Jetsynthesys Explains The ABCD Of Digitizing India
Rajan Navani, co-founder, Jetsynthesys shares his ideas and thoughts on the gaming industry of India and also explains the company’s business ideas in contributing to the digital movement and the gaming industry in an interview with BW BusinessWorld. Edited excerpts:
How does JetSynthesys monetize its products and services?
A few years ago, we identified how we can enrich the daily lives of 1.3 billion Indians through the ABCD of India – Astrology, Bollywood, and Cricket & Devotion. Over the years, we have built platforms, ecosystems and communities for the ABCD and have extended it all the way to J!
That comprises of services in analytics, big Bollywood data, cricket celebrities, devotion, e- commerce entertainment, fashion FinTech, gaming, healthcare and India under JetSynthesys. To help achieve this vision, Kris Gopalakrishnan, one of the founders of Infosys, has also joined us and come on board as the non-executive chairman. With Kris’ experience having built a $20+billion business, we seek to create products that are both world class and worldwide.
How is Jetsynthesys evolving the gaming industry of India?
From the Industrial Revolution, to building driverless cars, Technology has reshaped our world frequently and constantly. Over the last 3 decades, however, with the raw power of the Internet and that of Social Media Networks, Technology has built a whole new Universe – the Digital Universe. Human Existence has been transformed completely, and today, we live at the intersection of both, the Physical Universe and the Digital Universe.
And it is at that intersection, that we at JetSynthesys, build Trusted Innovative platforms, create Holistic Ecosystems and foster Interest-based Communities. Through this, we aim to play a part in the daily digital life of 1.3 Billion Indians, extending that to the rest of the world.
JetSynthesys has and continues to play all the possible roles in the mobile gaming industry – Explorer, Pioneer, Builder, Influencer and Leader
So, from releasing India’s first feature length celebrity non-movie game, to bringing E-Sports to India, or building platforms that enable monetization in a difficult market or bringing Bollywood and Cricket to a mobile screen and driving over 10 million downloads last year, JetSynthesys is an integral part of the Ecosystem
What is your take on the gaming industry of India?
The Gaming Industry consists of three core pillars: Mobile, PC and Console. The mobile gaming space is perhaps the most exciting. Imagine the potential of this industry given the fact that there are 30 million smartphones sold every quarter, more than a billion mobile subscriptions and data costs that are rapidly reducing. We expect there to be more than 300 million gamers in the next few years.
The PC Gaming is still in its nascent stages with about 3 million gamers, with whom we are already deeply engaged through the E-sports tournaments that we conduct. We are excited about growing this segment and in that regard, have partnered with Steam through our Novaplay division Console Gaming is still very niche in India and the penetration is low due to the high cost of these consoles. That said, there is definitely immense potential even in this segment, once the pricing is more favourable for Indians.
What are the improvements Indian gaming developers need to focus on?
In the Indian mobile gaming space, developers need to strategically focus on designing games with long term retention, monetization and life-time value or LTV.
With user acquisition costs growing each year, globally and in India, the focus needs to need be on quality. This can be done by extending the lifecycle of games from their current short span to a lifecycle of many years. This can be done through building player engagement and creating communities around the game. Ultimately, the roadmap needs to be based on what players need!
Can you elaborate on celebrity associations with JetSynthesys?
We work with the top Bollywood and Hollywood celebrities in a deep, integrated and synergistic fashion. From games to platforms, we work with them to develop and immortalize their digital avatars.
Games are an ideal way for consumers to connect and live the lives of their favourite celebrities. For example, for our upcoming Sachin Saga Game, we used the latest technology to capture his real motion and fans will be able to experience what it is to play like Sachin on the pitch. This series is being developed with Sachin Tendulkar himself and not only do you get to play like Sachin, but, you will learn to think like him too.
He will be your coach, your mentor and your guide. Each match will reveal his thoughts, emotions, secrets and pre-game rituals. So, this series is not only the celebration of arguably the greatest cricketer ever, but also, an opportunity to learn the sport directly from him.
Similarly, we are working with Salman Khan, to include the breath-taking action sequences that you see only in the movies, into the next instalment of the Being SalMan game.
Our Joint Venture, HERO in the US works on a similar model. We worked with the production team of the recently released Jennifer Lawrence starrer, ‘Passengers’ movie to make their official game and are currently working with Adam Levine to make an augmented reality app for designing Tattoos.
What are the future plans for JetSynthesys in the coming 5 years?
5 years is a very long period in the fast moving world of technology! Starting with the current year, we are looking to release Sachin Saga, the next version of Being SalMan and a few other unique products through the year. We believe gaming will drive the deepest form of consumer engagement across all our platforms.
From developing a next-gen cricketing destination to building games on other leading Indian celebrities, JetSynthesys has a very exciting pipeline of apps and games coming soon to your mobile screen.
Also, we are not limited to apps and games. Many of the world’s largest businesses have begun in garages and as a tribute to that, in the heart of Lower Parel, we have built and curated ‘Garage’ which is a 200 seater San Francisco style co-working space and Accelerator, to foster and actualize the creative and innovative renaissance that Digital India is currently experiencing. This will enable us to continue to invest in and help grow our digital influence globally.
Apart from gaming, what is JetSynthesys doing in the digital and technology space?
Our aim is to build next-generation, trusted interest based and holistic platforms that have the capability to sustain ecosystems and foster digital communities.
Also, through our patented platform Publicam, we are redefining entertainment and its consumption through curated interest based social capabilities that resonates with today’s times based on the confluence of mobility, cloud and data. Our Big Data analytics capabilities combined with our technology led consumer insight capabilities gives us the ability to capture significant time of the digital lives of people.
What kind of effective marketing helps promote games and how are users made aware about them?
In the massive App ecosystem that we live in today, marketing plays a very important role in promotion and awareness. There are three major building blocks that help in achieving the word of mouth that is required for achieving virility for a game:
a) Building a community around the game
b) Tying the Game with an IP
C) Outreach with Press
