IMB XXX

ROLOCULE GAMES:
NEGOTIATING THE MOBILE GAMING WAVE

SRIVARDHINI K. JHA, MENAKA RAO AND SHUBHANSHUK SARKAR

Professor Srivardhini K Jha, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Menaka Rao, Case Writer and Shubhanshuk Sarkar PGP student,
prepared this case for class discussion. This case is not intended to serve as an endorsement, source of primary data, or to show
effective or inefficient handling of decision or business processes.

Copyright © 2018 by the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. No part of the publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (including internet) –
without the permission of Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.



Rolocule Games: Negotiating the Mobile Gaming Wave

It was a cloudy day in Pune, India in July 2016. As Rohit Gupta (Rohit), the CEO of Rolocule drove to
work; he was pleasantly surprised to see the sun occasionally peeking from behind the clouds. The
weather mirrored the state of his mind. Rohit’s mobile gaming company had not done as well as he had
hoped it would. Revenues were dwindling and a new game on which he had pinned his hopes had a
lackluster opening. However, there were some rays of hope. Rohit had an acquisition offer from a major
mobile gaming company, Octro Inc., based in Delhi. Octro had topped charts on Apple iOS and Google
Play with blockbuster games. Teaming up with Octro could provide access to the much-needed resources
for Rolocule. However, Rohit was still driven about fulfilling his dream of building a gaming company on
his own for India and from India. He was not sure if teaming up with another gaming company would
help him achieve that goal. To add to this mix, the marketing team of Infosys, a large software services
company, had approached Rolocule with a project to gamify their marketing pitch. The business-to-
business (B2B) space was new to Rohit, however he wondered if it was a less-risky option with stable
revenue streams. He was at a crossroad. Should he stay the course of being a business-to-consumer (B2C)
gaming company and continue his quest for a blockbuster game? Would merging with Octro help or hurt
this cause? Or, should he switch gears and move towards B2B gamification? Which direction should
Rohit take and what would be the ramifications of his decision?

Rohit started Rolocule in 2009, and was an early entrant to the mobile gaming space in India. It had been
a roller-coaster ride since then. After a few successes, his company began faltering, owing to changes in
industry dynamics and intense competition. He needed to rethink how to steer his company ahead.
However, having invested seven years of his life into building a gaming business, Rohit was sure of one
thing – he must succeed – how? was the question.

OVERVIEW OF THE MOBILE GAMING INDUSTRY

Gaming refers to playing video games on mobile phones, consoles, computer systems or other media.
Mobile gaming refers specifically to games played on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets
(Exhibit 1).

In 1997, Nokia launched the game ‘Snake’ on its Nokia 6610 model. Snake and a few other embedded
(preloaded) games like Tetris formed the first generation of mobile. Games were limited by low
connectivity speeds and monochrome images (dot matrix graphics). Over time with technology, mobile
games became more sophisticated but distribution was still a problem. Mobile game developers tied up
with mobile network operators to promote their games, but the operators took a major part of the revenue
and dictated terms of the distribution contract. The Apple AppStore and Google Play Store released in
2008 made it easier for developers to reach consumers and allowed them to keep a bigger part of the
revenue. With lowered cost of reaching consumers and minimal copyright protection, games and their
many clones started proliferating on the app stores (Exhibit 2).

In the early 2000s, gaming in India was limited to the small population segment that had access to PCs
and consoles, and few domestic developers such as Zapak and Games2win developed desktop browser
games. Mobile gaming in India rose with the rise of smart phone usage in India in 2010, when smart

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Rolocule Games: Negotiating the Mobile Gaming Wave

phones replaced feature phones. India soon grew in the download of games, to rank fifth globally in 2016
(Exhibit 3). Indian game development companies which had been acting as service providers to global
producers started end-to-end development of games for the Indian market. The number of Indian gaming
companies reached 250 but few of them made it to the top of the charts owing to low investments in the
industry (Exhibit 4). Few of the top performers in India were Octro (Teen Patti), Nazara (Chhota Bheem
Jungle Run). Many of the companies had specialized in specific genre of games such as casino games
(Teen Patti Gold by Moonfrog) and celebrity themed games (Dhoom 3 by 99Games).

India had 281 million mobile internet users and 252 million smartphone users. Mobile games comprised
10.2% of the total 1.97 billion players worldwide. With nearly one-tenth of the total players in the world,
the Indian mobile game revenue share was only 1.1% (USD 466 million)1 of the global revenue of USD
41.5 billion (Exhibit 5); 23.7 million (11.8%) of the total mobile gamers in India, paid for content. The
Average Revenue per User (ARPU) per game per year, which was the average revenue, expected from a
game installed, in the Indian market was USD 2.32 compared to the global average of USD 29.82. The
pay to play concept was yet to catch on in India. The major source of revenue from the Indian mobile
gamer was through advertisements displayed in the game; however with more Indians getting comfortable
with online payments, better infrastructure to enable billing and increasing disposable incomes, the
willingness to pay for content was set to increase. The gaming industry being a trial and error business
was similar to the film business in India and the recipe to succeed was in being passionate, getting
together a stellar team and working with the right investors.

THE YEARS GONE BY

As most good engineers in India do, after finishing his BE (Bachelor of Engineering) in Pune, India,
Rohit joined Infosys in 2005. Within a short while he got tired of his routine, mundane job, and started
dabbling in computer graphics in his free time. Soon he realized he needed formal training, if he was to
make anything out of it. He applied and secured admission to Columbia University for a Master’s in
Computer Graphics. After his MS in 2008, he joined EA (Electronic Arts)2 as a Software Engineer intern
and worked on a popular game called THE SIMS 3. However, he was dissatisfied with the scope of work
at EA sports, where he was just programming. He wanted to design and develop games from scratch.
Soon, the idea of starting a gaming company took root. With this idea, he returned to India in 2009. He
found a lack of native game development companies in India, and his mind began to race with the
possibilities open to him. His road map started to take shape.

ROHIT’S GAMING JOURNEY

Rohit’s first idea was to develop a game based on the music featured in a popular Indian film titled ‘Rock
On’. The music in the film was Hindi rock music, which was gaining popularity. The lead actor and
musician in the movie, Farhan Akhtar (Farhan), had become a sensation among the youth. Rohit’s idea

1
Exchange rate between INR and USD: 1=68 (rounded off) in 2016
2
Imitating real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) with pictures or endorsements with real
commentators such as John Madden, it grew to become a sub-label on its own, releasing game series such as FIFA.

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was to create a ‘rock along music platform’ comprising a library of hit songs from various Hindi movies,
a music kit that included a plastic guitar and drums, and a PC-based game that would allow users to play
along on the music kit. Rohit approached Excel Entertainment (Producer of Rock On) with this idea.
Though the Excel team liked the idea, they were willing to make only a limited commitment. Rohit
recalled:

Excel was willing to lend their name and license out the ‘Rock On’ brand, but I had to do
everything else, which was tough for me then. Most importantly, they were not willing to
put money on it and I was bootstrapped!

After this initial excitement and disappointment, Rohit began to critically examine the gaming industry
and his own capability to develop and take a game to market. He realized that the game and any
associated properties (e.g. music kit) would have to be sold in retail outlets. This meant, Rohit had to
identify distributors, stockists, warehouses and set up a distribution network, of which he had no
experience. A second challenge was the piracy issue. Piracy was rampant in India, and people assigned a
very low value to software and felt that games needed to be free. Finally, Rolocule was a one-man team
and any complex games needed considerable amount of resources including skilled man power to publish,
which Rolocule did not possess at that point in time. Rohit mulled over these issues and how to overcome
them.

Around this time, the iPhone had been launched in the US with tremendous success. An interesting
concept called the AppStore was introduced on the iPhone, which was a digital app market place. It
provided better access to end customers for mobile app developers, circumventing the entire process of
dealing with multiple network carriers. The Appstore itself was free and came preinstalled on iOS devices
and at the time was majorly populated by paid games. This opened up a new opportunity for Rohit and he
decided to shift his focus on creating games for the iPhone that were available through the AppStore.

MOVING INTO SPORTS GAMING

After toying with several ideas, Rohit decided to develop a game of Squash for iPhone. His rationale was
that Squash was an easy game which could be played by single, two, three, or four players at a time.
Though it was not very popular in India yet, it was a unique sport and one which did not have a presence
on the PC, Xbox, PlayStation or the mobile. He chose to develop Touch Squash as a mid-core game
(Exhibit 6) which would have a reasonably long shelf life. Rohit remarked:

If you look at the most successful video game franchises in the world, you will find that
they are mostly sports games. So, my idea was to create a game, which if successful, I
would be able to extend, upgrade and make bigger.

With a modest startup fund of USD 2,000 that he was loaned from his father, he bought a Mac laptop and
an iPhone, and developed the game single handedly. Rohit quickly launched squash. The speed of
launching was critical, according to Rohit.

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Time to market should be really fast in the gaming industry. That is when you
immediately start getting feedback from customers and that gives you a direction in
which you should really be moving forward. That’s what squash did for us. The launch
started making money for us almost immediately.

Touch Squash was launched in 2009 across the globe in countries where iPhone had its presence. It was a
paid game and cost USD 1.99 to download. The number of downloads when it first hit the market was
approximately 12,000. This was Rohit’s first revenue stream and he was thrilled!

After 6 months of squash being in the market, Dunlop a German company that manufactured squash
rackets, sponsored Touch Squash with a payment of approximately USD 1,000 in return for placing their
logo at the start of the game and a ticker stating that they were the sponsors of the game (Exhibit 7). This
was a defining moment since the sponsorship gave recognition and legitimacy to the game and Rolocule.

The success of Touch Squash stoked Rohit’s ambitions. He wanted to create something that was unique
yet bigger than squash. It had to be a two-player or multiplayer sport because the social nature of the sport
could create a network effect. Tennis was an option but Gameloft, a French game development company,
already had a sophisticated and popular version for Tennis on the Appstore. Rohit steered clear of a head-
on competition with Gameloft and decided to focus on badminton instead.

THE NEXT FRONTIER

Rohit’s next frontier was badminton. He needed artistes and developers to create the game, especially
since he wanted to introduce 3D graphics. However, he could not afford to hire and pay professionals. He
decided to hire students from animation institutes as interns and they could work on his project at the
studio. It would, to his mind address the issue of office space as they could use the institute’s
infrastructure as a makeshift studio. It would also be manageable with the low outflow of finances. An
institute called Seamedu3 agreed to Rohit’s proposal but with a condition – that Rohit would teach game
designing to the students of the institute. He selected three students and fulfilled his side of the bargain.

Around this time, Rohit’s former classmate and friend Anuj Tandon, who had been watching Rolocule’s
progress from the sidelines, showed a keen interest to join the company and help grow it. Rohit and Anuj
agreed to a verbal 70:30 equity split, and Anuj joined the company full-time in early 2010. Anuj was to
handle operations at Rolocule and Rohit handled game development and production. Anuj also loaned
USD 1,000 to cover the stipend amount for the three interns who were developing the game of
badminton. This was on the assumption that the game would take three months to develop, like the
timeline dedicated to Touch Squash. However, the game took six months to develop and the money ran
out mid-way. Rohit convinced the interns to stay on and promised that he would pay them once the game
was launched. Super Badminton was launched six months later after having invested approximately USD

3
Seamedu is a media school based in Pune, founded in 2008 to produce talent in Media & Entertainment Digital Filmmaking, Animation, Game
Design, Visual Effects, Sound Design, Broadcast Media, and Broadcast Journalism.

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4,000. The game was a run-away success and Rolocule recovered all the money spent on the game within
two days of launching it! The game was also noticed by Apple since it was unique and sophisticated, and
featured it on the AppStore in the US (Exhibit 8). The game was priced at USD 3 that customers paid
when they downloaded the game. Downloads in the first week were 1,370 and revenue in the same period
was USD 4,110. Rohit said:

It was a turning point for us. We were in the top 20 of the charts.

Rolocule won the ‘Power of Ideas’ competition at IIM Ahmedabad, which gave them a seed funding of
approximately USD 29,000 (INR 20 lakhs), Rohit said:

That was the time (November 2010) we finally registered the company as we needed to
open an account in the bank to encash our cheque!

With modest revenues and the seed funding in place, Rolocule rented office space and hired a few key
people. Fueled by success and ambition, they were ready to take on Gameloft’s Real Tennis with their
own mobile tennis offering, Flick Tennis. However, in the early stages of development, an interesting
episode changed the direction of game design. Rohit, while visiting his father, introduced him to Super
Badminton on his iPhone. Finding it difficult to play, he had switched to another game. Though he told
Rohit that it was one of the best games he had played, Rohit knew he was saying it just to please him.
However, it was an eye opener for Rohit. He realized that though he himself found the controls of Super
Badminton easy, he needed to keep in mind that he was a seasoned mobile gamer. To drive mass adoption
of a mobile game, he would need to create a game that was easy to pick up and was simple to play which
would drive engagement with people less fluent with mobile controls. This would be the USP (unique
selling proposition) of Flick Tennis, to beat Real Tennis. The idea was to make Flick Tennis as simple as
it could get. The game was completely redesigned with a new control scheme with absolutely no buttons
on the screen (Exhibit 9). During the development phase, they asked several people to play the game and
the Rolocule team watched the behavior of the players. After several iterations over nine months, the
game was launched in September 2011.

Flick Tennis performed much better than badminton. With virtually no controls, the game was a hit with
players and Rohit’s hypothesis of mass adoption proved correct. The game gained traction across players
of all age groups to become one of the most played sports games on the Appstore. With time, the game
was updated to a multiplayer format which could be recorded and posted online. Many people watched
the game while being played online, just to get better at the game. In a later version of the game, players
were ranked according to the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) scheme and tournaments were
hosted in the game, synchronized with real tournaments, like the US Open or French Open. The winners
of these tournaments were awarded extra points in comparison to those winning in lesser tournaments, as
followed in real world tennis.

As Flick Tennis gained traction, the company was noticed by the VC community. Several VC firms
including Sequoia approached Rolocule. Finally, Mumbai Angels and Blume Ventures jointly made an

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investment of USD 221,487 (INR 1.50 Crores) in Rolocule, making a beginning in Rolocule’s funding
history (Exhibit 10).

Rolocule now had three successful games in a row, all doing well on the AppStore. Flick Tennis got
Rolocule their first international recognition, with the People’s choice award at the 8th annual
International Mobile Gaming Awards (IMGA)4 in Barcelona in 2012. Akin to the Oscars in films, the
IMGA awards was coveted by many gaming companies.5 In competition were thousands of developers
who nominated their games. A select jury evaluated the games and five from each category were selected
as the winners.

THE SHIFT FROM PAID TO FREE GAMES

Around 2013-14, mobile game monetization underwent a sea change. Until then, most of the games on
the app stores were paid games where people would pay upfront to download and play the game. With the
increasing influx of mobile games on the app stores, the industry saw the advent of Freemium or free-to-
play model. In the Freemium model, the game was free to download and play, but had restrictions to play
up to a certain level, after which the game would increase the difficulty drastically such that progressing
in game would be possible only by either purchasing an in-game item that would enable players to
complete the difficult level or players would have to grind away hours at the game to get the same item.

The Freemium model drastically increased the number of downloads for mobile games and increased the
total industry revenue due to the repetitive nature of the in-game monetary transactions, as opposed to the
earlier paid model system where a single payment would be charged upfront for downloading the game at
the Appstore. A negative effect of the trend towards freemium games was that only the most popular
games benefitted from the increase in downloads and hence took away a majority share of the increase in
revenue (Exhibit 11). This decreased the average revenue per game since with the large and continuous
increase in free games; players had little incentive to stick to a particular game and an even lesser
incentive to spend money on a mobile game. A game required high investments in marketing and
advertising and had to be engaging enough for the user to make a purchase or else an alternative was
readily available for the player to switch to. The percentage of people who converted from being a
freemium gamer to a paid gamer in India was 11.8%. With rising development costs, high user
acquisition costs and falling revenue, the paid business model for mobile games was turning unprofitable
for a majority of game developers. Further, as the Freemium model became more sophisticated at
retaining and engaging players, the download number for paid games dwindled further.

For Rolocule, the revenues from all three paid games eroded. To counter this category disruption,
Rolocule started working on a Freemium version of tennis called ‘Tennis Social League’ (TSL). The shift
towards a free-to-play version required a complete rethink and overhaul of the game (Exhibit 12).

4
The International Mobile Gaming Awards (IMGA) is an annual competition and awards ceremony that honors outstanding games made for
mobile devices. It is the longest standing international competition for mobile games. It is the only competition that celebrates excellence and
innovation in games. It takes place in various cities across the United States and Asia.
4.
Winners and nominees list: http://www.imgawards.com/winners-nominees/8th-imga/

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Rolocule needed to improvise their income and tripled the number of developers on TSL to build the first
version quickly. However, despite investing USD 73,675 (INR 50 lakhs), and spending nine months of
development effort, the game remained unlaunched. The main reason was that the company could not
figure out the monetization scheme as Rolocule had little experience in designing Freemium models and
literature on the model was unavailable.

In the meantime, Rohit had traveled to the US to attend Apple’s worldwide developers’ conference6 to
gain insights on free to play games. When in Cupertino, he was exposed to Apple TV. Apple TV was an
entertainment device similar to Amazon Fire that could stream audio visual data from a source like a
mobile phone to a smart television. It struck him that there was the possibility of creating a Nintendo Wii7
like motion gaming experience, (basically a game played with gestures) using the iPhone and Apple TV.
This gave birth to the idea of Rolomotion.8 Rohit also decided that though it was a difficult decision,
Tennis Social League needed to be shut down and he needed to move on.

ROLOMOTION AND APPLE TV

Designing a prototype for Rolomotion began almost immediately with feverish intensity. The aim was to
gain Apple’s attention and support it as a platform owner. After figuring out that they would create Tennis
around Rolomotion, they made a video and sent it to Apple stating that they would like to engage with
them to take it forward. Rohit recalled:

It was Friday night in India; Apple called us and asked if we could meet them on Monday
morning. We had told them that we were in the US! We immediately booked our tickets
and flew to the US to Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino. We showcased our Rolomotion
and they really liked it. In fact, we had created several small demos for them. They liked
the pipeline and decided to engage Apple TV’s development team with us to provide us
the feedback on how the game should look on Apple TV from Apple’s design perspective.
It was a great learning experience for us.

For Apple, promoting Apple TV was the focus and to have a portfolio of interesting games would
strengthen the ecosystem for Apple TV.

Rolomotion technology garnered much media attention, owing to the partnership with Apple. When
Rolocule Beta launched their tennis game on Rolomotion, the media provided good coverage and it
created a buzz and raised consumer anticipation. In June 2013, Motion Tennis, the first game on
Rolomotion, was launched. It was priced at USD 9 and, was one of the most expensive games created by

6
The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference is a conference held annually in California by Apple Inc., primarily in San Jose, in Silicon
Valley. The event is used by Apple to showcase its new software and technologies for software developers.
7
Nintendo Wii is a gaming console which allows players to play games with gestures, as there is a motion controller that the player can swing
around. The computer detects the swinging and the same is replicated on the screen.
8
Rolomotion is a technology that uses the gyroscope, magnetometer and accelerometer in the iPhone to precisely track its various movements
and allows users to play games using natural motion gestures on television. It makes the Apple TV a complete portable living room console using
iPhone.

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Rolocule. The game generated close to around 10,000 downloads on the AppStore worldwide and it was a
success. Apple TV had sold approximately 20 million in 2013.

Soon after, several investors started approaching Rolocule to offer them the next round of funding. In
2014, Blume ventures led a round of funding for Rolocule, infusing a capital of USD 366,810 (INR 2.50
crores). The investment was towards aggressively expanding the portfolio of games on Rolomotion,
riding on the popularity of Apple TV.

With the infusion of funds, Rolocule went all out and hired stellar people, and began production for their
next game, Dance Party (Exhibit 13). Dance Party was a mobile game for iPhone which when connected
to Apple TV would allow players to dance along with characters shown on the television on groovy pop
songs. It took a year and USD 116,880 (INR 80 lakhs) to develop, and was one of the most challenging
games developed by Rolocule. It was designed as a freemium game to increase the reach of the game and
ensure that the company was not caught off-guard by a wave of free-to-play games on Apple TV. Dance
Party was soft launched in Australia first in the beginning of 2014; and in mid-2014. it was extended
worldwide. Simultaneously, Rolocule was building a pipeline of games based on Rolomotion – Bowling
Central, Dead Among Us – with the intention of releasing a new game every year. However, two serious
problems cropped up. Dance Party did not gain much traction as the playlist in the game was limited due
to high royalties charged by music producers and Apple TV sales did not pick up due to low market size
of smart TVs. This was a big blow!

Rolocule once again looked to change their product development strategy. Their next offering for Apple
TV, Bowling Central (Exhibit 14), was in the development stage at that point. Learning from the failure
of Dance Party, they decided there was no point in making it solely playable on Apple TV and decided to
make the game work on tablets and smartphones as well. Bowling Central was first launched as a paid
game in January 2015 and then re-launched as a free game in mid-2015. Two months later, Dead Among
Us was launched after similar changes in product strategy. Dead Among Us was an ambitious project for
Rolocule as it was extremely complex with different kinds of animation and 3D effects. However, none of
the games became the runaway success that were Badminton and Flick Tennis, though their launch
attracted much media attention (Exhibit 15) and the geographic spread of download was good (Exhibit
16).

AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

Rolocule Games was in an unstable condition and finances were running out at a fast pace. Around this
time, they got an acquisition offer from Octro, the gaming company of Teen Patti, Indian Rummy and
Tambola fame (Exhibit 17). This was the second acquisition offer in a span of one year, the earlier one
being an offer from Moonfrog Labs, a gaming studio that was backed by Sequoia Capital and Tiger
Global. The interest in Rolocule was because they had a strong technical team and were well respected in
the gaming community. Both the offers had an attractive cash component for the founders but valued
Rolocule at less than half the valuation it has received in the most recent round of funding. Rohit and
Anuj also differed in their opinions of how to move ahead with the acquisition offers.

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Rohit was hopeful of scripting a turnaround. Based on the game development stages he used to develop
and design a game, he was very driven about going back to the drawing board and creating a game for
India (Exhibit 18). His view at the time was:

We need to focus on the Indian market and start taking the Indian market seriously. We
need to create a product so appealing that no one in the Indian gaming industry has
created so far and take that as a base and go to investors and pitch to them that we are
the best. With our quality foundation and proven track record we can create quality
products for global audiences, so India would be easy and that needs to be what we get
across to investors.

Rohit’s idea was to develop a game based on superheroes. The response from prospective investors was
tepid. They felt that the Indian gaming market was still in a nascent stage and the project was too
ambitious. However, existing investors supported Rolocule with a bridge funding of USD 186,201 (INR
1.26 crores). Eventually, when funds ran out, Rohit had to let go of his team, except for two colleagues
who agreed to stay back and help Rohit revive the business. Rohit wondered if it was time for a fresh
start, the way he had done 7 years earlier. Only, this time he would have a wealth of experience of game
development under his belt.

B2B GAMIFICATION OPPORTUNITY

As the pruned team deliberated on the next steps, the Infosys marketing team approached Rolocule. They
were looking for the gamification9 of the marketing proposals they made to their clients, using the data
analytics generated by Infosys. In other words, instead of just making mere presentations on a
PowerPoint, Infosys wanted to gamify their proposals to clients. They were very impressed with the
Rolocule team and their quality of work and asked for a quotation. This was a completely new space for
Rolocule.

Gamification had been in use by companies for multiple purposes from employee motivation to
recruitment to training. However, they usually revolved around easy to implement applications where the
basic concepts of gamification would be applied, for example, local leaderboard. Only a few companies
were starting to create a wholesome gaming experience of their services, complete with audio visual cues
and controls. However, this could become a fast-growing space in the years to come. There was a
possibility that the B2B space would offer Rolocule a steady stream of business and revenue and would
possibly breathe fresh life into the B2C business.

9
Gamification was applying game-like elements and techniques to real world business problems. Large organizations used gamification to boost
business performance.

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THE ROAD AHEAD

After the massive rollercoaster ride that Rolocule went through, they were again at a crossroad – if they
were to continue as a B2C gaming company, they would have to sustain themselves till they hit it big
with a blockbuster game, which was unpredictable. Alternatively, they could cut their losses, accept the
acquisition offer and pursue their passion for developing games within a larger organization. Another
option was to take the B2B route, which could give them a steady stream of revenue. However, they were
currently not playing in the B2B space, so they would be on an unchartered path if they attempted it. How
should Rohit steer Rolocule ahead? There were far too many unknowns at this juncture. Especially for
Rohit who had just turned the corner, in more ways than one, and had a narrow escape of not crashing
into the curb.

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Exhibit 1
Global gaming industry, 2016

Exhibit 2
Total number of games on the Google Play Store

700000 647488
573808
600000
515268
472919
500000
380233
400000
315032
300000
200000
100000
0
Q2 2015 Q4 2015 Q2 2016 Q2 2016 Q2 2017 Q4 2017

# of gaming apps on Playstore

Source: Statista Number of available gaming apps at Google Play from 2015 to 2017 (https://www.statista.com/statistics/780229/number-of-
available-gaming-apps-in-the-google-play-store-quarter/)

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Exhibit 3
Top countries by game downloads, Q2 2016

Game downloads (iOS and Google Play combined), India

Source: Mobile Gaming on the rise in India, App Annie

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Exhibit 4
Top games by revenue, India, Q2 2016

Rank Game Company Genre Company HQ

1 Candy Crush Saga King Casual US
2 Subway Surfers Kiloo Arcade Denmark
3 Temple Run 2 Imangi Action US
4 Train Simulator Timuz Simulation India
5 Doodle Army 2 Appsomniacs Action US
6 My Talking Tom Outfit7 Casual Cyprus
7 Racing in Car Fast Free Games Racing Turkey
8 Traffic Rider Soner Kara Racing Turkey
9 Hill Climb Racing Fingersoft Racing Finland
10 Clash of Clans Supercell Strategy Finland
Source: Mobile Gaming on the rise in India, App Annie

Exhibit 5
Mobile gaming industry, 2016

Country Mobile gamers ARPU* Revenue Cost per

(Million) (US $) (Million US $) install**
(US $)
China 283.8 25.17 7144.3 0.86
India 201.1 2.32 466.3 0.38
USA 104.7 41.20 4304.3 2.49
Japan 68.5 89.88 6153.9 2.81
Indonesia 50.9 10.09 514.3 0.55
Brazil 42.5 5.96 253.0 0.58
Mexico 31.1 17.58 546.2 0.69
Russia 30.4 4.90 149.0 0.23
Germany 16.8 21.66 363.8 1.82
UK 16.3 59.92 977.1 2.04

*ARPU: Average Revenue per User per game per year

**Cost per install: Average cost to company to get one install of game
Source: https://allcorrectgames.com/insights/mobile-game-market-index/?data-year=2016

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Rolocule Games: Negotiating the Mobile Gaming Wave

Exhibit 6
Game Types
Different types of games based on player engagement level

Type Description Example

Casual Designed to be played in an ad hoc fashion and in short bursts. Easy to Piano Tiles, Fruit
pick up and learn with simplistic experience Ninja
Midcore Offers higher level of content than Casual games. They are easy to learn Candy Crush Saga,
and meant to be played in short bursts, but offer long-term engagement Clash of Clans
content as well.
Hardcore Designed to offer hours of gameplay and need time investment to get Vain Glory,
full experience. Skill and mastery are rewarded. Asphalt

Source: Compiled by the authors

Different types of games based on game mechanics

Types Description Example

Action – Fast-paced Require sharp reflexes and hand-eye Modern Combat, Injustice:
games. coordination. Focus on competition. Gods Among Us
Adventure – Require problem solving skills. Focus on The Wolf Among Us, Red
Moderately paced entertainment. Ball
immersive games.
Card games Chance and skill-based games. 29 Card Game, Teen Patti
Role Playing Games Engages player in storyline by providing choices Pokémon Go, Shadow Fight
on how game will proceed. Focus on game
content
Sports games Sport simulation games. Focus on particular part 8 Ball Pool, Real Cricket
of game, for example, batting in cricket
Strategy games Player builds his base and engages in turn- Clash of Clans, Plants vs.
based combat. Focus on planning and Zombies, Chess
execution
Source: Compiled by the authors

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Rolocule Games: Negotiating the Mobile Gaming Wave

Exhibit 7
Screenshot of Touch Squash

Source: Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyVAGoYmHbE

Exhibit 8
Screenshot of Super Badminton

Source: Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVboLk9qG8I

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Rolocule Games: Negotiating the Mobile Gaming Wave

Exhibit 9
Screenshot of Flick Tennis

Source: Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arf2vYnyRio

Exhibit 10
Rolocule’s Funding History

Date Amount Investors

INR USD
14.02.2011 20,00,000 29,344 CIIE Initiatives(IIM Ahmedabad
27.03.2012 1,50.95,506 221486 1.Mumbai Angels(Lead)
2.Blume Ventures
3. Pranay Gupta
08.01.2014 2,49.99.442 366810 1.Blume Ventures(Lead)
2. Mumbai Angels
10.07.2015 1,26,90,640 136201 1, Blume Ventures
2.Mumbai Angels
3.Sumit Gupta
Total 5,47,85,588 803,832

Source: Company

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Rolocule Games: Negotiating the Mobile Gaming Wave

Exhibit 11
Global revenue of top 6 action games, 2016

2500
2188

2000
1483
1500

1000

500 309
96 82 67
0
Clash of Clash Royale Marvel Dragon Ball Boom Beach Angry Birds
Clans Contest of Z 2
Champions

Revenue of top 6 action games in thousand USD

Source: Survey Monkey Intelligence:https://medium.com/@sm_app_intel/a-bunch-of-average-app-revenue-data-and-why-you-

should-ignore-it-2bea283d37fc

Exhibit 12
Differences between Flick Tennis: College Wars & Flick Tennis Online

Flick Tennis: College Wars Flick Tennis: Online

Paid Game Free to Play with in app purchase (Freemium)
Story-based game where player is put in the role of Online multiplayer game in which players from all
young tennis prodigy and has to climb up his tennis over the world play tennis matches online against
career ladder. each other. The game also contains an offline mode
with the story.
Available on Apple App Store, Google Play Store Available on Apple App Store, Google Play Store

App size: 146 MB App size: 110 MB

1. One-time payment to download and play the 1. Free to download
game 2. Playing matches consume in-game item called
2. Different game modes like Multiplayer and tickets which can be bought with real money or
Exhibition unlocked by default replenishes over time
3. Primary monetization focus on getting player to 3. Different game modes needed to be unlocked
download the game using real money
4. Displayed ads between matches
5. Primary monetization focus on player
engagement in game
Source: Company

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Rolocule Games: Negotiating the Mobile Gaming Wave

Exhibit 13
Screenshot of Dance Party for Rolomotion

Source: Video: https://vimeo.com/138175701

Exhibit 14
Screenshot of Bowling Central for phone and with Rolomotion

Source: Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qvb4NDP1bM

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Rolocule Games: Negotiating the Mobile Gaming Wave

Exhibit 15
Snap shot of Rolocule games

Revenues Approx. Cost

Downloads (USD) USD Time Start Released
Touch Squash 369,051 19,915 2,200 3 months Apr-09 Jun-09
Super
Badminton 1,424,966 212,696 3,120 6 months Dec-09 Jun-10
1 year 3
Flick Tennis 3,715,679 160,236 13,202 months Nov- 10 Oct-11
Motion Tennis 691,176 101,077 29,337 9 months Jul-12 Jun-13
1 year 2
Dance Party 409,668 9,396 117,349 months May-13 Jul-14
Bowling 1 year 11
Central 1,148,726 80,175 36,672 months Jul-13 Jun-15
Dead Among 2 years 2
Us 1,425,255 43,154 73,343 months May-13 Jun-15
Total 9,184,521 626,649 275,223
Source: Company

Exhibit 16
Geographic Spread of Downloads of Rolocule games

Geography Touch Squash Super Badminton Flick Tennis Motion Tennis Bowling Central Dance Party Dead Among Us
North America 82219 247664 657497 126643 259822 82219 136967
South America 42406 2918 196233 109208 85591 42406 134154
Europe 157107 370098 1559100 171663 267786 157107 326314
Asia 92892 764698 1129999 261877 479387 92892 770317
Australia 6993 28008 130825 10049 12260 6993 19864
Africa 2110 1000 44048 9849 38311 2110 19045

Exhibit 17
Games from Octro

The game of Teen Patti: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1ucieD1wWc

Indian Rummy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlTB8vVSJzU
Octro Carrom Live! TVC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu1uHMVwYWM

Games from Moonfrog:

Baahubali the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CpJcXA0Iq8&frags=pl%2Cwn

Teen patti gold: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpGGcNxiy8s&frags=pl%2Cwn
Alia Bhatt Star Life:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVwfZQpk020&frags=pl%2Cwn&ab_channel=MoonfrogLabs

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Rolocule Games: Negotiating the Mobile Gaming Wave

Exhibit 18
Mobile game development stages

1. Ideation
a. Study popular game genres in the market
b. Study existing games in that genre
c. Decide on a game which can be improved
d. Develop a game mechanism that improves the existing mechanics by either building upon
existing ones or by developing an entirely different and new mechanic

2. Prototyping
a. Decide upon a technology to build the game (native Android, iOS code, etc.).
b. Develop a prototype using basic art. This should essentially allow players to play the game.
c. Validate the engagement of the new game mechanic with a small cohort of players, iterate upon
mechanic if invalidated.

3. Finalize the platforms and device range on which the game will be launched. The technology would be
upgraded or downgraded accordingly.

4. Decide the look and feel of the game, i.e. the artwork, music, environment. Validate the ambience from
players and finalize it.

5. Decide the scope and long-term engagement of the game. Answer the following questions:
a. How long will be the player gaming sessions?
b. How difficulty will adjust with player progress?
c. If, when and how the game will end?
d. What will bring the player back to the game?
6. Develop a monetization model tailored to the engagement elements in the game.

7. Release the game in sequential launches of Alpha, Beta. Alpha launch is done when the basic skeleton
of the game is ready to be played. It is released to small groups of players given special access and their
feedback is considered into further developing the game. When the game shows satisfactory player
engagement, it is passed into the Beta phase. Beta is launched to a large group of players usually in a
small geographic area. Here, majority of bugs are removed, and the game is given cosmetic changes and
polished.

8. Simultaneously, with the beta launches develop a marketing strategy for the official release of the game
(includes developing marketing material to be sent to app stores, game review websites and channels)

9. After Beta, the game is launched as production release. Now, the game is live and is making money.
Now, the game has started gathering a player base, and any future changes made to the game needs extra
care.

Source: Compiled by the authors

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