NovaPlay looks at growth in gaming platform

It is launching a gaming carnival, starting from Bengaluru, for gamers and eSports enthusiasts

NovaPlay, a gaming platform developed by Nova Gaming Ventures, hopes to capitalise on the fast-growing gaming market, and is is conducting a gaming carnival in Bengaluru to expand its reach.

Nova Gaming Ventures has been into building platforms for multiplayer gaming communities, for professional and emerging gamers, in various gadgets with social features that could be customised. It has tied up with various game publishers and offers games and related products to customers. The platform is in beta stage, said Amitesh Rao, chief executive officer, NovaPlay.

It is launching SuperNova Gaming Carnival in Bengaluru, on July 3, 2016, which is expected to bring together both the professional gaming and eSports players along with attracting more people with other social events including stand up comedy and music. The whole idea of the gaming carnival is to cater to a larger audience that goes beyond professional gamers to attract casual gaming enthusiasts as well. It would act as a marketing channel for the company, Rao said.

"While there are different published data with different figures, we think that in 2015, India would have had close to a billion dollar market for gaming, including the hardware and other components. This is growing at 35-40 per cent year over year and we expect the market size to be $2 billion in 2018. We are looking at grabbing this opportunity," said Rao. However, he refused to reveal any financial details of the company.

The company offers content from various publishers, along with a payment gateway and its own Nova Coins for transaction within the platform. It also puts up local game servers, which will increase the speed of the gaming. The revenue for the company is generated from margins and payments from both the customer side and from the publishers, he added.

The SuperNova Gaming Carnival is a year long event and will cover 5 cities namely Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai, starting from Bengaluru. It would offer a prize pool of Rs 5 lakh per city qualifier, and will be officiated by FIESTA, India's official eSports governing body, said the company.

The tournament prequalifiers will have 150 plus teams of 5 members each competing, and 8 teams will progress to the city finals in Bengaluru on July 3, 2016.