Interview With Sanjay Wadhwa Of Gayatri Impex

Electronic Arts in alliance with GameMasti, recently announced the launch of its 2006 gaming collection in the country. The entire Electronic Arts Christmas lineup was unveiled at the “Bangalore IT.in”, by Sanjay Wadhwa, Director of Gayatri Impex (Game Masti). Today, GamersIndia gets up, close and personal with the man himself who has brought a variety of exciting games to Indian gamers.

GI: What made you start a game distribution company in India way back in 1995 at a time even when the concept of a PC wasn’t that well known?

Mr.Wadhwa: Actually it was a multimedia concept that we started since CD Rom was the new thing that was happening. Moreover we also had a lot of developing ideas like educational titles and gaming titles and apart from that multimedia too was a new concept so we thought of introducing that in the market.

GI: What is the console game penetration in India like as compared to PC games?

Mr.Wadhwa: The PC games are definitely selling much more than console games in India.One of the biggest reasons for the same is that console games are fairly more expensive because of which people tend to purchase it from the grey market. And since it is the grey market and not the legalized market we cannot even give a precise figure of sales. But in short it is the PC market that is booming.

GI: Which console games are sold the most?

Mr.Wadhwa: At present it is definitely Playstation that’s a hit. We sell around 500-1000 copies annually. Actually we were the first one’s to introduce the Playstation 2 titles, the Xbox titles and the PSP titles in India. In other words we were the pioneers. However we discontinued the sale of Xbox since the demand was dropping gradually.

GI: According to you which genres of games sell the most in India?

Mr.Wadhwa: Surprisingly Cricket is not popular just as the most favourite Indian sport on field but
on the gaming arena too it is one of the most liked and famous games. And ofcourse as everyone knows First Person Shooter (FPS) is big in India which does very well sales wise too. Finally we have the genre of racing games such as Need For Speed which are loved throughout the country aswell.

GI: What do you think is the reason why gaming hasn’t yet taken off that well in India?

Mr.Wadhwa: There are a lot of factors for it to be not taking off yet in India. Pricing is still on the higher side, piracy and parents too still dont encourage children to play games.

GI: Speaking about piracy, how do you think we could tackle piracy?

Mr.Wadhwa: Yes as I mentioned earlier too piracy is a major concern with regards to gaming. But we are trying our best to deal with it. At present we have taken up the issue with the government of India. Let’s see what they do to resolve the problem.

GI: Apart from piracy another reason why gaming has not yet picked up in India is the pricing factor especially keeping in mind that the major age group you cater to is children and youngsters. How can you deal with this?

Mr.Wadhwa: I would definitely agree that looking at the average monthly wages in India on one hand and also considering the fact that most of our customers are children and teenagers for whom buying any game priced above 3 digits is indeed a difficult deal. But to be honest we can’t do much about it since the market is pretty small and thus till the time the volumes come up, we cannot go down on the price.

GI: Instead of going individually to solve issues to the government, do you think there should be any organisation formed by the gaming community wherein they can unanimously put down their problems and ask for solutions for the same?

Mr.Wadhwa: You and the entire gaming community would be glad to know that we have formed an organization which is called the Multimedia Software Dealers Association. We are also taking up the matter with the various government organisations. So in short we have an association on one hand and on the other hand we are also talking and taking up various issues with the government tackling the problems faced by the gaming industry.

GI: Which have been the most successful titles in the year 2005?

Mr.Wadhwa: The most successful titles from EA Games so far for the year 2005 have been Need For Speed Most Wanted, Battlefield 2, Cricket 2005, Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire.

GI: Many of our readers complain that they do not know when a particular game is being launched in India, and infact even distributors websites including yours do not provide adequate information about the same. Have you planned to do something about this?

Mr.Wadhwa: Initially we used to update our website quite often. But off late we send out regular information to websites like yours through which you’ll can inform the gamers and keep them updated. Infact we too are on the verge of updating our website after which there would be a prompt schedules put up. Thus all gamers would have timely information.

GI: What is the time gap between the launch of games in India and in the US?

Mr.Wadhwa: Since the last two years we in India have been selling and marketing all titles with the worldwide launch. So in other words whenever our title is launched worldwide it is launched in India around the same time. And if it is not launched on the same day, then a week or two later for sure, that is the maximum time gap between the launch of games in India and in the US.

GI: Do you think gamers have finally started purchasing games with the introduction of online multiplaying gaming features?

Mr.Wadhwa: Yes, it has surely made an impact.

GI: Do you think people will start buying games online? Does GameMasti have any plans to introduce instant online credit card processing facilities?

Mr.Wadhwa: In around two weeks time we will be launching a full fledged facility where in people can log in to our site and buy games through these mediums. We will be offering titles from EA and other well-known publishers, and gamers can now visit our website and buy online.

GI: Does Gayatri have any plans of increasing its game distribution network in India because currently its only major places like Planet M and big malls that sell games, so would you like to broaden the network further ?

Mr.Wadhwa: We are actually supplying to around 600 retail outlets all over India. That is including the capital town and the main cities as well. So we do have a very strong distribution network.

GI: But to be honest there are yet people who have some difficulties in getting these games because very often we have people asking us as to where can they purchase games from.

Mr.Wadhwa: Actually when we update our website we will be putting up a retail locater aswell. So then anybody in the area who wants to know anything can go to the store for their query. And if still they have some problem then they can write to us and we will be more than happy to help them out and advise them as to whereabouts of various games.

GI: Could you please tell us something about Gayatri’s future plans?

Mr.Wadhwa: We are expanding and are also doing a lot of promotions so that there would be more awareness. We have NFS Most Wanted n FIFA 2006 lined up. Apart from that we also have a tie up with MTV, and have promos running on MTV aswell. Basically we are now trying to hit it big.

GI:Thank you so much for your time, it has indeed been a pleasure speaking to you.

Mr.Wadhwa: My pleasure.