The news about the Dhoom Game is exciting. Tell us more about Bollywood & Gaming?
Globally retail products based on Hollywood IP have always done good volumes. The organized retail and entertainment scenario is evolving in India and Bollywood too wants to take the initiative of tapping this lucrative market. The Dhoom2 Game that we are doing for Yashraj is a very good start. It is scheduled for a year-end release.
Are there any more Bollywood Games that you are developing?
A few exciting titles are being discussed and are in advanced stages of finalization. Will be able to share the news only after we sign on the dotted line.
How is it working with Yashraj?
Fabulous! YRF has been very supportive with us in helping to develop the game. The characters and environments have been defined already and thanks to that we are able to have a more focused development cycle.
So is this a very complex game or more mainstream and mass market?
We have hit the middle of the road, the game is innovative, fun and targeted at a broad consumer base rather than a hardcore gamer.
Pricing Strategy?
We are targeting the Indian market and the pricing will appeal to the Indian consumer. We believe that high pricing actually encourages piracy and will go for an aggressive pricing model.
What‘s the development schedule like?
Like I earlier mentioned, the development pace is much faster for this product as a lot of characters, environments are pre defined. Typically development for a game of this scale would take 18 months, but we will complete this one in around 10 months time. 90% of the work is being done in our Hyderabad studio in India and 10% of it is being done in the US. Close to 30 people are working on the game.
What‘s the total team strength at FX Labs and what other projects are you working on?
We have doubled our team size in the last one year and are 130 members strong. Our Other projects include Archie‘s Riverdale Run (based on Archie Comics) and Inferno and Actio/Horror game. Both games have been designed to compete on the international stage and the quality rivals that of any game developer in the world.
Archies is a great property and has Zillions of fans across the world right from the teenage kid to his grandparent who would have grown up reading the comics. Till date the property sells 1 Million comic books a month worldwide.
Alongside the IP and products we are creating we are also working on a couple of major outsourced projects and will be freezing on the third one by the end of this month.
We have a separate focused team that caters to the outsourced work stream and not onl provides a steady revenue stream, but affords us new and exciting relationships with some of the larger developers and publishers.
Comments on your association with SpiritMedia?
The investment has gone off very well with us and they have helped in a major way in terms of connecting us with Bollywood. We feel that they have gone above and beyond in helping to open the doors to all the major film producers in India.
What do you have to say about PC Gaming in India? Both as a market and as a development hub?
The Gaming market is fledgling in India but the good thing is that it‘s only going to grow. Market data tells us that PC usage in homes is growing at 30% per year and that‘s a very good number.
In terms of development, outsourcing is a relatively new phenomenon in gaming and game companies in the US as well as across the rest of the world are all beginning to tap the potential of off shoring. This development is led by the fact that the new generation of game products is extremely complex and costs have gone through the roof. FXLabs itself has been reviewed as an off shoring destination by all the major studios and we are excited to grow this portion of the business.