The Hindu Business Line : Zapak Digital signs up Bipasha

GAMES GALORE: (From left) Mr Rajesh Sawhney, President, Reliance Entertainment Ltd, Mr Rohit Sharma, COO, Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd and actor Bipasha Basu at a press conference in Mumbai on Thursday. — Shashi Ashiwal

Mumbai , Jan. 4

Bipasha Basu is the latest Bollywood actor to be successfully wooed by the nascent Indian gaming industry.

Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd, a Reliance ADA group venture, announced at a press conference on Thursday that it has joined hands with Basu to develop games around her.

A Bipasha Basu zone will be created on Zapak.com to host the games. The first game in the pipeline is called Beach Blaze and features Basu's character engaged in a beachside skating challenge. Her character has to defend itself against "bad guys" using equipment found while skating.

"It is the right brand fit for me," Ms Basu said, citing her energy, athleticism and youth connect as the reasons why.

"We at Zapak.com are helping the visitors on our Web site play out their fantasy, by letting them be or play with their favourite star," Mr Rajesh Sawhney, President, Reliance Entertainment Ltd, said. Zapak also announced the creation of Zapak.tv, which offers audio-visual content on the gaming industry, including trends, game reviews, behind the scenes looks, and cheat codes.

As part of the company's efforts to drive gaming in India, Zapak is rolling out exclusive gaming cafés — where users will not even be able to check e-mails — across the country "We are launching our signature cafes in the first top 10 cities," the Chief Operating Officer, Mr Rohit Sharma, said. "We had planned to launch in February but that has been slightly delayed to around mid-April." The usage rates for the cafes will be slightly higher than existing Internet café rates but Zapak is not counting on rentals alone.

Mr Sharma said, "The bigger picture is we are going to get massively multiplayer online games content in this country and generate revenues by usage of that content." Once the signature cafes are launched, Zapak plans to take a "two-pronged approach" to developing more cafes.

"We will continue to launch our own cafes but will focus more on franchises," Mr Sharma said. In the next 24 months we want to have over 60,000 gaming seats in the country."

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