Zapak to pump in $100 mn to tap 50pc of gaming ind

New Delhi, Dec 19: Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd (ZDEL), aReliance ADA Group venture, will pump in 100 million dollars fordeveloping gaming content for its online community and aims to grab 50per cent of the Indian gaming industry by 2009.

''The 100 million dollars to be invested by 2009 will be used formaking world class content, searching talent and establishingdistribution and access points through gaming cafes across India,''ZDEL COO Rohit Sharma told reporters at the launch of its first onlinemultiplayer cricket game here today.

Mr Sharma said in the first phase, gaming cafes will be opened infifteen cities including non-metros like Visakhapatnam, Siliguri,Jabalpur, Ludhiana, etc.

Within the next 24 months, the company expects to provide50,000-60,000 gaming seats through such cafes and also plans to set updeveloping centres for the gaming content in the next 3-4 months.

The Indian gaming industry is touted to be worth over 200 million dollars by 2009, Mr Sharma said.

By 2010 there will be 20 million broadband subscribers and 200million internet users in the country, according to industry sources.

''We intend to make a mark for Indian games even in theinternational fraternity,'' Reliance Entertainment President RajeshSawhney said after cricket legends Kapil Dev and Navjot Singh Sidhuinaugurated the online game of the portal www.zapak.com.

Presently, the size of the Indian gaming industry is 50 millionusers which includes 5-10 million of online users, Mr Rajesh added.

The global gaming industry is worth 35 billion dollars which isexpected to grow at 55 billion dollars by next year. The online gamingis expected to be seven billion dollars by 2008, as Asia Pacific regioncontributes 50 per cent to the worldwide online gaming revenues.

UNI