And it is this potential of sports in India that prompted React Media Private Limited to specializes in fantasy sports gaming by creating a proprietary gaming platform, Presino (www.presino.com).

Latha Iyer, the founder and CEO of the first sports community destination in India talks to Sudhakaran of CyberMedia News how Presino is planning to reap a golden harvest in the changing sports landscape of the country.

What was it that inspired you to focus on fantasy sports gaming?

I have always loved sport and having spent a number of years in the US, I have been fascinated with how sport is followed and consumed there. Fantasy games allow a passionate sports fan to get closer to the game feel like he is an integral part of the sport.

With Presino.com, we aim to provide a platform for the sports fans in this country to experience sports in a much deeper way. The large number of young sports fans, the growing number of Internet and mobile users is just the right time to build a vibrant community of sports lovers.

If you just step back and observe how the sports landscape is changing in this country you will see why fantasy gaming is such an exciting entertainment genre - cricket is the most dominant sport in this country, formats like T20 have brought in younger and new sets of audience, tournaments like IPL and ICL have just shown the way forward to build an effective commercial structure for sport.

Then, Formula1 is fast gaining a huge following, Force India F1 has provided that impetus to popularize the sport in India; football is gaining popularity with English Premier League clubs and players gaining recognition and also being used to launch products in this country.

Presino.com is poised to take advantage of this changing landscape and offer engaging games on the Internet and mobile devices to sports fans

How do you see the global potential of its market?

Globally fantasy sports is a fairly well established category. Markets like the US and UK have had fantasy games for a number of years now.

In fact in the US, they even have a trade association for fantasy sports providers called Fantasy Sports Trade Association (www.fsta.org). It is estimated that that in the US, the economic impact of fantasy sports is in the $2-3 billion range. It’s a growing market there.

As media habits change and digital media gain ground, sports fans will use these emerging media to consume sports and follow their passion. Fantasy sports leverages the power of the Internet and has the potential to be the leading entertainment category in the digital sports marketing domain.

In India, sports, especially cricket, has a big market. How do you plan to exploit the strength of this market to market your products?

Presino.com has launched a number of formats for cricket. We have a unique fantasy team manager game for tournaments like the IPL and the ICL, which have games everyday.

Our format allows users to come in and build their teams for each game and thereby follow the sport as well as get familiar with the players and results. Moreover, with prizes on offers it’s definitely a great thing for sports fans.

Presino.com has a number of networking and communication features that allow users to play the games with their friends and family. This allows users to claim "bragging rights" and call themselves the "gurus" of the sport since they now have a common platform to compete.

For the tour of England to India, we have an easy team manager game and a more difficult team manager game called ‘the Doosra’.

We also have a light-hearted predictions format, called the ‘Switchhitter’ where users are asked to predict outcomes such as who scores the least runs, how many ducks, etc. On the Deck we have predictions based games for each match that users play with the virtual currency ‘Pi's’.

The viral elements on Presino.com will drive users and the game consumption. Our repeat user base is quite high with almost 60 per cent of the registered users coming back regularly to play the games.

Other than this, we also have an aggressive marketing plan that includes print, radio and online media to promote Presino.com as the premier destination for sports fans

What are the new products in pipeline from Presino?

We are presently working on game formats for other sports like tennis and golf.

Any plan to diversify to new platforms?

Yes, our next step is the mobile phone platform. A key release will be the launch of a lighter version of the site for the mobile platform. We are targeting the launch of this service in the month of December.

And do you have any plan to diversify to other segments in the game market, apart from fantasy sports game?

At this time, we'd like to remain focused on the fantasy genre. Given the fact that we are a start-up with a small team, we would like to ensure that we provide the best fantasy gaming experience to our users.

These formats require users to follow the sport, think and strategize to perform well. It’s a very engaging genre of gaming. In the medium-long term we will launch new game formats that will include graphics and a richer visual experience.

How do you differentiate the fantasy sports gaming from other online/video games?

Fantasy sports gaming in the context of Presino.com has a slightly wider meaning. Our game formats include team manager formats and prediction-based games. All our games are structured to test the users knowledge of the sport and the sportspersons. These games establish the sport IQ hierarchy for all those who play our games.

In fact, success on Presino.com has everything to do with sound judgment, knowledge of the game and an instinct.

Fundamentally, the strategy adopted by a user on Presino.com will be tested against the strategy of another. Our games are more strategy driven and based on real sport rather than imaginary one (although 'fantasy' is used to describe this genre of gaming!)
 
Unlike online casual gaming or console gaming, these game formats are designed to engage a sports fan with something that he is already passionate about - sport. The user interface or the game is not graphic in nature, there is no video or audio, or any download to play the game. All you need is your knowledge of the sport!

There is an allegation that computer games often instill the element of violence among kids. Also many games had landed in a soup over sexually explicit content too. How do you react to the argument that games often propagate sex and violence?

I don't really think isolating computer gaming as the reason for violence among kids is accurate.

Just look around you, the movies that are produced, the TV shows that are on-air, even cartoons that are on kids channels, the newspapers you read every morning, are all filled with violence and graphic pictures.
It’s not right to isolate just gaming for something that requires a far deeper understanding of the implications of everything that kids are exposed to these days.

Being a player in the games market, how do you evaluate the psychological impact of games among children.

Let me clarify, Presino.com is not the typical online gaming site, where users expect graphic intensive games. It is a platform for sports enthusiasts and fans to come together, challenge one another and play our games to stake claim to the "gurudom" of that sport.

Moreover, Presino.com is targeted at young adults. Users have to be above 18 years of age to qualify for our prizes.

Well, like everything there are pros and cons to graphic games. In some cases gaming helps children understand concepts far more easily than just reading books. In other cases, it’s proven to improve coordination and reflexes as well.

While the flip side is that when children are not supervised, or parents/guardians don't know what kind of games their children are playing, things can get bad. So in my opinion, gaming is good - depending on the age and maturity of the child; it’s important for parents to supervise or be aware of the kind of games that their children are playing.

Could you please give a brief idea about the age group you target?

Presino.com is targeted at the sports fans in India. Since we offer games across sports like cricket, football, F1, NFL we are not biased to any one sport. The core of our audience is in the 18-25 years age group. The second largest group is in the 26-40 years demographic.

We have a fair number of women playing our games as well. And in fact we've had them top our leaderboards too!