About the PlayerzPot and the idea behind its inception

It all began in 2015, in a small garage in the city of Airoli, Navi Mumbai, with a simple mission and vision: to become a one-stop gaming platform for India’s online gaming community. Considering our nation’s obsession with cricket and our love for IPL tournaments, we wanted to bring that enthusiasm to every Indian by providing a wide array of fantasy games online at the click of a button.

When we first started, our main goal was to make fantasy sports more realistic and accepted in the gaming world. The first version came out on the web in April 2017, and then the mobile app came out in April 2018 during the Indian Premier League.

We started from the web and worked our way up to the app version. We took the time to understand and fix the problems we found during real-life use, which led to improvements that made the user experience better. We figured out what was holding us back, changed our ways to make sure we were meeting the needs of our users and came up with cool features like Refer & Earn, Instant Withdrawals, and Private Game. These features helped us build trust and credibility with gaming fans. We’ve got over 1 crore+ users in just 6 years, and we’re always blowing people away with amazing fantasy sports, great casual games, and card games.

The global fantasy sports market is growing at a tremendous rate. What are the major reasons behind its growth and increasing demand among the population – national and global both?

It is a well-known fact that in India, cricket is more than just an event for fans and is considered unofficially national sport. Therefore, it is no surprise that cricket was the first fantasy sport that was played online on a large scale. Subsequently, other games such as Ludo and Snakes and Ladders also began to be played online.

Fantasy sports have changed a lot in the next couple of years. This is due to the growing popularity of sports amongst the audience, especially among youngsters. The industry started with a mere half a million players and now stands at over 20 million players. Most of this growth has been seen in the online gaming sector. Events such as the Indian Premier League (IPL) and other leagues have played a major role in the growth of the industry. In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, people have been spending more time online. This has helped the industry to grow in India and across the world. Online gaming has become a popular entertainment, and now many people consider it as a career option.

The gaming industry has been growing steadily since the beginning of 2010, thanks to digitization, smartphones, and better internet access in tier 2 and 3 cities. It’s predicted to grow at a CAGR of 30% by FY 27, reaching a total of Rs.25,240 Crore. It’s also driven by technological progress and the need to grow, innovate, and come up with new ideas to give users a safe and unique gaming experience. With more and more live events and leagues popping up, fantasy gaming is becoming more and more popular as a way to try out something new and win amazing prizes.

How PlayerzPot is different from other fantasy sports platforms/apps in India. What is your technological strength and features to engage the targeted audience on the platform?

The user-centric approach distinguishes Playerzpot from other platforms. We identify market gaps and address user issues from the outset of our operations. We have taken into consideration the behaviour and comprehension of online gamers. This has resulted in the introduction of innovative features such as Refer and Earn and Customer Support, as well as the fastest withdrawal feature, which has since become the industry standard. Our team members are constantly striving to identify and address gaps, leading to a rich user experience which is the cornerstone of our platform. One of the key features of our platform is the “second-inning option” and “block of 5 overs”. The user can begin the 2nd inning and the block of 5 overs, allowing them to enter the live fantasy. Our platform offers 9 Fantasy sports, 15+ skilled casual games, and 3 Card games. We continually research and develop to provide an exceptional gaming experience. We analyze user journeys and behaviours, as well as gameplay times, and tailor our offerings to enhance their engagement. As a responsible brand, we provide a secure registration and payment gateway to encourage responsible gaming.

We have recently added Flutter to our platform. Flutter is an open-source framework developed by Google to build cross-platform applications (IOS and Android) using a unified codebase. With this technology, we can reduce development time, reduce time to market, and provide users with better gaming experiences at a lower price. With the help of this development, we are now able to launch multiple IOS games by importing our Unity modules.

Do you think new emerging technologies will become a game changer for the industry or make it less accessible?

Thanks to the emergence of new technologies, the whole online gaming sector has changed in the past few years. Online gaming companies are using new technologies to make the gaming experience safe, secure, and unique for their players. The new age technologies are being used to make gaming realistic and fun.

Here at PlayerzPot we always strive to keep up with the latest technological innovations and trends in the industry and also adopt them to update our platform to meet our user’s needs and requirements. We have moved to Amazon Web Service (AWS) and now offer new features that help us reach the highest level of concurrency and interact with our users more quickly.

We also use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to analyze user data and predict their behaviour. This enables us to deliver custom promotions to cohorts based on their interests. Adding an extra layer of security, we plan to incorporate AI into all our products over the next few years and will begin work on our metaverse.

What are the trends to follow in the industry to meet industry standards as well as customer expectations?

To comply with industry standards, fair play and responsible gaming practices must be at the top of everyone’s to-do list. Here at PlayerzPot, fair play is at the top of our to-do list and we guarantee 100% fair play & responsible gaming for all our users. Our internal fraud team keeps track of every transaction on the platform to protect user information and detect any suspicious activity.

Some of the other industry trends to follow are:

Mobile Gaming- We are in the midst of a massive shift to mobile gaming. The shift in gamer behaviour and the majority of the population i.e. Millennials and Gen Z has forced gaming studios to step up and invest in mobile-friendly gaming.

Cloud gaming- Cloud gaming is not only great for gamers, but it’s also a great way for gaming companies to make money. You don’t have to worry about downloading software onto your device, which can cause problems with storage and lag.

Live session- The gaming industry has witnessed a surge in the popularity of live commentary and live streaming of games. Not only does this trend provide players with motivation and guidance, but it also encourages new users to follow in the footsteps of their favourite gamers. This is why gaming live streaming has become a new form of gaming promotion and encouragement.

Customer expectation- It is essential for a platform to maintain a connection with users, as they may experience daily issues while playing games, which may be missed or overlooked by companies. Therefore, maintaining a connection with users and responding to their feedback is essential.

Easy withdrawal and safety- Making sure the platform is secure and providing great service is what keeps users coming back. When a player arrives and the service is seamless without any problems, they will want to play more than once because there won’t be any time lag.

Plans in terms of technological developments on the platform/apps

We are planning to add skilled casual games to our platform shortly, and we are also planning to introduce NFTs for fantasy and casual games on our platform. Metaverse is still in the early stages of development in India, but our research and development team is actively monitoring the progress of the Metaverse concept. We are open to exploring the Metaverse at the right time.

Credit: Times Now