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Zapak Vs Games2win Strategy - A Case Of Media/Brand Power Vs Content/Technology Expertise?
(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
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Well for those who are like me who have been tracking the online gaming space since the last 2 years Zapak and Games2win would come to mind instantaneously when someone talks about casual gaming.
But though in the same space both the players and their strategies are as different as chalk and cheese! This post is an attempt to track the mind behind the strategy and kind of analyze a pattern and strengths of each which make them the potential dominator’s of this space in the future!
Ownership & Funding
Zapak - Owned by the ever expanding Reliance ADA group that has made its plans clear of investing over 100 million $ in the gaming segment.
Games2win - Funded by Clearstone ventures for 5 Million $’s and founded by Alok Kejriwal of Contest2win fame. Compare to reliance ADAG its possibly a minnow.
Approach & Strategy
By the funding the approach has been decided. When you compare 100 Million to 5 Million you can say that zapak seems to spreading itself far and wide with the money it has while games2win has no choice but to focus.. focus.. focus!
Zapak - The money has led to multiple tie ups from game marketing to hot model pictures being showcased on zapak. It also means multiple microsites have been opened one for each like tv, kids, girls, cricket etc. There has also been game development and marketing for movies and tv channels and now even movie merchandising!
Games2win - The focus has led to focussing on kind of games, content, technology, viral marketing and use of content to drive viral impact! Though at the first instance most games seem adult while games2win might claim them to be naughty (which they are with no nudity ofcourse) atleast they are games and not Maxim pictures of real models which are showcased on zapak. So atleast there is focus on the gaming segment.
Online & Offline
Zapak - Given the sheer investment behind zapak going offline with gameplexes was a no brainer.. But will it be profitable or no only time can tell. But they sure are expanding the market as far as gaming goes.
Games2win - Very little offline exposure. Its attempt is to connect with the online users. And hence the focus to launch applications for orkut that are viral. Even these applications are like slapster and crapster which focus on the mean/bad side in a person! games2win is focussing on the closet gamer who might be naughty, mean and bad! each one of us have such a gamer within us!
India & Global Focus
Zapak - Zapak has over 91% of its traffic from India while only 0.7% comes from the US. These are alexa stats.
Games2win - Games2win has only 24% of its traffic from India and 10% from US and 4% from china! Though overall traffic for games2win is much lower than zapak but is catching up.. Check screenshot below. (Click to enlarge)
So as the above graph shows branding and lotsa money may not be the only way to build an online gaming company. That in no way means that zapak’s approach is wrong or games2win will do much better! It only means that focussed content and technology can scale a company albeit slowly whereas branding and tonnes of company gets you lotsa users but those users need to be retained using focussed content and technology that drives engagement or you would have an up and down traffic curve!
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Isn’t an ex-watshitter working for C2W? This blog has some serious conflict of interests.
haha.. Only if you knew.. My personal equation with Mr.Alok Kejriwal of Games2win.com isn’t the best! Nor is Ekalavya my best buddy anymore (he left my company when we were just 3 of us.. leaving us to 2..).. But that doesn’t mean I get that between appreciating whats good work.. Games2win is scaling with focussed content (You may call it naughty or adult but its still focussed!) and technology (their slapster does have the highest no of installations on orkut!) and thats the fact…
PS: No Matter how Eka might have left.. I would think twice before calling him names.. Coz If you knew him you would know the knowledge and energy he possesses far exceeds most people out there in the industry… In short most people are shit in front of him.. So watch what you say and to whom.. That watshitter could be ur boss tomorrow
Coz If you knew him you would know the knowledge and energy he possesses far exceeds most people out there in the industry… In short most people are shit in front of him
Is that why he left Wat?
PS: It wasn’t him I was referring to
Well he was the only one who joined c2w so im not sure who else you are refering to.. He left WAT coz we were too small as a company that time for his ambitions.
Also you know what mr.rajesh.. it just seems you are out here not to discuss the analysis of this post instead you seem to be interested in a personal attack of sorts. Not sure why though? Would really appreciate if you try and debate the post instead of trying to get personal.
chill rajiv.. getting flamed is a mark of success .. *cough cough* ..
nice analysis..
the good part about zapak is that they are getting people online.. widening the market itself…players like g2w are sure to benefit from this.. say an even smaller player would be thanking zapak for having bought many potential targets online…
btw.. watshit is a good domain to have rajiv.. we can do something like digg.. vote up the worst stuff someone sees online.. though I wouldn’t be surprised to see our friend adding only watblog stuff there hehe..
Be it Zapak or G2W, I guess none have come up with a strong monetization model yet. However, what Zapak did was not just good for their company but also an altruistic/charitable act. Their competitors would be happy as they did the ground work of making people aware of Online Gaming and Bringing people online to play!
Apparently Yahoo is launching online gaming and couple of more startups…this would be a strong growth oriented industry and a potential one to look at in coming times.
-Sachin
@Maneesh: Great idea! Although the forum might need a lot of moderation, but I do think there is a lot of net creations which are ‘disguised mal-experiences’. Also from consumer behaviour’s perspective, people (more so Indians) love to ‘trash’. From a business perspective, you might end of up alienating some potential advertisers (if they happen to feature in watshit:)
@Rajiv: I liked your analysis, however dont think Alexa is the right tool to use. The graphs really swing! Maybe you could try compete.com.
Limited resources always push the entrepreneur, and therefore I see G2W indulging in less wasteful expenditure in either brand communications or product development. However, not sure of games2win idea of playing up on the ‘dark side’ of a gamer? There is much more to ‘video gaming’ than just ‘naughtiness’
hi there,
just to point out the alexa chart in your analysis is for reach and its obivious that once the campaign is over the numbers drop.
it would be nice if you also show the pageview graph also, obiously it will be skiewed to zapak but if you are doing (trying to show) a neutral comparasion then do it correctly so that the reader believes in.
You have a nice blog here I must say, 1st time I’m here but again if it was not for zapak (KW I searched) your blog would not crossed me….you should thank zapak
for that.
cheer !!
Good point Shitij but the very fact that their focussed approach is working for them can’t be denied.
International Gaming stats from the latest Comscore report has Games2win.com at Rank 80 while Zapak is at 136.
If you compare Pageviews on Alexa for Zapak & Games2Win - you will see that games2win is way behind. Their rank is good because they get their traffic distributed between various countries which Alexa gives more weightage. Zapak has games which enagage users better and is evident from the fact that they are touching miniclip on alexa when you compare on pageviews.
I completely disagree, as far as content is concerned ZAPAK is way ahead games2win. They have an awesome variety of shockwave based games that is pretty unlikely of games2win. Secondly, as far as storyboards are concerned anyone who is a bit familiar with the casual games showcased globally can spot striking similarty between the so-called naughty games of G2W and other flash based games doing rounds in the cyber space. The approach of games2win is pretty similar to that of an
‘OLD WINE IN A DESI BOTTLE!’:-)
Moderator…please see … offensive language is moderated.
@ Sachin
Thanks for being so watchful, behind our back. Required action taken.
The present scenario in the Indian gaming industry is pretty similar to that of a dudoploy. However, since stakes are pretty high so India will surely witness several start-ups claiming a fair share of the gaming pie. Over here, I would like to quote http://www.koffii.com . Although, relatively new but their gaming content is pretty impressive. Some of their novel creations like ‘Laloo Ki Laadli’ and ‘Netagiri’ are indeed impressive.