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MUMBAI: UTV Software Communications Ltd. is making a foray
into gaming by acquiring controlling stakes in UK-based Ignition
Entertainment and Indiagames for a total for Rs 1.28 billion.
While UTV will pay Indiagames, a mobile and broadband gaming
company, Rs 680 million, the acquisition of 70 per cent in
Ignition Entertainment will cost Rs 600 million. Ignition
Entertainment is a console gaming company with an annual revenue
of around $15 million.
"We presently create, develop and aggregate content for
TV, movies and animation. With an objective to create content
across all entertainment platforms, the company has ventured
into gaming. This will give us exposure to the rapidly growing
mobile, PC and console gaming industry," UTV said in a
release.
Indiagames CEO and founder Vishal Gondal will continue to
head the company and evolve synergies with other UTV businesses
in the creation of cutting-edge games. The company reported
annual revenues of around $5 million for the last fiscal and
has an employee strength of 270 people. "Post transaction
the shareholders of the company will include Cisco Systems,
Adobe Inc. and Management. IG is presently involved with mobile
game development, publishing and distribution across 67 countries
through 80 telecom partners like Vodafone, Verizon, Hutch
and Airtel. Its latest venture into PC games distributed online
through broadband ISPs like BSNL, MTNL, Airtel and Tata VSNL
amongst others is expected to be a major value driver,"
the release said.
The acquisition of Ignition Entertainment will bring to the
table relationships with hardware manufacturers, game developers
and distributors such as Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, SNK, Konami,
Atari, Virgin and Wal Mart. "Ignition is presently developing
a top end game 'WarDevil' budgeted at around 10 million pounds
and is expected to release it in the year 2008 exclusively
on the Sony Playstation3(tm) (PS3) platform. PS3 was launched
in November 2006 in Japan and the US and it is expected to
sell more than 30 million units by the end of 2008,"
UTV said.
UTV plans to invest Rs 1.35 billion in the development of
animation movies over the next three years. "Simi Nallaseth,
one of the key animators of the international smash-hit animation
movie Ice Age is developing one of the productions. Arnab
Chaudhury, former Head of Channel [V] and Creative Director
of Turner International (Asia), will be working on another
project. We are now in the scripting stage of our CG animation
production with Will Smith's Overbrook," UTV said.
UTV's scrip, however, fell 4.83 per cent on the BSE, closing
the day at Rs 263.95.
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