Info Edge-backed Funstop Games clocks 5 mn+ downloads for Ram Mandir game

Casual gaming studio Funstop Games announced on Wednesday that its first self-published title, the Shri Ram Mandir Game, has surpassed five million downloads within two months of its launch.

This game is among several others that experienced a significant increase in their user base following the inauguration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya earlier this year.

The company reports that the game has achieved “one of the lowest customer acquisition costs (CAC) in gaming history.” It boasts over 350,000 daily active users.

The Shri Ram Mandir Game is a casual game that enables users to manage and build their own Ram Mandir in a 3D simulation environment.

“Users have expressed great appreciation for the smooth gameplay, ASMR aesthetics, and the sense of satisfaction from completing in-game tasks,” the company stated.

Founded in 2020 by Prashanth Vijay and Tamesh Sharma, Funstop Games is a mobile game developer and publisher with a portfolio exceeding 30 games and over 100 million downloads globally.

The Gurugram-based company secured $1.5 million in seed funding led by InfoEdge Ventures in October last year. Its catalogue includes games like Airport Rush 3D and Perfect Time.

However, Funstop’s spiritual-themed game is not the only one to see a surge in downloads around the Ram Mandir inauguration. Bhaarat Games’ Ram Mandir Darshan Game, released in July 2021, also reported a spike in traffic, now boasting over 100,000 downloads on the Google Play store, mostly in the last two months.

Similarly, the Shree Ram Temple app by publisher Virtualfunplanet, launched in December 2019, also experienced a rise in downloads during this period, reaching over 50,000 on the Play Store.

Encouraged by the Shri Ram Mandir Game's success, Funstop is launching another simulation title called Vande Bharat Express. This idle arcade game focuses on building and expanding a railway station, with the journey culminating at Ayodhya Dham.

“This game taps into the nostalgia, familiarity, and love that many Indians have for our railways. It combines strategic station management with resource allocation and historical/cultural trivia related to its destinations,” the company explained.

Casual games like the Shri Ram Mandir Game are predicted to significantly contribute to the growth of India’s gaming sector in the coming years.

The Indian gaming industry, which generated revenue of $3.1 billion in the financial year 2023, is forecast to reach $7.5 billion by the financial year 2028. This growth is expected to occur at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20 per cent, primarily driven by increasing in-app purchases in casual and mid-core games, alongside growing in-game advertising revenues, as per a report by gaming-focused venture capital firm Lumikai.