THQ Wireless, the wireless arm of game publishing major THQ is considering releasing some of its popular wireless games in the Indian market by the year end.
There has been no official communication from THQ Wireless about the game releases, but speaking at MG2005, THQ Wireless Business Development Director for Asia Alan Giebel did hint that the game publishing major was certainly considering releasing some of its titles in India by the year end.
The THQ titles that would be part of the initial release would be popular titles like MotoGP, WWE, Worms, etc.
Speaking to Animation ‘xpress, Alan said that,”The Indian market has an Interesting growth opportunity but the low tarrif rates and the revenue shares will discourage many international players. More will join as the market grows, as volume can help but it would speed things if there was a different operator view”
“As for why we are considering entering now, we believe the volume opportunity overcomes many of the other difficulties. We also feel the market will mature over time and the environment will improve in the future” he added.
On being asked about some of THQ Wireless’ games’ volumes Alan shared, “THQ’s MotoGP has done millions of downloads, Worms is million + title, Star Wars Titles have done well and WWE has been big”
Which countries does THQ Wireless (Asia) operate in? Are they similar in approach? Alan replied, “Just about all of them except some of IndoChina (ie. Vietnam, Cambodia, etc). Korea is a good mobile gaming market, Japan is the biggest mobile content market. All of SE Asia is growing and share a number of simularities in how they approach the market”
“Operator dynamics are the same across continents except for Japan where Game Decks are managed by users rather than the carriers. The Japanese operators view their business as a freeway and they take a toll, while the operators elsewhere not only build the freeway but put their own traffic on it” he added.
Currently 25% of THQ Wireless games are developed in Asia. Though none of the THQ games are developed in India, some of them are ported and tested here. Most of the work in India is deployment side and not the creative side.