B-town’s new game plan

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It has become almost mandatory for every film production unit to come up with interesting promotional strategies. Launching a game based on the film’s storyline has become a staple in the last few years.

So, whether it’s a biopic like Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, or an action romcom like Chennai Express, or a drama like Barfi, every film has a game based on it.
It’s a trend adopted from the West, where the launch of film-based games started a good many years back. We may have copied their strategy, but we haven’t been able to duplicate the success rate of their games. Unlike in the West where games based on Star Trek, Batman Begins etc. that became popular during the films’ release and sustained their popularity even when the films were no longer running in theatres, most of us don’t even remember the Indian film-based games once the buzz about the film has died down.
An avid gamer and software developer, Satyajeet Rastogi, who tries out almost all games that are released with films, says that usually the games based on our films lack action. “The game on Barfi was so boring and slow that most of us weren’t interested in playing it. The ideas aren’t unique. My friends still go back to games based on G.I. Joe, Mass Effect, God Of Wars, Mortal Combat, Takken etc,” he says.
Some of the gamers laugh at the mention of games based on Bollywood films. A final year B.Tech student, Sushant Singh, who has played almost all the popular Hollywood games, is not even aware that games were launched with movies like Barfi or Chennai Express. “I played the game that was launched with Krissh and found it very mediocre. I haven’t kept a track of any games launched with Indian movies after that,” he says.
Experts believe that the Indian gaming industry is at a very nascent stage. Himanshu Ghosh, interaction designer, Knownsense Studios that develops games, says that most of the games launched in India are a rip-off of popular games. “The Chennai Express game is a total rip-off of Subway Surfer. The codes used in games like Despicable Minions and Temple Run have been used in many games launched with Indian films,” says Himanshu, who thinks that serious gamers try these games just to check its credibility, otherwise these games rarely interest them.
“While games based on Hollywood movies are complete games developed by gaming companies, they are not developed simply as a strategy to promote films and thus they get popular,” adds Himanshu.
Surprisingly, people involved in developing games for movies, are aware of the shortcomings. According to them, there are numerous problems because of which the games don’t do well.
Manish Kumar, spokesperson, Hungama Digital, that has been involved in developing games for many Indian movies, says that one of the most important reasons is that film studios approach the gaming companies at the last minute leading to a quick and haphazard job.
“But it’s gradually changing, as production units are coming forward much in advance to be as involved in the games as they are with the film. Like, for films like Krissh 3 and Kochadaiyaan, actors Hrithik Roshan and Rajinikanth have taken immense interest in developing the games. The work on the games started a year ago and the results will be out soon,” says Manish, who thinks that the popularity of the Indian games can’t be compared with that of Hollywood in any way.
“Their reach is much larger than ours and it is further supplemented with the involvement of the production houses,” he adds.
However, these people believe that in days to come the situation would change. In fact, Manish brings to notice the success of games based on Don 2 and Race 2 that had more than 4 million and 2 million downloads respectively. “With new experiments and growing interest, it may change soon. The easy and cheap access to Internet may also lead to better market,” concludes Manish.