Kreeda Games Gets Funding From IDG Ventures And SoftBank
MMORPG Game developer Kreeda, which launched a gaming portal in beta only a couple of days ago, has announced that they’ve received funding from IDG Ventures and SoftBank China & India Holdings. ET reports that the investment is less than $10 million. Kreeda plans to release 3 games by the end of the year; their first, Dance Mela, is expected to be released by mid-August.
The games are being sourced from overseas, and repurposed for the Indian market. I just checked, and Dance Mela is currently in closed beta. The promotional videos seem remarkably similar to those for Super Dancer Online by chinese game developer 9you. See this video, from Kreeda, and then this. So Kreeda’s plan seems to be to primarily repackage the MMOGs. Revenue is expected to come from purchases of in-game items, for which I think they’ll have to work out a convenient payment mechanism, given low credit card penetration in India.
I think they might be better off considering other opportunities, like creating branded sites for TV shows that already have dancing competitions, or in-game branding - the former can drive usage, and the latter, revenue. In any case, Kreeda CEO Quentin Staes-Polet’s claim of acquiring subscribers in the “multi-millions” by next year seems absurd, given the lack of broadband penetration in this country. Calls to Staes-Polet for more details on their plans, weren’t answered.
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Comments (4)
Jun 14, 2007 11:20 AM
yeah… they need to make one. there are plenty of open source MMORPGs out there. i dont think India is ready for this just yet. prove me wrong.
Jun 18, 2007 1:05 AM
Hmm,.. yeh.. different concept..
MMOs haven’t taken off here. I don’t know about the Open Source mmo’s though, played a few, quite crap. MMOs take a lot to run, i’ve had a few “private” servers in the past, but even community support is not enough to run one.
I checked out something on SDO, and then Dance mela… it’s weird but… thinkin about it. it might work.
simply because.. games like Ragnarok, A3, Rakion.. and other MMo’s in India aren’t doing too well. mainly,.. the gaming people, the community as such is very “All over the place”.. us gamer’s aren’t so much a community, compared to other countries.
But media is a weird thing, if we think of gaming that way. Guitar hero and stuff aren’t traditional games, neither is the Wii… but look at the markets they’ve entered!
btw.. broadband isn’t as bad as you make it sound.. I could be wrong here.
on visits to smaller cities like jaipur, I found a suprisingly high number of BSNL 2mbps connections.. and decent service.
I think this game is the right one actually.. looks like they’ll be focusing on Hindi music. Not my type, but then again… that’s all I get on Mtv or channel V today. I for one.. the ever optimist, am signin on for the closed beta.
Jun 18, 2007 4:05 AM
Yes I agree, broadband is not as bad as other companies and reports make it sound like. Almost all ISPs are offering 2mbps connections now which are fairly good for MMOGs.
“multi-millions” ..ha i would be surprised if they even reach 20,000 :)
Jul 31, 2007 6:34 AM
yes they are right
i completed an intense study and survey and can say that in very near future this sector is going to be one of the most lucrative sector in India….