MAM
Indiagames, SingTel join hands for first World Cyber Games
MUMBAI: Indiagames has entered a partnership with SingTel (Singapore Telecommunications Limited) to launch Asia Pacific’s first and largest competition for mobile gamers – World Cyber Games (mobile).
SingTel is a part of the eight member Bridge Mobile Alliance that also includes Airtel (India). The WCG Mobile Championship will be hosted on SingTel’s GamesXtremeLeague (GXL) Mobile platform.
It is a regional mobile games platform with features such as registration, community news and ranking of scores, etc. It is facilitated by Bridge Mobile’s regional infrastructure, enabling IP connectivity between member operators as well as regional billing settlement capabilities.
Indiagames holds the global rights for WCG Mobile Tournament, licensed from International Cyber Marketing (ICM), to host the World Cyber Games Competition for mobile phones.
The event will be kicked off in Asia Pacific region and will pit mobile gamers in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan against one another.
SingTel’s GamesXtremeLeague (GXL) Mobile platform is a regional mobile games platform with features such as registration, community news and ranking of scores, provided exclusively to the SingTel Group. It is facilitated by Bridge Mobile’s regional infrastructure, enabling IP connectivity between member operators as well as regional billing settlement capabilities.
The four official games for the Mobile Tournament are Midtown Madness 3, Bruce Lee, Goolie, and Chopper Rescue.
Players across the region will be engaged first on an online championship followed by a ground event in some countries where the national champions will be selected. These national champions will be then flown down to Singapore in November for the Grand Finals where they will compete with other participants across the world to be the ultimate winners.
Indiagames CEO Vishal Gondal says, “We are very happy to associate with SingTel’s GamesXtreme League Mobile to power first ever World Cyber Games Mobile Championship. We are sure gamers across Asia Pacific will truly enjoy this unique experience put together by Indiagames in collaboration with SingTel and Bridge Mobile.”
SingTel vice president (consumer marketing) Thomas Yeo says, “We are meeting the needs of an avid and growing pool of mobile gamers by bringing the whole playing experience to a new level. Instead of just competing against players in their own country, they can now challenge the best in the region and the world. Beyond the exhilaration and thrill of gaming for the players, we hope to give them a platform to be recognised internationally.”
Bridge Mobile CEO Dr Patrick Sim says, “Bridge Mobile is proud to partner with SingTel, Indiagames and our other operator members in pioneering the first and largest mobile gaming championship in Asia Pacific. SingTel’s GXL Mobile will set the foundation and platform for the creation and rollout of regional mobile gaming services in the future.”
The Grand Finals will be held concurrently in Suntec City, Singapore from 16 – 20 November 2005.
Brands
Google nears Nvidia in race for world’s most valuable company
Market cap gap narrows as Google hits $4.65 trillion, Nvidia at $4.86 trillion.
MUMBAI: In the AI gold rush, even the giants are sprinting and Google is suddenly gaining ground. Google is rapidly closing in on Nvidia in the race to become the world’s most valuable publicly listed company, with the gap between the two narrowing sharply amid diverging stock momentum. The tech giant’s market capitalisation has surged to around $4.65 trillion, following a more than 140 per cent rise in its share price over the past year.
That rally has added over $2.6 trillion in value in just 12 months, including nearly $900 billion since January alone. Its stock recently hovered at $381.80, slipping marginally by 0.04 per cent, but still reflecting strong upward momentum.
Nvidia, meanwhile, continues to hold the top spot with a valuation of approximately $4.86 trillion. The chipmaker crossed the $5 trillion milestone in October last year and peaked at $5.27 trillion on 27 April. However, its shares have largely plateaued over the past six months, rising just 0.2 per cent recently to $199.99.
The contrast in trajectories is striking. While Nvidia has seen relatively flat movement, Google has gained over 36 per cent in the same six-month period. Barron’s estimates suggest that if current trends hold, the valuation gap could shrink to as little as $190 million by the time Nvidia reports its first-quarter earnings on 20 May.
Daily momentum paints a similar picture. Nvidia recorded average daily gains of about 0.66 per cent last month, compared to Google’s stronger 1.42 per cent, an edge that could prove decisive in the short term.
Driving Google’s resurgence is its aggressive push into artificial intelligence across its ecosystem, from search and YouTube to cloud computing. The company has already invested $144 billion in capital expenditure over the past two years and plans to deploy a further $490 billion over the next two.
Its cloud division is also gathering pace. Google Cloud reported an order backlog of nearly $220 billion in the latest quarter, with total backlog touching a record $462 billion, around half of which is expected to be realised within two years. The company’s entry into chip sales is also beginning to factor into its growth narrative.
The last time Google briefly topped the S&P 500 by market value was in February 2016, when it edged past Apple for just two days. This time, the stakes and the numbers are far higher.
At the heart of the contest lies a single force: artificial intelligence. As both companies pour billions into infrastructure, chips and platforms, the leaderboard is no longer just about size, it is about who can scale the future faster.
