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ShareGaming majors are tapping the edutainment genre with social games
KOLKATA: When the famous 18th century English essayist Charles Lamb called man a "gaming animal", he probably never realised how true his words would hold in the present era.
Online gaming is indeed one of the biggest entertainment today, and gaming makers are making sure it stays that way and even taking it a step further in the form of edutainment.
So, they are trying to grow a new concept where gaming becomes part of a social gathering and also conveys a social message.
Gaming majors such as Sony Computer Entertainment, Zapak, FXLabs, etc are developing games that are targeted at a larger audience, a big leap from their earlier targets of non-inclusive core players.
"In social games, existing social relationships add context and motivation to the game. Social games are more fun as you play with the people you know and not with strangers," Sashi Reddy, founder chairman, Hyderabad-based FXLabs, said.
For instance, SCE's Singstar Bollywood is a competitive singing contest devised on the console platform. The software provides the score as a competitor matches his voice against the actual song played on screen.
Zapak launched Play it Safe on the World AIDS Day on December 1. "With little promotion on the site, we saw the popularity the game generated... This made us realise that games today are an interesting and interactive tool to convey a social message," Rohit Sharma, COO, Zapak Digital Entertainment, told DNA Money.
Laadli, launched in association with the United Nations Population Fund, addresses issues of gender equality and sex selection. "The game is a lot of fun but delivers a message at every step..." adds Sharma.
"In Eye Toy, where one is pitted against one's own profile, it can even act as a personal trainer in physical workouts," Atindriya, Bose, country manager, SCE, said. Although the Indian versions of all SCE's three games are available in India, it will unveil its international range in July.
FXLabs recently launched its community for online games. In partnership with a social networking site, the company has created a gaming platform with more than 5,000 games and over a million active users.
"Going forward, we plan to introduce multiplayer games and conduct online game tournaments," Reddy said.
Zapak too wants to continue creating games in the segment of edutainment. "We are looking at creating a whole sub-section dedicated to games conceptualised on social causes," Sharma said.
At present, the market for social gaming in India is almost negligible. However, experts feel like in evolved markets such as the US, UK and Germany, this genre will carve out a 30% share in three years in India, too.
The worldwide gaming market is growing at 19% annually. It was pegged at $21 billion in 2006 and is estimated to cross $42 billion by 2010.
The Indian gaming market is growing at 72% annually in 2006-2010 and is estimated to touch $48 million in 2006. It is expected to cross $424 million by 2010.
