MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Tired of playing Lara Croft in Tomb Raider or Neo in The Matrix Trilogy on Playstation? Get ready to play Abhishek Bachchan in Dhoom or Shah Rukh Khan in Don on your Playstation.
The Bollywood bandwagon looks all set to take on board the rising console gaming market in India, what with both Sony and Microsoft now counting on production houses to lend their movie rights to the gaming world.
Sony, the maker of the Playstation, is looking to tie up with the likes of Yashraj Films and UTV to develop games based on their franchise movies for its latest Playstation 3 and Playstation 2 gaming consoles. “If Harry Potter or the Simpsons can be rage among console gamers in the US and Europe, why can’t a Dhoom or a Chak De India be one among Indian gamers,” says Atindriya Bose, country manager, Playstation, Sony Computer Entertainment.
The company is in informal talks with production houses in India for acquiring the required IP rights for developing such games. The move comes as Sony is looking to ramp up its presence in the console gaming space in India. The company had recently slashed its prices for PS2 and PSP to Rs 6,990 and Rs 8,990 respective after heavy competition from Microsoft’s XBOX 360.
Currently, most of the game development for Sony takes place in the UK, but the company is looking to bring this to Indian shores as well. According its sales and marketing director Tim Stokes, the company is scanning for local studios from India to develop games for the Playstation franchise. “We are planning to launch a developer program for studios in India to help them develop more content for Playstation platform.”
Sony has already tied up with music labels like T-Series and Sony BMG for copyright of songs for its upcoming Indianised version of SingStar, where players compete to sing songs on the console and actors from the film sway to the beats played. “The next version of this gaming franchise would see more directory of songs and we are already talking to other labels like Saregama for the same,” Mr Bose told ET. Sony is also working with quiz master Derek O’Brien for an Indianised version of its quiz game Buzz.
PS3 has had to compete against Microsoft’s Xbox 360, which had a lead in the market due to its earlier launch in India. Since that time, Microsoft has extensively marketed the video game console in the country. The company also launched a gaming title based on cricket, called Yuvraj Singh International Cricket 2007, showing its commitment to customising its titles for Indian tastes. Now even the software giant is looking to cash in on Bollywood.
Microsoft has tied up with Percept Picture Company and UTV for providing exclusive content on its Xbox Live online console gaming service. Gamers logged onto Xbox Live would be able to see trailers of PPC’s Hanuman Returns and other movie content from UTV’s stable. Content from Love Story 2050, starring Priyanka Chopra and Harman Baweja, would also be made available.
“We would like Bollywood to offer its intellectual property for gaming content. We are starting with broader entertainment content which is non-gaming content,” said Robbie Bach, global president, Microsoft Entertainment & Devices (E&D) Division. According to research firm iSuppli, India’s video-game console market is expected to grow to $125.4 million by 2010, rising at a CAGR of 75% from $13.3 million in 2006.
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