Why did we invest in Simple Viral Games?
Simple Viral Games (“SVG”) is a new-age comprehensive gaming platform that aims to host multiple studio-generated and user-generated hyper casual games spanning various sub-segments. The platform currently consists of over 50, easy-to-play games tailor-made for “Bharat”. It aims to become a one-stop platform where users can discover new and engaging games, generate their own games to play with friends, and studios can launch new games. It raised a $500K pre-seed round in December 2022 with saw participation from WEH Ventures, Force Ventures, PointOne Capital, along with Eximius.
While we strongly believe in the vision of Simple Viral Games to become a go-to entertainment platform for Bharat, the below reasons excited us about the potential it holds:-
1) The Global Hypercasual Gaming Boom
Before the dawn of mobile games as we know them, the gaming market was a considerably different terrain. While there were PCs and gaming consoles, gaming had still not been placed in the palms of the general populace. Therefore, for most, gaming was a great source of recreation, but cumbersome to get into. This altered massively with the mobile gaming era.
The sheer ease and convenience that mobile devices bestowed upon getting into gaming are unprecedented. In this age, all one needs is a mobile device to become a gamer, and given that there are around 5.4 billion mobile devices in the world, around 7 in 10 people have the potential of becoming gamers.
As the quotient of gamers increased, the fact that a considerable chunk of the new gamer base desires lighter experiences became apparent. In India there are around 420 million people hypercasual and casual gamers who proactively seek lighter experiences.
Due to the significantly larger user base that these games are able to acquire, they are a more lucrative avenue for developers.
Despite a minor decline in 2022, hypercasual is still the biggest genre by far in terms of worldwide downloads.
As a repercussion of the considerable chunk of hypercasual games that are released every year, users need to download multiple different games to partake in their favourites. Therefore, solutions which house a diverse multitude of hypercasual games are desperately needed. It is this very need that was expertly identified and comprehensively solved by folks at SVG.
2) A Dynamic and Exciting Team
A huge reason why they were able to identify this problem statement and build so aggressively is the passion that emanates through the founding team.
Before being excellent operators, Rahul and Sourav are ardent gamers. They closely relate to this problem statement because they can personally relate to a gamer’s outlook. This is what makes them such an esteemed pairing across the ecosystem.
Rahul had been a key part of the Indian gaming ecosystem prior to Simple Viral Games as well. He was a co-founder at Instasportz which built a location-based VR gaming platform that sought to create the largest network of virtual reality gaming zones across India and other emerging markets globally. He had also served as the Lead Product Manager at Apna and Khatabook, while having lead growth at Perpule. He was also heavily involved in the Product and Growth avenues at Hike.
Sourav is the resident tech expert on the team. He had served as a Software Engineer at Perpule, Honeywell, and Gojek. His half a decade worth of experience has made him one of the most resourceful members within the ecosystem and an astoundingly seamless operator.
Therefore, in addition to being passionate gamers, Rahul and Sourav bring a great degree of expertise to this expedition which inspires a great deal of confidence in its trajectory.
3) A Comprehensive Model for Bharat Audience
There was a need for a comprehensive platform where gamers could play multiple hypercasual games in one place. SVG sought to address this with a simple solution — identifying the most exciting segments within the hypercasual space that resonated with the Bharat audience, and bringing them on one platform.
Through a seamless onboarding process and AI, they can quickly gauge the audience’s sentiment and the games that they are tilting towards. They use these proprietary insights to tailor-make games that can captivate Bharat. This also helps in recommending relevant games to their audience.
Due to the fact that they possess a diverse set of compelling games on their web platform and their mobile application — Time Pass, they are able to retain their users much better. Moreover, they always have an ear to the ground and constantly introduce new game ideas based on the users’ feedback.
Therefore, due to their innovative approach, SVG acts as a repository for all great and exciting hypercasual games which allows their users to meet all their gaming needs through one platform.
4) Meticulous Product Vision
A platform with so many different offerings can often overwhelm the gamer. Therefore, the platform needs to be designed in a way that the user feels elated while engaging with the wide roster of games and feels that they are the drivers of the experience rather than the other way around. The unique product philosophy that SVG adheres to is designed in accordance with this very ethos.
Their app — Time Pass utilises an innovative design template that borrows from the extremely popular reel–based format. Just like users can sift through numerous short videos, that are now a staple of most social media platforms, using a simple swipe mechanism, they can do the same with games on the platform. This highly intuitive system ensures that users experience the joy of discovery quite frequently on the platform while still retaining familiarity across the board.
Users also have the option of ‘saving’ their favorite games and ensuring that they can return to them swiftly. Moreover, the existing games are categorised on the basis of ease of play and the sub-segment that they correspond to. This feature comes in handy when there is a very specific game that you want to have your hands on.
SVG have placed an immense degree of emphasis on refining their user experience to the day where you don’t feel the need to download any other game to satiate your gaming needs.
Conclusion
In the world of gaming, few technological innovations have been as monumental as smartphones. What was once a niche industry has become a behemoth all because of smartphones. As a result of this, a lot of people have taken to gaming casually. India specifically has over 420 million casual gamers. As the popularity of casual and hyper casual experiences has increased, so has the clamour for comprehensive platforms that house multiple such games. This need is the cornerstone of SVG.
The rapidity and precision with which SVG have gone about to execute their vision are peerless. A large reason for this is the fact that both of the co-founders are passionate gamers who personally empathise with the woes of community and keep the gamer’s perspective at the forefront of every key decision. Both the founders are experienced operators and leverage it to make gaming as seamless as possible for players.
To tackle the need for a dedicated platform comprehensively, SVG has set in place a data-driven approach that allows them to ascertain the most trending hypercasual games in the market and understand what the Indian gamer is being moved by. They use these extensive insights to make games that can entertain Indian gamers like no other. This makes them one of the most comprehensive gaming platforms in the country.
To ensure that the user doesn’t feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of games available, SVG has diligently created a design philosophy that feels welcoming and intuitive to the user by incorporating the gesture framework that is often used by social media platforms to arrange short videos. This combined with their emphasis on allowing the user to personalise their experience and being able to filter through the entire platform easily is what makes the platform such a delight to use.
