'Change in Reliance Infocomm management hasn't affected us'

As chief marketing officer of Paradox Studios, a Reliance Infocomm company,
Salil Bhargava leads the company's international business development, strategy,
and marketing initiatives. Speaking to Rahul Gupta of CyberMedia News, he shared
his views on Paradox' initiatives. Excerpts:

Since when is Paradox in the gaming industry?

Paradox Studios has been in the gaming segment since 2001. We have been
active in single and multiplayer games. The studio has been funded by Reliance
Infocomm.

On what platforms have you developed these games?

Paradox has created more than 100 games for J2ME, BREW, Symbian, and WAP.
These titles are available across the US, Europe, South Africa, Australia, and
Asia. Paradox is also India's first gaming company's to have released
multiplayer wireless games with a Ladder System (server-based high score).

Salil Bhargava

For its Indian market, Paradox is also aggregating and distributing content
to carriers in association with international partners like Global Wireless
Entertainment, a world leader in the exclusive management of brands and
celebrities in mobile media. Internationally, Paradox has acquired licenses in
association with 2ThumbZ Entertainment to develop and market games based on Jean
Claude Van Damme and BMX Stunt Teams.

Other licensed game development projects include Andretti F1, F1 Superboats,
and Fox Supercross in association with Global Wireless Entertainment and
Superscape, the world's leading 3D mobile games publisher.

Paradox has tied up with various mobile operators. What has been the
response so far?

Besides being affiliated with global associations like Sun's iForce
initiative and Forum Nokia PRO, Paradox has partnered with Intel, Sun, Sony
Ericsson, LG, and Qualcomm for its gaming initiatives. Distributed across the
US, Europe, South Africa, Australia and Asia, Paradox's games can be accessed
and played on Hutch, Reliance, and Tata networks. Paradox's games have clocked
up to 7.5 lakhs downloads a day, the most number of downloads in the country, on
the Reliance India Mobile network.

Where are the games developed and how much research goes into them?

Paradox Studios at Mumbai employs a staff of more than 120. And, Everything
is done in-house. Research would depend on the platform. A PC game will take
between three months to a year of research. Mobile and Web take about a month or
two.

What are your expansion plans?

We are looking to expand in a major way. We have grown phenomenally over the
past on year and are looking to double the manpower by the end of this financial
year.

Has there been any impact on Paradox after change in management at
Reliance Infocomm?

Paradox is an independently managed company. It has not been affected by the
change in management at Reliance Infocomm.