 With this, I'd now like to welcome our panelists on the stage of stream. We've got Minha Sazarika, the director of digital marketing games craft. We've got Nalind Dupia, the head of digital marketing optraw in. We've got Amit Kumar head user growth and retention hike. We've got Aalok Pandey VP sales and marketing the pads who's going to be the session chair. With this, I'd like to humbly welcome all our eminent panelists. Aalok, a great discussion I'm sure, which lies ahead and we're really excited to know the great comments coming in from our panelists. So Aalok, without any further time, we leave from our side over to you. Thank you so much, Bhavna. Thank you so much. Welcome all the panelists. I would like to welcome Minha's Nalind Nandamit, right? So yes, today's topic is, you know, future of real money gaming. And in the past two, three years, we have seen a tremendous phenomenal growth in this real money gaming sector, right? I mean, we can say during the pandemic and post-pandemic. So I would like to, you know, understand the perspective from a brand market point of view that what all strategies are being used and can be used in the future to engage and retain customers because retaining a customer is really, you know, tough in this competitive environment. So I would like to go fast with Nalind if you can, you know, want to bring your perspective out of it. So basically to retain the customers, you'll be like everybody, we usually have like basic strategies in place. Like we do like push notifications, SMS, emailers, calling systems, IVA systems and remarketing, right? So but the major retentions we get is basically like if your friends or something or your referrals are playing the game, right? So that's the major focus where we always focus on the referral segments, right? Where you refer to your friend and he'll be onboarded. Obviously the chances of you retaining on the game will be much more higher, right? So usually we focus on those kind of things. Apart from that, in real money gaming, usually the basic thing, which again, matter is a timely like precautions, the way users are depositing their money, whether that's safe or not, the way they are withdrawing the money, whether it's fast, it's safe. So these kinds of basic things which matters a lot while we retain the customers but the customers usually in R&D look out for these basic things, right? So apart from that, if you'll see, nowadays a lot of guys are actually going or more of the companies are actually going from the branding perspective as they're where they are like dealing up with the big actors, right? Usually that basically moves towards the user acquisition but that plays a major role in retaining a customer as your brand builds up. The customers have more trust in your brand and they usually retain more on your platforms, right? And but above all, what I would actually say is what matters the very much is like your experience, the onboarding experience, the gameplay experience, the uninterrupted gameplay which you are offering because if that's not, it will not work, right? So basically you have to have a proper gameplays and which keep on evolving. It's not that we have created once the gameplay it will be remain for every year, every month, you need to strategize, you need to rethink over that what's new coming into the market, what the customer needs are and based on those needs, just update your products and then focus on the retention. Rightly said, Nalim. So I would like to ask Minhaj that Nalim already mentioned that, you know, the gaming, the experience of gamers, right? And the trust factor, I mean, if they are, you know, adding up the money where the money is going, how the experience, I mean the user experience is talking about. Would you like to add something upon it? I mean, what are the strategies we can use to, you know, retain the customers? Yeah. So we have to, actually, I would love to go a few step backwards and try to answer this thing question because retention and John has been a, say, critical question for everyone who is doing, say, user acquisition in the space, right? So I would say my, I strongly believe and there are a couple of pointers, a couple of factors that we need to look into it. So one is first and very critical as in how social fabric is knitted closely into the game, all right? Because we have seen, we have seen multiplayer games has more, say, around the fiber, around the five to six eggs, larger or so more time spent, time spent than single player games. So that's a social fabric, how it's closely as stated in the game. That's the one part of it. And the second part of the pricing work, then if you're, if you want to, if you want to, say, retain users, maybe say the user may, the user may win or lose, right? So keeping a such a kind of a price and say, if micro, micro-pricing in terms of the three rupees, you come into a game, a play a game of soludo or maybe say pool or something like that, starting a rupees three or the rupees five, right? So the user keeps on, keeps on continuing with the same game action. The pricing is obviously is one of the important factor. And another, another strong point is, say, how do we, so in order to retain a user for a longer period of time, how do we can create a sense of belongingness in the game? If I talk about sense of belongingness, then it would mean say, what regional flavors, what are the regional flavors that I'm putting into the game, right? Suppose for example, in India, so if you have to one of the popular casual game is ludo, the thing is ludo, basically. Ludo is something like, it's like people have gone crazy and the way they have, if you look at China, right? Out of the 20 games that have developed, out of 14, out of 20 games, they are locally developed, which has the regional flavors to it. So the people can connect to it, Mahajong. For example, taking Mahajong or something else, basically. It's like mostly, I would say, more regional flavor. So in India, this something obviously, we have to given a survey in the back, in some weeks back that I, in some report I read about. So people are interested to try out games which has the Indian flavor to read mythological characters or Indian themes. So another point which goes what my colleague Nalini has said, right? So creating a very safe ground for the players to come on board, deposit and play. You call it a fair play or call it as, say, anything which would provide a safer environment in terms of gameplay and experience for the user. Definitely the user would stick to that particular brand or to that particular game for a longer period of time, for sure. Right. Thanks, Minhas. I mean, Amit, you, I mean, has mentioned, you know, the regional essence in the gaming, right? Which I, so I'll pick up the queue from there where Minhas dropped. So Amit, I mean, do you really believe that, you know, original essence along with this, you know, the user experience will, you know, help us to retain the customers in this competitive environment for them? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, absolutely. I will agree with the point, all the point I mentioned by Minhas and Nalini. So I'll cover that too. I mean, so I will, I mean, explain the main three thing that we need to kind of keep in mind while, let's say, creating strategy for user retention. First of all, I mean, it's like Nalini mentioned, it starts from the day first, I mean, from the onboarding, right? So it depends on what sort of, I mean, seamless onboarding that you are providing to users, right? So, I mean, first thing, let's say, one is like, you mean, I mean, ensure, okay, so the great onboarding is there, like post that you need to ensure, okay. So you need to keep monitoring the user behavior within the game, post onboarding process, how their behavior is, what sort of a game that they are playing, what sort of a, let's say, blocker that they are fishing within the game. If they are any, you need to kind of work with the closely with your product team to kind of enhance that. Another thing is, let's say, if you need to keep monitoring users, let's say, move within the game, let's say, giving an example, I mean, so we have a call break, right? You need to keep monitoring, I mean, so what sort of a move that people are taking in the game? And let's say, if you are seeing that a particular user is taking a wrong move again and again, provide the input to the user to ensure, okay, so they are not taking these kind of move in future because if they will keep taking that sort of a move, it will impact, I mean, so the higher chance that user will get here now, right? So one is it, I mean, continuously monitoring users funnel within the, I mean, users funnel within the product and I mean, keep sharing input. Next is, I mean, so, see people, I mean, when the people download game, they come for, let's say, some entertainment. So you need to ensure, I mean, what sort of entertainment that user are getting from it? Let's say, if there is a Ludo, if there's a normal game that is happening again and again, I mean, people get bored at one point of time, right? You need to ensure what sort of, I mean, let's say, entertaining thing that they are getting, let's say, being at, let's say, some sort of a feature, are you adding some sort of a feature within the game? These, let's say, is there any sort of a customized, let's say, leaderboard happening so that user engage within the game and they will keep playing? Similarly, let's say, is there any custom sort of a tournament is there for user to kind of come and play again and again? So these sort of a thing that you need to keep introducing within your game to keep the user engaged with your game, right? And then last thing is a personalization part that mentioned by Minas, like you need to kind of think about the user on personalization, being at, let's say, within the communication that you are sending out to user, or let's say, what sort of a communication that user is seeing within the product. So personalization is most important thing. I mean, let's say, start from, let's say, what sort of experience that user is seeing on a game to, let's say, what sort of communication that they are getting even out of the product also. So yeah. Yes, so I mean, yes, I mean, there's multiple strategies we can use. I mean, from the band marketing perspective, like the, you know, regional essence along with the, you know, user funnel with the essence of entertainment, I mean, what you guys have already mentioned. Now, so jumping on the innovation and technological advancement because these are the factors that are playing a significant role in creating this gaming ecosystem. And with the gaming sector being one of the, you know, fastest growing sectors. And we have seen that it has outpaced many spaces in this particular ecosystem. So how will, you know, Metaverse affect this real money gaming? And do you guys really think that this, the parallel digital life will enhance the gameplay? So I would like to, you know, go fast with Minhaas, your point of view around this Metaverse effect. Yes, Alok, I was, I was, I was expecting this question to come in because Metaverse being there all over the internet. Yeah, being the first one I would say. So definitely I would say, right? Because Metaverse, you have to say, isn't it just like a Pandora box, right? So still in a nascent stage, right? This entire space is quite promising. And say, for example, right? Any, any of the game to success, right? So any of the game to succeed in the market, right? Social element or social layering has to be there, right? Now, kind of you think of, you think of a Metaverse, right? If you're talking about promise of gaming brand and a Metaverse, think of it as putting a five year old kid into a chocolate factory, right? So it's like immense, right? Opportunities in terms of, say, in terms of, in terms of, say, opportunities and the flexibilities and the kind of, say, ecosystem, a particular game needs to succeed, right? If everything is there, right? We'd say it's a play to earn kind of things coming into the picture with a smart contract, with a micro transactions. Now, the real money game, I'm pretty sure we'll see a definitely a very, a huge change in years to come, actually. And it's not about limiting yourself to one game in the Metaverse world, right? It's about how you can, you are taking apart, as in, so once you are, you are, you're playing a game, right? And you are taking a part of it with you, right? With non-fungible tokens and stuff, right? So you are taking a part out of the game which you can use in another, say, another pit stop within Metaverse. So this is like, we are exploring a, a total different realm, I would say, due to the total different realm for, say, real money gaming for years to come, for sure. Okay, so, I mean, Nallin, I mean, how the Metaverse will affect the real money gaming we were discussing about the Minhaas. So Minhaas is very much excited about it, you know, because how you think this Metaverse is going to change? So basically, to understand Metaverse, what is Metaverse? Metaverse is basically like a parallel world altogether, right? So if you'll see about gaming, a kind of social elements are already presented to the gaming, right? Like, and if you'll change shooting games or even in some games like poker, even in our game like octopoker, we have autos. We have already have the skins available, right? So in Metaverse, what is there? That these elements are already there. But we are looking forward to convert these things into the NFTs, the non-fungible tokens, right? The only thing is with the non-fungible tokens, it's like they need to be unique, right? They cannot be copied or they cannot be transferred to anywhere else, like Bitcoins and all those things, right? So this is something where everyone is light on looking forward about how to convert or how to create these NFTs. And when you are working in the Metaverse, it's always essential that once you own the NFT, because you need to own the NFT, unlike Cryptocurrency or something, you, any user or any player has to own the NFT. So once the NFT is being owned, how much and how they can carry those NFTs into the other games or other worlds? Is there limitations to the single game? It can be used only to the only one game where they have purchased that NFT with the cryptos, right? Again, the Metaverse always opens a room for other payment methods like cryptos and everything else, right? Right now, we have even heard that few guys have actually, that co-founder has actually converted his tweet into NFTs and guys have actually purchased that, right? So these are some things you can physically convert anything to the NFTs when it comes to Metaverse, right? And can sell it out in terms of crypto, maybe in terms of gameplay, maybe in terms of time you are spending on the platform, there are multiple ways. So now everyone is moving towards play-to-games kind of play-to-earn kind of games and obviously the real money is no different. So in real money, again, if we look out for the futures, if we create avatars, if we create certain NFTs, then it opens a way for our crypto investors, it opens a way for the gamers to earn money out of the games even a lot more. And yeah, it's a whole new world. It opens a whole new world. So, yeah. Yes, so Amit, I mean, as Naleen and Minhaaz has already mentioned, right? They are seeing a lot of, you know, gameplays and enhancement in the RMG with Metaverse. Not talking about the nitty-gritty and technologically, since we all are the brand market ideas. And from the marketing perspective, how you think it's going to help us in getting more, you know, entertainment-centric RMG? Okay, so see, like Naleen and Minhaaz mentioned the importance of Metaverse and especially in gaming. So we know, I mean, this is the new world, right? So the new world of internet, right? So, and then the beauty of Metaverse is it enables us to kind of use the collectibles, things like NFTs and other things, right? So, and at hike, I think in this month only, we launched our first NFT to attract the users. So this is called, I mean, Rush Avatar that we launched as a NFT and let's say as a user asset for a user identity for our, let's say, as users. Where, I mean, I mean, we have a different sort of layers in this Rush Avatar that people can, let's say, leverage it during the gameplay. And how this is to answer your question, how this is helping us to, even we have already seen the good move in terms of, I mean, attracting the new users to kind of come and try the games. So yeah, that is helping us a lot, I mean, in terms of, I mean, retaining the user and then attracting the new set of a user to come on board and try out. Fine. So, yes, I do agree. I mean, the Nalain Minhaaz and Amit regarding this Metaverse and it's going to enhance the gameplay, obviously. Let's hope for it, right? And how soon we are going to see the, this Metaverse effect on our RNG ecosystem, especially in India. So now coming to this, competitive RNG ecosystem which we have seen in the past two, three years, this is the biggest challenge, I guess, from a brand perspective or brand market here, to cater the consumer needs, which keeps on changing, because sensations keeps on coming within a fortnight. You can expect the new technological advancement and new games coming up every month. So how are game owners going to cater the consumer needs in this fast moving competitive market, right? I would like to start with Amit, to, you know, I would love to know your perspective that how the game owners is catering to the needs, I mean, the fast moving needs. Okay, so again, I'll give an example of our organization. So we always keep a user at a center while developing any sort of a feature, let's say future needs. So we always focus, I mean, the what sort of a need that user has. And we always keep in mind, I mean, so let's say what sort of a future need can be for a user. So while developing any kind of a new feature, we keep the user need in place. And we do, I mean, regular research around the users, okay, what sort of a new thing that they are exploring and then kind of try to kind of build some feature around that. And always doing a regular sort of a research around how they are liking it, what sort of a new thing that they want to kind of see in the product and always, I mean, whenever we reach out to our product team, we come up with the list of thing that people, I mean, our existing user is already consuming and what sort of a they ask that they want to see in the product. And yeah, so we discussed with the product team and ensure that those sort of the requirement get catered within the product. So yeah. Yes. So Minhas, don't you think, I mean, this is the very challenging, you know, in the recent scenario, you know, to cater your consumer needs because they keep on jumping because they do have multiple options in the market, right? And to retain a customer is really, really tough from a brand market point of view. So what do you think, I mean, how do you cater the needs of the consumer which keeps on changing because they do have multiple options in the market? So this problem is going to stay actually, right? Given the growth trajectory that we are in, say from $1.8 billion to around $6 billion, whatever, by 24, 25. So this problem is going to stay for sure. Now the thing is consider the churn or the player fatigue is very high in casual and hyper casual kind of a game segment, all right? And this is because the games within the casual and hyper casual category are very repetitive, right? It depends upon the user, right? Why the user is coming onto a particular, say, hyper casual or casual game to try out his skill, basically. So generally it says, okay, if it's there to say this thing socialize or if it's there to say thrill, basically, right? Now, if the user or the player keeps on repeating or doing the similar task or similar steps within the game itself, there's a high chances that the user will churn for sure, right? So now, so this is very, so the thing is, so that's the reason. So in India though, if you're talking about RMG as a space, right? So card games has been there for some time now. And fantasy sport has done, I would say more than enough, more than more than decent work in the last couple of years, right? Now, going forward is the time for casual and hyper casual kind of a segment, which says it would grow by another, say 30% by 2024 and 2025. Now, keeping a sense, keeping an understanding with the user as to what kind of game they're interested in, say within the game, that's totally dependent upon how you are making their game plays or not, I would say game plays, but the kind of time they're spending on that particular game as in longer, right? If you're able to succeed to do that, right? The user, not only it will stick to you, not the user will stick to that particular game, not to the brand, but also it would give you enough long window to monetize that user, put the user as well as the game, basically. So yeah, so that is something that is something that is something would happen. Like what I have said in my previous answer, the thing is we need to build games which has reasonable favors to it, reasonable favors so that people can easily connect to it actually. Okay, okay. So Nallin, I mean, what Amit and Minhaaz has already mentioned, right, that to retain a customer, it is a challenge from a brand perspective, right? So user experience is one, which we need to improve to retain the customers. But how do you think? Because they do have multiple options in the market, right? And also keep coming with new technological advancement with new features. So what are your thoughts on it? How to retain customers? We have heard one line from along, right? Change is the only constant. So everything need to be updated with time. So so do the games, right? So that's actually the fact, right? So now how we can do that actually? So if we are seeing that the game is changing, the market is changing, so here the game, your game community and your customer support actually plays a major role. To let you understand what actually your customer needs are, what they are looking out for, why? If there are a certain customers which are with you from a longer, longer time, now they are not playing your game, then you need to first know that why they are not playing. What are the other games offering? What actually they are looking out for? These are the basic understandings once you have from the consumer's perspective, right? You can then improve your game, that what are the things which need to be added into the game, right? So again, it comes to the same thing, same question against how to retain the customers, because change, things will come up, right? New games will be there, new sensations will come around every day. It's just that what is the best thing you can take out of from these new things which is not already there in your game, implement that so that your customers can actually get the same thing within your games as well, right? So these are the basic things which you need to do while you need to retain your customers or like cater your customers needs. Okay, so while talking about the technology since we are running out of time, so we need to be quick on this because I personally was very much interested to understand the importance of AI in RMG, right? So artificial intelligence. So what do you guys think? I mean, how it has improved since 2019 and what the future is gonna be of RMG with AI, right? So I would love to understand the perspective of Nalini first that how is AI in RMG improved since 2019 and what can we expect in 2022 and beyond, right? In the real money gaming sector, right? So AI has been already used into the RMG specifically for the privacy and security purposes, right? We have like secure account and hackings and frauds. We always use AI to protect users' privacy which is like a very much important part, right? Apart from that, again, the cheatings and the frauds are something which they're always there in the past. But now what we have seen in the past or in the, what we can optimize on is customized user experiences, right? So whatever user inputs are, what they are playing, how they are playing, which particular game they like, which kind of purchases usually they made, right? These everything goes into AI's and based on those you offer certain things, you offer them, you show them certain things, pop-ups. So these are all UI bits. Apart from that, to retain the customers, there is a proper matchmaking, right? The AI helps you in always in the proper matchmaking, how the matchmaking is happening into your game, right? So this again comes into the AI's component. So AI helps you out in all those things, right? In future, obviously, I am assuming that chat boards and the support services will again go into the AI system where they can actually understand previous needs of the customers and can enhance the chat boards accordingly with the AI. Right, so I mean, Minha and Amit, since we are running out of time, so I just want to wrap up the session with a quick note that yes, RMG, we are seeing a lot of growth in the coming future, right? And being the biggest revenue generator and advertising spender, we can see a lot of growth in the sector. And thanks for coming, Amit. Thanks for giving your time on a Friday evening, right? Thank you so much, Amit, Nalini and Minhaj. That's all, I'll ask Bhavna. Thank you so much, Alok. I was really intrigued with the entire discussion and we were just having a conversation in the back end that we're so privileged and honored to have Vola Eminence speakers because every topic is giving us a great insight into something which could become huge and which is of course already huge in the industry. Kudos to all the men leading it from the front and we wish you all the very best and we hope to see you in further conversations ahead. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you, Bhavna. Thank you for your valuable time.