames or edutainment due to their intrinsic values. Math blaster, treasure quest, reader rabbit are some examples of this type of games. Interactive Games: A large number of DTH providers in India have started the concept of Interactive TV gaming where the user can enjoy extremely easy to play casual games on television itself with the remote. Word jumbles, hangman, 2D sports games are some of the most popular categories played. Multiplatform Games: Finally to reach out to the large mobile subscriber base who is already playing games but is not totally satisfied with these games certain developers are keen to introduce games which can be downloaded for a fee on multiple platforms.
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Barriers and Drivers for Gaming in India
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Although India has huge potential to become a gaming superpower in the future, several roadblocks exist which may restrain the industry from reaching full potential. Each of these roadblocks is connected to various aspects of the consumers, industry and the environment forces. A few stakeholders believe that the content being developed for the domestic consumption lacks quality and innovation and most games are copies of famous overseas games. For some, the major challenges in the online gaming space are issues like PC, Internet and Broadband penetration; access to right content while others blame the consumer mentality towards games and their price sensitivity. Given the situation, all stakeholders need to work together to address each roadblock and enable the domestic market to grow. These roadblocks have been clubbed into three heads and elaborated as follows: Infrastructure issues: Very Low PC Penetration: Only 7.8 Mn households all across India own at least one PC which accounts for less than 5% of all households in the country. It is already known that majority of the gamers start of as either casual offline PC
gamers and then move on to Online and console gaming so not having a PC to start with inhibits the growth of gaming in the country Low Internet and Broadband penetration: The total number of Internet subscribers comes to a mere 4.8 Mn out of which the number of broadband subscribers is a paltry 3.7 Mn which provides a very low base for capability to play Online games of any type let alone more complex MMOGs. Due to this lack of penetration of broadband, Internet speeds are very low which makes the gameplay experience quite non enjoyable and causes frustration due to lag in screen frames Network setting up costs: Cost of setting up a network for Internet and Broadband connectivity across the nation is very high. This barrier can be overcome only with the support of all stakeholders in the gaming ecosystem by means such as sharing of costs through innovative business models
Consumer related barriers: Cultural barrier to games: Many restaurants, cinema theatres and malls are already hugely popular among the public for entertainment purposes hence they see no benefit in Gaming and perceive it as fun they can do without. Long term benefits in terms of wide career options are also not visible due to lot of expatriates talent being preferred for jobs. This makes parents strongly discourage their children from such activities especially at the cost of their studies or even physical activity.
Price sensitive customers: One major factor which affects the game developers incentive to make new better games is the consumers price sensitivity in India. This could be possibly due to affordability problems faced as well as customers willingness to pay for a game is seen as much lesser due to it being a luxury/ unnecessary item. After effects of this is that most developers need to lower their prices at lower profit margins which in turn stunts the innovations in game designs in the market
Customer perception of gaming: Another perception of gaming in India is meant for kids which automatically eliminates half the potential demographic candidates from even trying to do such activities. Thus the base for gamers becomes very limited.
Industry related issues: Piracy issues: Existence of a thriving grey market in the country with almost 70-80% of games sold being through this channel severely affects the growth of gaming in India. Further, there is high customs duty on the gaming consoles (approx. 25%), making the consoles out of reach for the consumers. The high duty has also encouraged the grey market as they are able to sell the consoles cheaper after avoiding the duties and taxes Lack of experienced game developers: Most of the game development is being done through foreign developers being brought to India for work from other countries which shows there is a dearth of home grown developers which could act as a barrier to growth in the industry. After Software and BPOs, India has the potential to emerge as the next gaming software developing destination. The development of console based video games is amongst the few areas of software development in which India still has a long way to go.
Online game
An online game is a game played over some form of computer network. This almost always means the Internet or equivalent technology, but games have
always used whatever technology was current: modems before the Internet, and hard wired terminals before modems. The expansion of online gaming has reflected the overall expansion of computer networks from small local networks to the Internet and the growth of Internet access itself. Online games can range from simple text based games to games incorporating complex graphics and virtual worlds populated by many players simultaneously. Many online games have associated online communities, making online games a form of social activity beyond single player games. The rising popularity of Flash and Java led to an Internet revolution where websites could utilize streaming video, audio, and a whole new set of user interactivity. When Microsoft began packaging Flash as a pre-installed component of IE, the Internet began to shift from a data/information spectrum to also offer on-demand entertainment. This revolution paved the way for sites to offer games to web surfers. Some online multiplayer games like World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XI and Lineage II charge a monthly fee to subscribe to their services, while games such as Guild Wars offer an alternative no monthly fee scheme. Many other sites relied on advertising revenues from on-site sponsors, while others, like RuneScape, or Tibia let people play for free while leaving the players the option of paying, unlocking new content for the members. After the dot-com bubble burst in 2001, many sites solely relying on advertising revenue dollars faced extreme adversity. Despite the decreasing profitability of online gaming websites, some sites have survived the fluctuating ad market by offsetting the advertising revenue loss by using the content as a crosspromotion tool for driving web visitors to other websites that the company owns. The term online gaming in many circles is being strictly defined to describe games that do not involve wagering, although many still use the term online gaming synonymously with online gambling. This article focuses on online games that do not involve wagering, online gambling is discussed in a separate article
Real-time strategy games

Early real-time strategy games often allowed multiplayer play over a modem or local network. As the Internet started to grow during the 1990s, software was developed that would allow players to tunnel the LAN protocols used by the
games over the Internet. By the late 1990s, most RTS games had native Internet support, allowing players from all over the globe to play with each other. Services were created to allow players to be automatically matched against another player wishing to play or lobbies were formed where people could meet in so called game rooms. An example was the MSN Gaming Zone where online game communities were formed by active players for games, such as Age of Empires and Microsoft Ants.
Cross-platform online play

As consoles are becoming more like computers, online gameplay is expanding. Once online games started crowding the market, open source networks, such as the Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube and Xbox took advantage of online functionality with its PC game counterpart. Games such as Phantasy Star Online have private servers that function on multiple consoles. Dreamcast, PC, Macintoshand GameCube players are able to share one server. Earlier games, like 4x4 Evolution, Quake III and Need for Speed: Underground also have a similar function with consoles able to interact with PC users using the same server. Usually, a company like Electronic Arts or Sega runs the servers until it becomes inactive, in which private servers with their own DNS number can function. This form of open source networking has a small advantage over the new generation of Sony and Microsoft consoles which customize their servers to the consumer.
Browser games
As the World Wide Web developed and browsers became more sophisticated, people started creating browser games that used a web browser as a client. Simple single player games were made that could be played using a web browser via HTML and HTML scripting technologies (most commonly JavaScript, ASP, PHP and MySQL). More complicated games such as Legend of Empires or AQ worlds would contact aweb server to allow a multiplayer gaming environment. The development of web-based graphics technologies such as Flash and Java allowed browser games to become more complex. These games, also known by their related technology as "Flash games" or "Java games", became increasingly popular. Many games originally released in the
1980s, such as Pac-Man and Frogger, were recreated as games played using the Flash plugin on a webpage. Most browser games have limited multiplayer play, often being single player games with a high score list shared amongst all players. Browser-based pet games are also very popular amongst the younger generation of online gamers. These games range from gigantic games with millions of users, such as Neopets, to smaller and more community-based pet games. More recent browser-based games use web technologies like Ajax to make more complicated multiplayer interactions possible.
Simulation
Is a way to create real world situations to better train someone before they attempt the real thing.
MUDs
MUDs are a class of multi-user real-time virtual worlds, usually but not exclusively text-based, with a history extending back to the creation of MUD1 by Richard Bartle in 1978. MUDs were the direct predecessors of MMORPGs.
Massively multiplayer online games (MMOG)

Massively multiplayer online games were made possible with the growth of broadband Internet access in many developed countries, using the Internet to allow hundreds of thousands of players to play the same game together. Many different styles of massively multiplayer games are available, such as:

MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) MMORTS (Massively multiplayer online real-time strategy) MMOFPS (Massively multiplayer online first-person shooter) MMOSG (Massively multiplayer online social game)
Online game governance
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Popular online games are commonly bound by an End User License Agreement (EULA). The consequences of breaking the agreement vary according to the contract; ranging from warnings to termination, such as in the 3D immersive world Second Life where a breach of contract will append the player warnings, suspension and termination depending on the offense. Enforcing the EULA is difficult, due to high economic costs of human intervention and low returns back to the firm. Only in large scale games is it profitable for the firm to enforce its EULA. Edward Castronova writes that "there are issues of ownership and governance that wrinkle the affairs of state significantly". He has divided the online governance into "good governance" and "strange governance". Castronova also mentions that synthetic worlds are good ways to test for government and management.
Main Drivers of Online Gaming in India
Many factors are associated with driving the growth of gaming market in India. They have been broadly classified below:
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Heavy advertising: This advertising will be required to achieve two purposes. One, to increase the awareness of gaming and two, to remove the anti-gaming perception which exists among Indian culture. This has been successfully undertaken by Zapak.com. To drive traffic and build awareness levels, a lot of advertising will be required to generate interest among the non-playing population. Besides the advertising, developers on their part will be required to create more sticky applications which would get these new users hooked to gaming and searching for more. Games with relevant content: Currently majority of the developers are focusing on making games for the global audience while it is evident from the genres of games played by the Indian public that they prefer playing games which give them something to identify with. For eg. Having an Indian Formula One team competing helps enhance the racing genre in popularity. Similarly cricket being like a religion in India, it is not surprising to see it Top the list of sports games played. According to I-Cube 2008, 80% gamers prefer Online games as it allows them to play with other people and 85% overall preferred Online games over Offline games due to wider variety of games and it being free. Innovative distribution models: India is in desperate need to find new and innovative distribution models which will help reduce if not eliminate piracy of games in the market. If such a technique comes to the fore such as digital downloads or social gaming, then it is sure to trigger more people to simply buy the game online instead of the grey market. Also, social networks in India such as Orkut, Facebook, etc are already attracting a large number of users. Now when these sites come up with innovative games they indirectly attract the social person to gaming as well which in turn shall trigger a whole new set of online gamers. Increasing broadband speeds: With every passing day the consumer especially the hard core gamer is getting more eager for advanced graphics, more interaction and faster gameplay. All these require high amount of bandwidth and hence great Internet speeds. Broadband in India is currently hovering around the >64 kbps limit only, once this gets converted to speeds of at least 256 Kbps and more, then this will most likely trigger a gaming desire in Internet users. Large potential segment: The large youth segment (12-25 years) which forms the bulk of Online Gamers in India is driving the demand for games on multiple platforms. This segment also will form the largest segment of Internet users in the future and shall be more technology savvy than their predecessors which will make them ideal bearers for accepting new technologies. However this
segment is also very fickle in their tastes and yearns for wider variety of games coupled with super cool graphics which shall make them very difficult to please.
Market Size
Estimating market size of the gaming industry has proved to be a difficult undertaking due to the existence of unaccountable parallel offerings in the guise of pirated devices and gaming CDs/DVDs. Any amount of product development by gaming companies will not foster the industry unless prohibitions are levied on illegal duplications. While conducting research for this study the participants, specifically game developers and promoters in console and PC industry, categorically reflected on this limitation. Below, however, are the estimates based on secondary as well as certain past research studies. Console Games Based on our primary research study conducted in 2007, the annual revenue across consoles and handhelds was arrived at INR 800 Million. In these revenues, the volume share of PSP (Play Station Portable) was higher (55%) compared to other console devices. This was followed by the share of Xbox 360 23%. Play Station 2 (PS2) and Play Station 3 (PS3) comprised 21% of the volumes. The parallel or grey market selling was higher than the authorized buys at INR 900 Million. The volume share in this market seemed highly skewed towards PS2 with more than 50% followed by Xbox 360. Considering India as a price sensitive market, with the gradual decrease in prices in the authorized sales, we expect that the grey market could be overshadowed. The game providers, however, have not been liberal in their price cuts. Apart from price cut on PS2 in 2007, there has not been any significant attractive offering on new products in the console gaming devices. Hardware sales of Console devices, including parallel grey market for PS2, PS3, PSP, Xbox360 and Nintendo) is estimated at INR 2650 Million in 2008 and INR 4050 Million rate of growth of 57% and 52% respectively. The sales of this hardware will continue to grow at 41% and reach INR 5750 Million in 2010.
Mobile Gaming
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Mobile subscription has been on an upswing since past few years in India. With a monthly growth of more than 10 Million subscribers, wireless subscribers have crossed 400 Million. Ranked second in the global subscribership, Indias mobile market is soundly placed to grow at an exponential rate in the ValueAdded Services (VAS) including gaming. Further, gaming options over mobile are less mired with piracy and duplicity issues than other platforms. A recent Mobile VAS report by IAMAI and IMRB International estimated the mobile gaming industry at INR 2,890 Million (5% of overall mobile VAS industry) in June 2008. The report, further, estimates that overall VAS industry to grow steadily at 70% over the next two years and touch INR 97,600 Million by June 2009 and INR 162,500 Million by June 2010. Even if we consider a constant 5% gaming share of VAS market, the estimation stands at INR 8125 Million by June 2010. Although, it is very likely that the share of gaming in the VAS pie would increase at higher in the next few years considering the types of interactive and touch mobile devices that are available. The share of gaming in mobile would get a further boost by the launch of 3D and MMOG mobile games
Desktop Offline Games and Online Games The share of offline PC games has been dwindling over the years. It constitutes around 12% of the overall gaming market. Online games, however, is a growing market in India. Although with a similar share as offline games, it is expected to grow at a very high rate in the coming years. Unlike offline gaming which has been marred by grey markets, online gaming offers providers the facility of distributing their games through efficient and secured channels. With increasing usage of social media and emergence of wide variety of online games, Internet users are gradually getting hooked to casual as well as serious gaming.
Robust value chain analysis of Xbox
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............................................................................................................................. ................ .
.............................................................................................................................................
SONY . PLAY STATION

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Found in-1946(adopted its current name in 1958) Founders-Masaru Ibuka,Okio Morita Headquarters-Minato,Tokyo,Japan Key people-Sir Howard Stringer (CEO & Chairman) Sony got into the console gaming market in late 1994. It stands at first position in INDIA and second in the world market of gaming industry. 7. Name derived form a Latin word SONUS.
Marketing objectives
1. Lowered down the hardware and software prices to grab the space created in the market of NINTENDO due to its unavailability. 2. Attracting movie making companies to make use of BLU-RAY technology, thereby bringing revenues for the company.
Marketing plans
1. Make Sony available on shelves always.
2. Lowered price-capture market of XBOX. 3. Took idea from NINTENDO and added the feature of motion sensitivity before release.
Marketing & Product strategies

1. Target customer- 15 to 30yrs 2. Includes shooters and high action games such as Kill Zone and God of War 3. younger children-more adventure based games such as Jak and Daxter and Crash Bandicoot 4. Blu-ray offers the latest advancement in movie entertainment experience. The detail of these movies is so good that you can literally see individual pores on peoples faces. As you might expect, this means detail on everything is very high and movie buffs love it. 5. High audio visual quality 6. classic games available for download via the Playstation Network 7. Little change in control setup-compared to PS1 & PS2
Pricing & Promotion & Supply chain strategies

1. Initially the prices were high then reduced to gain as much as possible from the market- skimming strategy (extracting the creamy layer of market) 2. Provided a gaming system which also enables enables to watch movies on it. 3. Offers down able games 4. Nice warranty 5. Enables multiplayer games 6. Additional features-songs etc 7. Backward compatibility with PS1,PS2games 8. buys parts from different suppliers to construct the PS3 9. Then constructs units in Japan 10.After repeated testing, sales in Japan n then shortly in US &so on 11.From here they are sold to distributors.
Major players in India

Zapak.com Games2win.com
Indiagames.com hungama dhruva interactive game shastra solutions
Market size
350 300 250

Revenues
200 150 100 50 0 Years 2003 2005 Years 2007 2009
Market share of gaming in India
online Consoles 2% 20%
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Digital Distribution
One of the most talked about subjects in the games business is the shift away from discs, with customers getting their games through digital downloads. There is a consensus that digital distribution will be a key factor to the future of the business, but specifics are always under debate. Each segment of the game industry ecosystem has a different perspective. Retailers and online distributors agree the industry will slowly move into digital distribution. That is our future, writes one survey responder. It will completely change the distribution channel in three to six years, writes another. And a third responder notes that digital distribution gives a chance to smaller players both publishers and developers to enter the industry. It will deeply change the way we consume games and the content we can find: no stock, limited catalogue, long tail, surmises one seller, to be replaced by the Permanent account with its downloads, digital bonuses, ecological purchase channel, etc Developers surveyed believe digital distribution allows smaller companies to survive. One developer reports: Well do smaller, shorter games that cost less for the customers. Another warns, Creativity and fresh gameplay will be more important than ever to succeed. Digital distribution will also kill the second hand market and physical retailers, developers believe. It also means more profit to developers than publishers, writes one developer. This hypothesis, however, has not been proven by time and measurement.
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Publishers pragmatically suggest that retail will need to rethink their role in the value chain. Smaller shops will die out, bigger chains will continue to dominate the retail market even more, suggests one publisher. Another says, Brick-and-mortar companies will move online. But theres more involved, according to another surveyed publisher. I think the visible part of digital distribution will be legaldownload and will grow bigger, but item selling, adbased games and other microtransactions will generate more than 50% of the total revenue of the industry soon. Proving most interesting are internal estimates of 2009s share of revenues from different segments. Outsourcing and service companies, developers themselves, and publishers are all seeing digital revenues, with the most activity between 10-20%. And when surveyed to find what share of revenues might be made from digital distribution in 2010, the estimates begin to rise, swinging toward revenues above the previous average between 10-20%.
The Gaming Entertainment
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Size and Scope

Four Large Casino Operators Park Place Entertainment Inc. MGM Grand Inc. Harrahs Entertainment Inc. Mandalay Resort Group
Positions
1. Hotel Operations Reservationists Front Desk Clerk Housekeeping Staff Valet Attendant Bell attendant Door attendant 2. Food and Beverage Operations
Receptionist Food attendant Cashier Bartender Chef
3. Casino Operations Gaming operation staff (slot machine technicians, table game dealers) Casino service staff (security, purchasing, maintenance and facilities engineers) Marketing staff (pulic relations, market research, advertising professionals) Human resources staff (employee relations, compensation, staffing, and training specialists) Finance and administration staff (lawyers, accounts payable, audits, payroll, and income control specialits) 4. Retail Operations 5. Entertainment Operations
Video Games Industry
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During the last few years, video games have been appealing to a broader demographic base, and, for example, average American is spending much more time (75 hours in 2003) in playing games than the past The average game player age is increased to 35, and 65% of American households play computer or video games In 2008, 26% of gamers were over the age of 50 Out of total American gamers, 60% are male and 40% are female
1.
2.
3.
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4.
Competition for the Opportunity

Makers of video game consoles (Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo) are the major competitors in this fast growing industry Independent game publishers Microprocessor and graphics accelerator producers like IBM Makers of graphics processing units (GPUs) to display the HD-quality and 3D graphics PC manufacturers
Fierce Battle for Console Market
Prior to the launch of Microsofts Xbox360, Sony was enjoying market leadership with its PS2 100 million units sold But, with the launch of Microsofts next generation console Xbox360, in November 2005, a battle for supremacy started in the console technology
Then, at the end of 2006, Sony and Nintendo came up with their next generation consoles (PS3, Wii)
Microsoft:
Since its founding in 1976, Microsoft had become the most important software company in the world It spent almost 15% of its revenues on research and development in 2006 to sustain its competitive advantage Microsoft entered the video console industry in November 2001 with Xbox system, which was the most technologically advanced game console of the time Then more advanced console Xbox360 was introduced in November 2005
Microsoft: Xbox 360
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Xbox360 had a 12 months head start on Sonys PS3 and Nintendos Wii $299-core system & $399-premium system 3.2 GHz power processor Xbox live online gaming service 12x DVD, optional HD-DVD at $199 64 MB memory card with core system Wired controller with core system, wireless with premium Wi-Fi Game Prices $40 to $60 Compatible with approximately 300 Xbox titles
Analysis of Industry
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Battle for Supremacy
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Product Differentiation
Highly skilled and creative product development team Well integrated Supply Chain and Strong sales team Corporate reputation Access to leading scientific research
Sonys Competitive Advantage Blu-ray Disc

Well integrated Supply Chain and Strong sales team
Future scope
Indian mobile gaming market is forecast to exceed rs 800 crore by 2010. The future for India's game development community looks bright in mobile gaming India alone has 40 million mobile phone users
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Conclusion
Nothing is certain in the video games fast morphing business With both opportunities and risks increasing each day, and new players vying for power, it will require all of the wiles and muscle of the company to win. The goal: making gamers feel like theyre living the games, not just playing them. the advent of new technology always invigorates everyone in the industry, says EA Chief Executive Lawrence F. Probst III In this sprawling video games industry, nobody positioned better than Sony. Because, - PlayStation is the Champion product of Sony, according to the 2005 Turnaround Strategy of Sony - unlike any other players it already assembled all the pieces of video game empire. - It makes games such as the popular Gran Turismo racing and Everquest online. - Its own Sony Pictures and MGM movie studios, whose Spider-Man and James Bond franchises have been megahit games for Activision and EA.
The combination has helped Sony sell 80 million PS2 consoles worldwide. Sonys next-generation technology (Blu-Ray) is expected to out-dazzle its competitors PS2 has had more than 2,000 software titles, with more than 775 million total game copies sold.
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REFERENCES:
Wikinvest, Game Consoles Wars: Xbox360 Vs PS3 Vs Wii ESA (entertainment software association) Essential facts about the computer and video games industry, 2008 Competitive forces in the video game industry, Dietl & Royer, 2003: 416. VG Chartz Collaboration and the creation of the Xbox 360 By David Kemp INNOVATION: management, policy & practice; HELMUT M. DIETL and SUSANNE ROYER Pearce ii, J. And A., Robinson Jr., R.B. (2007). Strategic management: Formulation, Implementation and control. McgrawHill: North America
BIBLIOGRAPHY
comp.games.development.industry (Google Groups) International Game Developers Association Playing the Game: The Economics of the Computer Game Industry (Cambridge University Press) Sloperama: Game Biz Advice (Tom Sloper) Game Industry Map
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Gaming Industry in India

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Gaming Industry in India

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Topic index

Gaming industry in india*

Gaming industry in india*

Introduction to Gaming in India

Gaming industry in india*

Gaming industry in india*

Game industry value chain

Gaming industry in india*

Gaming industry in india*

Gaming industry in india*

Japanese video game industry practices

UK video game industry practices

Latest trends in the game industry

Internet: Driving the gaming market in India

Gaming industry in india*

Internet and Broadband penetration in India

Internet Users in India

Distribution Model reaching the gamers

Gaming industry in india*

Gaming industry in india*

Gaming Revenue Models

Gaming industry in india*

Gaming industry in india*

Type of Gaming Platforms

Gaming industry in india*

Gaming industry in india*

Emerging Gaming Formats

Gaming industry in india*

Gaming industry in india*

Barriers and Drivers for Gaming in India

Gaming industry in india*

Real-time strategy games

Cross-platform online play

Massively multiplayer online games (MMOG)

Online game governance

Gaming industry in india*

Main Drivers of Online Gaming in India

Gaming industry in india*

Gaming industry in india*

Robust value chain analysis of Xbox

Gaming industry in india*

SONY . PLAY STATION

Marketing & Product strategies

Pricing & Promotion & Supply chain strategies

Major players in India

Indiagames.com hungama dhruva interactive game shastra solutions

350 300 250

200 150 100 50 0 Years 2003 2005 Years 2007 2009

Market share of gaming in India

Gaming industry in india*

online Consoles 2% 20%

Gaming industry in india*

The Gaming Entertainment

Gaming industry in india*

Size and Scope

Receptionist Food attendant Cashier Bartender Chef

Video Games Industry

Gaming industry in india*

Gaming industry in india*

Competition for the Opportunity

Fierce Battle for Console Market

Microsoft: Xbox 360

Gaming industry in india*

Gaming industry in india*