Playerzpot’s Sunil Yadav On Utilising Funds & More

The fantasy sports company, PlayerzPot cemented its status as one of the leading fantasy sports platforms in the country. With its recent round of series-A funding, the platform fuelled its capabilities by rebranding to accelerate the company’s growth and renew its corporate vision. The exhaustive efforts include the company’s corporate logo, tagline, and consumer promotions during IPL this year.  

In a recent conversation with BW Businessworld, Sunil Yadav, CEO, Playerzpot Pvt Ltd, speaks more about the platform’s plans post receiving funds, entering into the casual gaming format, and much more. Excerpts:  

Q. Please tell us what is new at PlayerzPot post receiving funds. Also, how do you see the deal in terms of the growth of the gaming industry in general? Share the revenue growth of the company as well.  

The gaming sector is immensely large. In fact, it is larger as compared to the movie and music industry combined, and it is only growing by the moving time. Analysts predict that the gaming industry will generate $196 billion in revenue by the year 2022. And we believe in these statistics. As a company, PlayerzPot has changed its gear since the lockdown was imposed last year in March 2020. We shifted our focus from fantasy gaming to a one-stop gaming company. We believe that this decade is going to be the decade for the gaming industry in India and we are set to grab all the coming opportunities in favour of our platform.  

With the received funds, we have started focusing on our technical infrastructure, hiring at different levels from executives to seniors and chalked out our rebranding strategy as well to keep ourselves stand out among others. 

Our business has grown and evolved colossally in a short span of time, and we feel it is time to make an impactful impression on our target audience. We have revisited our logo, tagline, and other important elements for these to reflect who we are today and to symbolize our future.  

 In terms of revenue, in these last two months of FY 21-22, we have already crossed our previous year (FY 20-21) revenue number. 

Q. As PlayerzPot is growing as a company, is there an increased focus on the non-fantasy part of the gaming business considering the recent apprehension around fantasy sports?  

The first lockdown happened nationwide in March 2020 to stem the number of coronavirus infections. It was an eye-opener for us when there were no physical sports or events happening around the globe. We always wanted to enter into casual gaming, together with fantasy sports at some point in time.  

This resulted in the launch of casual games on our platform to keep our users engaged and entertained.  We slowly and gradually increased our offering of casual gaming and went ahead with the goal of becoming a one-point gaming destination. PlayerzPot offers casual games such as ludo, snakes & ladders, etc. for its users. We have seen good traction and progression to date. 

Q. There is a lot of chaos when it comes to fantasy sports and its legality in the country. However, we would really like you to educate our readers to understand the same, and its stand in terms of compliance and risk management.  

Fantasy sports are no longer an unknown concept in India. With the growing demand of the Indian online gaming industry, which is projected to become a one-billion-dollar industry by 2021, the entire online fantasy gaming industry is set to witness tremendous growth, which makes it important for all of us to understand the law around fantasy sports in India. 

 The legality of fantasy sports in India is depending on whether the game qualifies as a ‘game of skill’ or a 'game of chance’. There are a lot of factors that come into play, as fantasy gaming involves a lot of skills, right from the onset of a match to its completion. It is important that users need to deploy considerable skills, judgment, and discretion while drafting their fantasy teams. There is a mantra to follow ‘the better you know about the sports and their rules, the better reward you will achieve’. The success arises out of users' exercise, superior knowledge, attention, and judgment.  

There are various factors that come into play. These factors need to be well-studied first and then teams are to be selected. The better your sporting knowledge, the better the reward. And the fantasy gaming companies are on the right track of providing guidance and knowledge to their set of users. 

Q. There can be saturation in the game market that drives fierce competition for user attention. With an abundance of options in the growing market of gaming, users can be highly distracted, so holding that attention becomes a bigger challenge. How do you make sure to stand out during this time?  

The gaming sector is a booming industry without a doubt. It always had its presence but Covid-19 has provided this sector a massive opportunity to grow. We have witnessed huge demand in the market for all the gaming platforms, be it fantasy, real gaming, or casual gaming. 

There is a lot of competition in the market as every gaming platform is trying its best to provide unique products and services to its users to ensure that they won’t go anywhere else in the market where hundreds of gaming platforms are available. Every investor has to evaluate the opportunities available in the gaming industry because this competition will be 100 times more in the coming times. 

I would say that everything is entirely based on the customer’s experience attached to the platform. We all need to understand the needs of the users and try to meet their expectations. The focus should be on delivering good value to them. As anyone can predict, it is going to be user-centric. We need to constantly provide new offerings and the best experiences to the users to stay relevant in the market. 

Q. Tell us about the current formats you have and about the plans of adding strategy gaming.  

Currently, we have seven real sports/outdoor sports available on our platform including cricket, football, basketball, baseball, kabaddi, handball, and hockey. Besides these games, we have also introduced six casual games such as quiz, snake & ladder, ludo, sheep fights, chess, and carrom board for our users to keep them engaged and entertained.  

 We are planning to add seven-eight more games in the next quarter. Gradually, we will be able to address our users' interests and add more popular games.