Mayhem Studios launches its Battle Royale game “Underworld Gang Wars”; expects in-app purchase to be the dominant revenue model

By Nikita Jain

Bengaluru-based game development studio Mayhem Studios has launched its first “made in India” Battle Royale game called “Underworld Gang Wars”. In a conversation with Financial Express, Ojas Vipat, CEO of Mayhem Studios, talks about the launch, the company’s revenue model and the evolution of the gaming market in India. (Edited excerpts)

How is the new title different from the previous ones?

It’s a Battle Royale set in India that’s going to be very unique. We’ve been working hard for a long time and will continue to work even after pre-registrations go live before this comes out, so yeah pumped about it.

What were some of the challenges the developer economy faced in India when it came to making games?

I think the first and most important is the talent to make games like this. It’s not an easy job. A lot of technology and science are involved. Add to that a lot of artistry, because building any game requires imagination in addition to managing matchmaking for millions of players – including managing live sessions. I think talent is the first area of ​​interest. Therefore, we are continually building and hiring more and more people on our rocket to ensure that we can deliver on the promise to our users. In terms of infrastructure, the market has completely evolved over the last four to five years after the deployment of PubG and AAA. There are tailwinds that are very, very strong right now for games like this. There is a lot of demand in the market and also from a monetization perspective, India is now coming to the fore.

What kind of increase do you expect in revenue?

I would say for the game itself, the in-app purchase will be the dominant revenue model. There are also other models to come, which we are evaluating and if they are feasible in the market, we will try them too. When it comes to esports, sponsorships are the way to go. Everyone is equal in the game, everyone has no advantage so we will never sell assets of a functional nature. We will only be selling cosmetic actives and hope to produce some really cool stuff that you will see over time.

How do you make sure you’re acquiring users and generating revenue at the same time?

Gaming has been a tough market as you know, so what we know for sure with the kind of infrastructure, the kind of support that we have with our parent company, among other things, we’ve been able to acquire users. We managed to generate the buzz. Our launch event is an example of this. When it comes to monetization, it’s a game of patience, especially for games like this, unlike the casual category where you really have to attract users, engage them, retain them, and then you talk about monetization, so our goal initially would be to make sure people are having fun. If they’re having fun, they’ll pay.

How do you foresee India’s gaming infrastructure in the future?

India is on the world map. It will be a $5 billion industry in a few years. It’s huge in terms of monetization, even, so I think a lot more companies will appear, a lot of people will be interested not only in playing as a gamer but also in terms of making games and especially with the type of content and the wealth of stories that we have in India, I believe we are a very, very big hub for global games to come out of here.