The introduction of 3G services has paved the way for rich-content equipped social games in India. This will turn out to be a revolution, which will change the way we look at mobile gaming.

Social gaming has always been associated with keyboard and mouse despite the availability of good content developers, who produce similar games for mobiles. Though the word “ch­atting” is common with both mobile and personal computer users, nobody knew if Indian gamers would ever be able to play social games on mobile ph­ones that demands high data tr­ansfer rates over long distances.

Thanks to the government’s consent to give 3G licences to private operators, the annoying hurdle of loading pag­es now seems to be over.

"With the start of 3G technology, there will be high data transfer, which will increase multiplayer social gaming. 3G users will be able to access social games with much ease, making

the popularity of such games grow fourfold. At present, the penetration level of social games is high, and with 3G-enabled services, these will cater to a large number of users with enhanced clarity and effective usability,” said Ashish Kashap of ibibo.com, a social networking site.

Looking at the newly opened segment, some mobile social game developers are mulling to upgrade their existing social games with rich content to offer 3G experience.

“Nazara is developing application-based versions of its po­pular social games su­ch as Wordmaster, Quizzy and Teen Patti to provide a rich and engaging social experience to gamers,” sa­id Nitish Mittersain, CEO of Nazara Tech­nologies. Nazara also owns a social gaming network for mobile users called My Gang.

In a dramatic move, Zynga, the owner of social networking games such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars, recently rolled out its mobile services for iPhone 3G, 3GS and 4.

Jen Herman, director at FarmVille Mobile, Zynga, told Financial Chronicle, “Zynga has developed a number of popular online social games for the iPhone. We are always exploring and evaluating other mobile platforms and technologies, but have nothing official to announce at this time.”

“We are definitely looking forward to build more games that complement 3G services. Recently, ibibo partnered Aircel to offer Great Indian Parking Wars on Aircel pocket internet, which will further expand to a catalogue of games.” Kashap of ibibo.com said.

ibibo also offers social games like the Beach Body Game and Cricknext, which mobile users can play on their handsets.

“We believe that there will be a positive impact with a lot of online social games incorporating mobile components in their game play. We already are seeing the trend on the smartphone front where quite a few online social games have iPhone versions, which can be downloaded from the App Store. However, social games for mobile platforms will still take some time to take off,” Salil Bhargava, chief executive officer of Jump Games, said.

Jump Games has quite a few games in production, with social media connectivity as an integral feature, he added.

The only obstacle on the way is the cost of 3G-enabled handsets, which are quite expensive at present. The penetration of 3G handsets in India is just one per cent.

“Social gaming will definitely be one of the most sought after services with the onset of 3G. We are planning a host of 3G-enabled phones equipped with features including social games. It will take at least two years for 3G mobile services to pick up significantly, but we are in the process of building phones that can give due leverage on the 3G front,” said Deepesh Gupta, managing director of Zen Mobile. zz

amitmudgill@mydigitalfc.com