Indiagames
Indiagames develops and publishes games for multiple platforms such as the web and mobile.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| investor | €0.0 | round | |
N/A | Seed | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
Indiagames stands as a pioneering entity in the Indian gaming industry, established in 1999 by Vishal Gondal with an initial team of five members. Gondal, often called the "Father of the Indian Gaming Industry," demonstrated his entrepreneurial spirit early, having started a computer training institute in his father's garage at age 16. His early interest in video game development, largely self-taught, set the foundation for Indiagames, which aimed to create games with a distinct local flavor for a global audience.
The company's primary business involved developing and publishing games across a wide array of platforms, including mobile phones, PCs, consoles, and handheld devices. Its business model was multifaceted, involving partnerships with major telecom operators in over 75 countries for game distribution and collaborations with prominent media and game publishers like EA, THQ, Universal, and Warner Brothers. A key revenue stream was its 'Games-on-Demand' (GoD) subscription service for PC gamers in India, a unique offering in the market at the time. Indiagames also developed titles based on popular themes like Bollywood, cricket, and even created advergames for corporate clients like Pepsi and ICICI Bank in its early days.
The company's journey includes several significant milestones. After navigating the dot-com crash by focusing on original content rather than just outsourced work, it attracted significant investment. In 2005, a subsidiary of TOM Online Inc. acquired a major stake, followed by UTV Software Communications in 2007. This led to a rebranding as UTV Indiagames in 2010. The culmination of its growth came in 2011 when The Walt Disney Company acquired the remaining stake in the company in a deal valued at approximately $80-100 million. At the time of this acquisition, Indiagames reported revenues of $11 million and a profit of $400,000. Vishal Gondal remained as CEO through these transitions until he stepped down in April 2013.
Keywords: Indiagames, Vishal Gondal, mobile gaming, PC gaming, game developer, game publisher, South Asian market, UTV Indiagames, Disney acquisition, Games-on-Demand, online gaming, Indian gaming industry, console games, advergames, video game development, subscription gaming, digital distribution, mobile entertainment