|
MUMBAI:
Reliance Entertainment’s mobile gaming company
Jump Games has made a step towards becoming a major
player to be reckoned with in the mobile entertainment arena
globally. It has signed a three-year deal with UK soccer club
Manchester United to be the club’s official mobile games
partner globally.
The
value of the deal is in excess of $100 million. The plan is
to publish six games in the first year. The first game which
will be released in March is called Manchester United Word
It. This is a casual crosswords game and tests the participants’
knowledge of the clubs history. The next game will be a 3D
soccer game. Manchester United says that it has 20 million
fans in India and is looking to tap into this.
Reliance
Entertainment president Rajesh Sawhney calls the deal historic.
“Soccer is the biggest sport globally and Manchester
United is the world’s biggest sports club. Sport is an
effective way to communicate with the youth. In the mobile
content space, this deal is one of the biggest globally. We
see mobile as becoming a dominant force in the entertainment
space given the fact that three billion people own a mobile.
Also four billion people follow or play soccer. Our belief
has been in innovation and I think that gaming as an industry
holds great promise. With Manchester United
on board, we can look forward to setting global standards
in the mobile entertainment spacer.
Manchester
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson says that it is an opportunity
for fans to get more closely involved with the club. Jump
Games CEO Salil Bhargava says that the aim of Jump Games,
which started operations a couple of years back, is to expand
not just in India but also abroad. “At this time interest
is being expressed by operators to go beyond just voice revenues.
We can help operators add content to
their lineup and thus cater better to an entertainment-hungry
audience. In the past we have been associated with Virgin
Comics, Fido Dido. We have also done games with Jean Claude
Van Damme, Bipasha Basu and Malaika Arora.”
He
adds that the games will be both hardcore soccer games and
casual games like puzzles and trivia-based products. “Our
aim is to create a fan affiliation with the club. We will
–price our products reasonably. In India at the moment,
a game costs around Rs 50 to buy. We are also looking at the
pay per play model where a consumer pays around Rs 5 each
time he/she plays the game. Manchester United has 300 mkillion
fans globally. These are people who registered on the site.
The number of followers is twice that. Beyond soccer, Jump
Games is also looking at cricket, racing, tennis.
The racing game will be released in three to six months time.
It is a question of finding the right partner. For tennis,
we could look to sign up with a star or be associated with
a major event like a Grand Slam.”
20-25
per cent of Jump Games’ revenue comes from India. The
Asia Pacific accounts for around 55 per cent. For the new
deal, Korea, China and Japan are key markets. Korea has 30
million Manchester United fans. Bhargava notes that when Beckham
toured Japan as part of Manchester United, the country came
to a halt. In Europe, the UK is the biggest market. Jump Games
will open an office in the US next month.
Jump
Games has partnerships with 80 networks in 40 countries. They
include Vodafone, Telstra, Virgin Mobile, Telefonica, O2.
Jump Games will also be doing marketing activities with operators.
This will include contests where some winners will be flown
down to watch matches. Others will win merchandise like jerseys.
Manchester United media director Sameer Pabari says that Jump
Games was chosen due to the quality of products they have
been coming out with as well as their distribution network.
|
