MUMBAI, India, October 21 /PRNewswire/ --
- Zapak Scouting for Partners to Launch the Business Through a Joint Venture Route
Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd, India's largest online gaming company, a Reliance ADA Group company, today announced their plans to launch their casual gaming business in Russia. Zapak is looking at launching this business in Russia through a joint venture route and is scouting for a potential partner.
In addition, around half a million dollars will be invested to acquire content from East Europe including Russia. Games for the portal will be outsourced from Russian Developers and at the same time Zapak will look at tie-ups with local Russian Game Developing Studios to create games.
Speaking on this, Rohit Sharma, Chief Operating Officer, Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd. said, "After creating an internet gaming success story in the Indian market with Zapak.com, Zapak's strategy is to focus on BRIC nations to create its global footprint. The reasons for the choice of BRIC nations are similarities in consumer behavior and digital trends i.e. PC and internet penetration. Consequently, Russia is an important nation for us. While the market here has leapfrogged in terms of gaming with the MMOG penetration we believe that with our domain knowledge and expertise of a JV partner we can develop a successful casual gaming business in this market.
"Currently most of our content for Zapak.com is outsourced of which over 10% is sourced from Easter Europe and Russian Markets. We firmly believe that this region is a rich source of talented game developers. Some of the most successful casual games have been coming from Eastern Europe and Russia. We are looking at forging stronger partnerships with developers to source more content from here." he added.
Zapak took its first step in the global market with the launch of 'Zapakworld.com', World's largest destination for casual games in the world with over 12,000 games to offer. Zapak now plans launching casual gaming website is Russia, China and Brazil.
Russian Gaming Market:
Russia has a huge potential to tap in the casual gaming market. The total population of Russia is over 145 million out of which 31 million constitutes their internet population. The online gaming market in Russia is primarily browser based MMO dominated. The Russian online gaming market was valued at nearly US$ 80 million with an annual growth rate of close to 100% in 2007. The casual gaming market in Russia grew by over 500% in 2007. Casual gaming market in Russia is expected to exceed US$ 30 million in 2008."
About Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd.:
Zapak is the only gaming company in India to create a complete value chain for Online Gaming. With currently over 5.1 million registered gamers Zapak has created the largest database for Casual Gaming in the country. In its endeavor to complete the value chain Zapak has launched Zapak Cards, which serve as a micro payment option, allowing gamers to purchase games from the portal. Zapak Gameplexes have also been introduced, with world-class ambience to provide better enabled access points to gamers. There are currently 51 Gameplex across India, with plans to increase the number to 500 by the end of 2008. Zapak Games, focusing on gaming merchandise has successfully re-launched movie based merchandise with innovative packs; it has also launched merchandise around a popular TV animation called Bakugan with Cartoon Network. Zapak plans to bring to India some of the world's best MMOG titles by internationally renowned developers. There are plans to introduce atleast 5-6 MMOG's with 3 titles to be launched this year the first title in the series being 'Crazy Kart' in association with Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
For further information, please contact:
Jyotika Ahuja,
+91-9323622379,
Jyotika.ahuja@zapak-corp.com
Richa Anand,
+91-9324620303,
richa.anand@zapak-corp.com
Deepak Abbot,
+91-9322159252,
deepak.abbot@zapak-corp.com
SOURCE Zapak Digital Entertainment Limited
International News / Press Release source: PR Newswire
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