Aim to grow Pokemon GO game users in India 10x in 3 yrs: Top exec

New Delhi, Sep 24

As mobile gaming explodes in India with rising number of smartphone users (over 650 million as of now), a top executive of US-based Niantic, the developer behind popular Pokemon GO game, said on Sunday that the company aims to make India among their top 5 markets globally while increasing the user base in the country 10 times in the next three years.

Omar Tellez, VP of Emerging Markets, Niantic, shared big plans with IANS on how to take augmented reality (AR)-based Pokemon GO to more users in the country.

“My objective is to increase 10 times the number of users that we have in India in the next three years and to count India among the top five markets globally, with the development of local beats, better coverage of maps, better pricing bundles and tighter relationships with communities," Tellez explained.

The Pokemon Company (TPC), along with game developer Niantic, brought the popular game Pokemon GO in Hindi this month, and renamed over 800 Pokemon in Hindi to strengthen its commitment to the Indian market.

On the competition from games like BGMI and Call of Duty (CoD) in India, Tellez said having more languages, going deeper into cultural, relevant elements and intertwining entertainment game, doing live events, having special pricing and bundles for players in India, will definitely help the game grow in the country. For gaming developers globally, including India, Niantic offers a platform called -- Lightship.

“In India, we have seen an incredible refreshment and replacement of devices over the past two years. Our AR technology is tuned to be used by Indians and we're excited that Lightship has been adopted by Indian developers,” the executive noted.

The company also has a team in India now, which they did not have previously. It has a team of about 13 people working on the marketing, business development, and operations sides. Tellez said Pokemon GO is the most downloaded game in history, with over 1 billion downloads.

“App Annie, or Data AI, puts us globally at around 17 million monthly active users," he said.

The company is now looking forward to organising an esports tournament or PvP (Player vs. Player) for gamers in India soon.

The company said it will also collaborate with some of its partners to host regional qualifiers that will lead to a final competition.