Political parties have found innovative ways to campaign through the digital medium for the general elections this time round. Insite Digital, an edutainment company delivering gaming content, launched nine single player online games on different political themes on Friday. Recently, online gaming portal Zapak also tied up with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) to create a micro site and games, based on politics, for MNS to allow interactivity with the youth.
Gaming company Indiagames has also launched mobile games on CDMA handsets that are based on politics. Due to the high demand for these games, the company is planning to roll out the games on GSM handsets as well. The games are priced between Rs 5 to Rs 10 and Rs 50 to Rs 99 on GSM handsets.
Shaina Rajan, studio head, Indiagames said, ?These games project the elections in a lighter vein and thus are hugely popular with the youth.?
The potential of gaming as well as the digital medium to reach out to the youth is quite high. According to a recent Ficci-KPMG media and entertainment industry report, the gaming industry is set to grow manifold from an estimated Rs 200 crore currently to more than Rs 2700 crore by 2013. The significant part of the growth is expected to come from online casual gaming due to the growth in social gaming and creation of contemporary Indian content.
Experts also feel that most Internet search engines are flooded with queries related to the elections and various political parties.
Amit Tripathi, managing director, Insite Digital said, ?There can be a lot of awareness created through games based on politics. Gaming can be only effective when it is interactive. The games that we launched have met a good response with more than 600,000 plays in the first month of launch. We hope to generate one million plays for the new games in the next 100 days.?
Zapak has a user base of 6 million and create micro sites for almost 5-6 brands every month. For the MNS tie up, the gaming company has resturctred many of its existing games to attract gamers particularly the youth.
Rohit Sharma, COO, Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd said, ?Almost 50% of India ?s population consists of the youth. Research shows that gaming is one of the stickiest properties on the Internet. Thus, it is an apt platform for political parties to advertise on.?