Mobile Games company Nazara Technologies is in the process of launching a social games business, and has set up a 15 member team for developing mobile browser based social games, Founder and CEO Nitish Mittersain told MediaNama. Changes are afoot in the Indian market, Mittersain feels, saying that "You have to go Freemium in a big way. The days of selling content for Rs. 50 and 99 are over, and one has to look to monetize in game transactions. For some tme you might have to give a lot of things for free, but the number of users wanting to pay Rs 99 per game is a very small subset." The company will launch its own social gaming destination - GCity.in (currently under construction) - and has 5-6 game titles under development, primarily with Indian themes. It has also tied up with mobile social network Mig33 for launching games, and is in talks with other potential partners in Japan and China for launch games, for also localising the games. The first game that Nazara plans to launch is MeriSarkar, a political game targeting the Indian market, where users create their own political party, recruit candidates, and stand for elections. Monetization is through virtual goods, wherein you can purchase a 'Scam' for an opposing candidate. Virtual goods are likely to be priced low, like Rs 5 or Rs 3. Payment for virtual goods will be through the telecom operator networks (like ibibo had first done), or through Mig33's virtual payments system.…
