'We will invest $100 mn in the next three years'

Are you facing any challenges in the development of your online

gaming portal, Zapak?



Online gaming in India will be worth $200 mn in the next two years as
statistics suggest. But, being at the nascent stage, the online gaming market is

facing hurdles mainly related to easy availability of broadband connectivity and

PC specifications. An improvement in these two would trigger growth of the

segment. Lack of availability of quality local content is also a cause of

concern and therefore we are planning to set up a large development center.

What is the revenue model for Zapak?



Gaming is an important part of the entertainment strategy of the Reliance
ADA Group. Therefore, we intend to invest $100 mn in the next three years over

opening gaming centers and expanding our offering. While in the first phase,

revenue will come in from advertisements with free games for the users; second

phase will introduce subscription based content. The portal currently has over

150 casual games.

In which vertical of gaming do you see traction happening?



The online gaming market is very nascent in India. So, it will be difficult
to say which traction is seeing traffic. Although we believe that the casual

games, segment which includes sports, action and movies, will see traction in

the sports and action gaming segment.

What are your future plans for Zapak?



We have become the fastest growing portal in just 15 days from the launch,

with an average of 1 mn page impressions daily and close to 10,000 registrations

per day. Predictably, we have seen significant popularity amongst the metros.

But surprisingly there has been significant registration from non-metro

locations like Vishakhapatnam, Siliguri, Jabalpur, Ludhiana and other places, in

addition to international locations like Pakistan and the UAE. We plan to

acquire 50 mn users in the near future and at the same time provide the best

quality gaming content to our users. In due course, we will move from casual

gaming to hardcore gaming.

Stuti Das



stutid@cybermedia.co.in