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B'wood bockbusters fuel mobile gaming industry
By agencies
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Monday, 08 May 2006, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: Hollywood blockbusters like 'Star wars', 'King Kong', 'The Incredibles' have all been made into computer games. Not to be outdone, the desi film industry is now designing mobile games based on popular Bollywood films.
From 'Rang De Basanti', to 'Sarkar', even 'Home Delivery', are among the 60-odd movies that have been converted into mobile games.
The idea is nothing new for Hollywood hot-shots like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, who have done it several times like for 'Indiana Jones' series, 'Star Wars' and 'Jurassic' films, though of course as computer games. But here it's for mobile games and it's become popular also.
"It all started with 'Sholay', which made it to the top of the download charts setting a completely new record in Bollywood content download with the game crossing the 150,000 downloads mark on GSM operators and 800,000 on CDMA phones," says Rajiv Hiranandani of mobile2win.
"Indians are crazy about movies and music especially that of Bollywood films. Mobile content and gaming companies are now tapping this target audience. Infact, games based on Bollywood movies also serve as a brand extension," says Hiranandani.
"Mobile gaming in India is a $12 million market today and out of that Bollywood constitutes nearly $2.5 million. However, the Bollywood segment is expected to touch $4 million in next two years," he says.
However, how well the game would be received depends on how popular the movie was and how well the game has been made, he says.
"Multiplayer games are also being designed, wherein two people citing in distant places can play a game together. However, it would depend on 3D networks," says Hiranandani.
He says the real market for Bollywood games lies in rural areas. "Just a beginning has been made. As rural connectivity gets better and mobiles become more common in rural areas, games will pick up in a big way there."
"In smaller towns and villages, the entertainment avenues are very less and people are very fond of movies or any other event related to films," he says noting "the real growth of gaming industry would come from there."
"The games can also be promoted overseas in countries with substantial Indian population. They too are very fond of Hindi movies and games based on them would be welcome," says Hiranandani.