As gaming became more popular due to the pandemic-led lockdown, Aayush Agarwal was no stranger to it.
Aayush explains that the journey began six years ago when he came across a gaming conference happening in the same place where he was attending a pharmacy conference.
“I was in Hyderabad for a pharmaceutical conference for the company I was working with at the time. I got off a little early that evening and there was a gaming conference happening at the same hotel. I attended the conference and realized how big the gaming opportunity was. I had dinner with some people from Nazara and other prominent gaming companies and was completely blown away by the sector,” says Aayush.
“The transition from pharmacy to gaming happened completely by accident,” he says.
Second time’s the charm
It wasn’t long before Aayush found himself deep in the gaming universe. After six months of research, he started Zhakaas Games LLP with a close friend in 2018. The itch to be a founder remained and soon Aayush moved on to the next thing. He built a company again, this time with his own funds in March 2020. His wife Mahek Agarwal became the co-founder and also the inspiration behind the company’s name ‘‘.
BooBoo Games Pvt Ltd operates in the hyper casual games sector. This means that games created by the firm can be played by people between the ages of 5 and 75. It also produces games for other gaming companies and markets. At Zhakaas Games, initially, the founders were outsourcing game developments. Since it would increase the cost at BooBoo Games, Aayush decided to have an in-house development team.
The firm started with six members. But soon, Aayush faced a challenge. “It took us about a year and a half to build a team of 25 in Ahmedabad,” he says.
Going viral
BooBoo Games produces around 20 games per month across all genres. Part of its strategy is to keep the volume of games high in order to increase the chances of landing a viral title. Roughly, it takes two weeks for BooBoo Games to make a title.
“Instead of spending a lot of time creating a game, we feel that the more games we make, there would be a wider scope for one of them to become a big phenomenon,” says Aayush.
Inspiration for these games can come from anywhere. Aayush says it could also come from a TikTok trend. “My wife is always on social media and she keeps suggesting ideas for new games. When Squid Game became a huge success, many game companies were creating games based on themes from the show,” he says.
Pillow Fight Leagues was the result. BooBoo Games counts many other titles in its portfolio such as Roller Coaster Ride, Pillow Fight League, Pool Guard Stack and Water My Farm, in addition to 300 other hyper casual game titles.
BooBoo Games also claims to create games for other gaming companies based in India and elsewhere. The firm is in talks with Winzo, which has raised over $110 million from Griffin Gaming Partners, among others. While working in partnership with game publishers, BooBoo Games works on a profit sharing ratio, taking 30% of the profits. BooBoo Games also doesn’t self-publish any games; all games are produced in partnership with others.
In addition to games, in-game ads also generate revenue for the company. BooBoo Games generated Rs 1.88 crore in gaming and advertising revenue in FY2020-21 and Rs 4.55 crore in FY2021-22.
Once a bare bones firm, it is now looking to raise $1 million, of which $165,000 has already been raised. These funds will be used for the development of games in the metaverse, blockchain and non-fungible tokens, among other sectors.
What does the appetite for games look like?
Driven by a young demographic, supported by growth in digital infrastructure, India’s gaming industry, which is valued at $885 million, is expected to grow by 41.6% (FY20-21), according to a report published by Maple Capital Advisors in August 2020.
Players, including Nazara Technologies, achieved 70% growth in year-on-year revenue, generating Rs 223.1 crore, in the June-end quarter of FY2022-23. Mumbai based fantasy gamers Mobile Premier League, and have also seen their earnings and ratings grow in the past two years.