Overseas gaming app makers scrambling into Indian market

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BENGALURU: Overseas gaming app makers, also called publishers in advertising parlance, are scrambling into the Indian market as early signs of minting money emerge from this side of the world. With India poised to supersede United States in the number of smartphone users by 2016, and a greater share of advertising dollars being diverted to mobile, Rovio, the maker of Angry Bird game, and ZeptoLab, the creator of Cut the Rope, among others are all keeping a close eye on India. "We have 10s of millions of ad impressions. Within year or two, it will grow 25-fold, both in users and ad impressions," said CEO Misha Lyalin of Russian entertainment and gaming company ZeptoLab, whose games have seen about 600 million downloads across the world. The debut of the international mobile gaming conference PocketGamer Connect in Bengaluru last week was telling: About 15 gaming companies from as far as Canada, Thailand and the United States flocked to India to explore the market and find local partners for the same. London- based Bossa Studios, Canada's Roadhouse Interactive, and New York-headquartered Lima Sky were a few of them. Rovio and the three companies could not be reached for comment at the time of going to print. "Indian market is more exciting than China, there is going to be faster growth here, because India has a greater share of young population," said Lyalin. "I think the market will see a lot of innovation on the methods of getting new users. For sure, Zepto will be looking to be doing that."


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Overseas gaming app makers scrambling into Indian market - The Economic Times