Brief

EA makes a splash

In the country's small but rapidly growing market for gaming titles, EA has launched some of its world renowned as well as new titles.

EA recently hosted a launch party called the EA Experience for gaming enthusiasts in India. At this event, EA also announced some titles and talked up some upcoming games. The games that were released are available on all platforms for the greater part—PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, and PSP.

Speaking at the event, Ajay Khanna, GM, EA India said, “We have been present in India for the last ten years through partners such as Excel, Milestone and Redington and have been working here directly for some time.”

He gave an overview of some new games such as Orange Box, a collection of innovative games from the makers of Half Life which includes games such as Half Life 2- Episode 2, Team Fortress- 2 and Portal. He demoed the next-generation first person shooter Crysis which will be released in November.

Gamers got a hands on experience on games such as Need for Speed Prostreet, Army of Two, FIFA 08, NBA Live 08, SKATE and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 at the event. The new titles will be priced at Rs. 999 for the PC, Rs. 1,999 for the Xbox 360, Rs. 2,499 for the PS3, Rs. 999 for the PS2 and Rs. 1,499 for the PSP. These titles will be available at retail outlets across the country.

Khanna also spoke about the FIFA interactive gaming competition which is an online FIFA world cup and will be played across the world supported by Sony and EA. This competition will come to India in January and the winner of the same will compete against top FIFA players in the world in Germany, the venue for the finals.

Talking about the Indian gaming market, Khanna feels that it’s a nascent market and has a long way to go. When asked about the high prices of games and piracy he said, “We all know that piracy is high. In order to deal with that, we are changing the pricing structure. Some old titles will be available for a low price in India. To further lower prices, import duties need to be reduced which reduce the cost by 45-50%.”

In terms of India-specific growth opportunities, Khanna looks at doubling Indian revenue in the next three years. He feels that India still does not have a place on the development radar because of lack of experience in game development which is far different from software development. Gaming experts in the NRI community could come back and start developing games in the country which will give India a head start on the world level to develop top drawer games.