“The Gaming Industry is Recession Proof”

…Said the bigwigs of gaming at the India Gaming Summit 2008

Mumbai, 24th November’08: Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd, India’s largest online gaming portal, a Reliance ADA Group company along with Intel presented The India Gaming Summit 2008 on 21st November ’08 at Nehru Centre, Mumbai which was a grand success. There were panelists from Zapak, EA, Intel, Reliance Entertainment, F X Labs, Kreeda, Channel [V] and more. While the economy is getting affected by the global economic slowdown, the gaming industry is not touched by it. All the Gaming companies that were present at the summit believed that “The Gaming Industry is recession proof” and the growth of the gaming industry was highlighted along with the statistics.

Intel recently launched the fastest desktop processor on the planet – Core i7 for speeding video editing, immersive gaming and other activities up to 40 percent without increasing power consumption. The Core i7 processor is the first member of a new family of Nehalem processor designs and new technologies that will boost performance on demand. EA Sports launched their much awaited NFS Undercover and FIFA 09 where one can tackle and shoot their way to victory with a game that will deliver real football action.
With the industry projected to touch US$200 mn by 2011 (Nasscom 2007), the India Gaming Summit 2008 was held to broadly address this projection. The Summit overall was very interactive with panel discussions by the speakers of each sessions. The sessions were informative and gave an in-depth insight into the gaming industry, gaming industry being recession proof, its growth along with the statistics, future of gaming industry, the opportunities and challenges faced, the different platforms on which gaming can be done and how marketers and advertisers can look at gaming as an innovative medium. All sessions ended with a question answer session from audience.
During the Summit, there were discussions that ranged from the present scenario of Gaming in India, the future of gaming in India, and also what will be the key factors that will drive the industry to its maximum limits. The summit was divided into 4 sessions which was focused on different aspects of the gaming industry in India.

The key spokespersons for the event were Mr. Amit Khanna, President of Reliance Entertainment Ltd., Mr. Rohit Sharma of Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd. and Mr. Prakash Bagri of Intel.

Other speakers for the event included representatives from Kreeda, Microsoft, FX Labs, Intel, Reliance World, Zapak, Paymate, Contest2win, EA Sports, Jump Games, Excel Productions, Mindshare, Interactive Avenues and Channel V.
According to Mr. Prakash Bagri, Intel, “Intel has a range of world class products straddling the gamut of user requirements. We are especially pleased to be able to address the extremely demanding requirements of the gaming industry and community at large with the launch of the Core i7 processor based on Intel’s new Nehalem microarchitecture, aptly called the “Fastest Processor On The Planet”. This community also helps drive enhancements in our products; one example of that is the Core i7 where we have custom built several capabilities specifically for gamers.

Gaming today is a serious business and has largest revenue of 40 billion $. 40% online gamers are women & the gaming revenue are expected to reach 60 million$ by 2010. Thus gaming industry today is a profitable business proposition. Intel is therefore pleased to drive this industry extending its partnership with Zapak to bring forward the India Gaming Summit again. The collaboration and engagement with the industry, along with the broad availability of Intel products and tools will help spur local innovation as well as provide gamers and content creators more opportunities.”
He further added that “The India Gaming Summit is a platform for the gamers and gaming companies (Hardware and Software) to promote gaming in India which has a huge potential.”

According to Rohit Sharma, Chief Operating Officer, Zapak Digital Entertainment, “Gaming Industry in India is recession proof. We at Zapak itself are expanding our business; we recently launched www.zapakworld.com – a global casual gaming website, we soon plan to launch our casual gaming portals in Pakistan, Brazil and Russia. We have successful 51 gameplexes across the country and are increasing the count at a rapid speed. Zapakgirls.com has been relaunched with 2000+ games dedicated for women gamers which is doing fantastically well. All in all there is a lot to look forward to from Zapak and we are not slowing down.

Worldwide gaming being the largest entertainment revenue generator, in India gaming is one of the top five usage models on the Internet. Gaming in India is not at a nascent stage anymore. It is young and growing. For the rapid growth of this industry and to put India on the global Gaming map, the companies in our country who have taken gaming as a serious business need to face the challenges and recognize opportunities together. This will aid the country to move forward globally. There is no platform which brings all key gaming contributors together. Therefore the India Gaming Summit has been introduced which in a small way does just that.”
He further added that, “The PC penetration and the broadband penetration are the determining factors for the growth of gaming industry in India. The Gaming industry in India is getting more and more aggressive in the country.”

Ajay Khanna, General Manager, EA was a panelist for the 3rd session – Platform Wars. He said, “The India Gaming industry has grown from being a niche segment in the past 3 years into a mainstream entertainment segment today, at least among urban youth. 2009 will be a point of inflexion as we see continued growth in consoles and PC gaming, as well as online and mobile. Some of EA’s titles like Need for Speed Undercover and FIFA 09 are the most popular games in India across all formats, and we’ll continue to promote these and our 40+ titles across the country.”
India Gaming Summit 2008 presented by Zapak and Intel was a grand success. The contributors to the summit did it great justice. Important issues about the gaming industry were raised; and innovative ideas were discussed. The summit was a great platform to get an insight on the Indian gaming industry from veterans from diverse industries.

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 6 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. 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:

Richa Anand Bratin Roy

Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd. Hanmer MS&L – Publicis Groupe

93246 20303 9833 868621