(21 May 2007 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Gaming portal Zapak.com has launched the game Zuma through its partnership with ‘casual’ games publisher PopCap Games.

Zapak has launched this game in the free to play and downloadable category. The online free to play version in its first week itself has given Zapak an average of 1,40,000 page views a day and 10000 users have downloaded the free trial version every day.

While the downloadable version of Zuma on international portals is sold for $ 20, Zapak has brought in this game at a price of Rs 149. Zapak.com is the only website in India to offer this game.

Zuma, which was launched by PopCap in 2003, has been a best seller in the casual games category for a long time. There have been over 25 million downloads of this game worldwide, and the game has won several awards from IGN.com, Real Arcade and Adrenaline Vault.

Zapak will make available 16 games from PopCap to its users in India including Bejeweled, Big Money, AstroPop and Bookworm. All these games will be available in free to play web versions along with downloadable deluxe versions. Deluxe versions of all games will be available with a 60 minute free trial.

Zapak Digital Entertainment COO Rohit Sharma says, “Zuma has been an enormous blockbuster in the Casual Gaming segment, it is one of the most engaging games. Zuma appeals to the broadest possible audience - it is as addictive for a five year old as for a 70 year old. Zuma is now available on Zapak and we are proud to have broken the price barrier for the Indian Audience by introducing some of the best international content at 1/10th the International pricing.”

PopCap VP Asia Pacific James Gwertzman adds, “India is a growing market that everyone is taking note of. We are happy to make our entry into India with Zapak.com. Our games have been top grossers globally and we are sure the Indian audience will embrace them. Zuma is one of most popular games in the Casual Games category globally. The pricing at which Zapak is introducing it in the Indian market is sure to lure a lot of gamers."