Popular mobile game firm and Nazara Tech subsidiary Nextwave Multimedia has onboarded Christopher Franklin as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Notably, Franklin will take over the position from founder PR Rajendran. Post Franklin’s takeover of the position, Rajendran will serve as the board chairman.

The decision to onboard ex-Electronic Arts’ game designer comes amid the vision to grow the company’s freemium gaming aspect. After successful titles like World Cricket Championship (WCC), Nextwave will look to develop some other casual sports-based games.

It is worth mentioning that Franklin has been a part of the mobile gaming industry for quite some now. Previously, he has worked with Ludia, GSN Games, Mango Games and Glu Mobile, which are prominent names in the industry.

Nazara Tech CEO Nitish Mittersain recently came forward to state about the appointment of Franklin as the chief of the Chennai-based firm.

Speaking to Moneycontrol, Mittersain said, “The WCC franchise has huge potential compared to the revenues it generates today for us. So we brought in Chris, who comes with strong game design capabilities. We hope to revamp the game design from the way we are approaching it and significantly scale up this business. I think in the coming quarters, it will show up in our numbers as well.”

Netxwave’s growth to benefit Nazara

The development of Nextwave’s biz will have a significant impact on Nazara Tech’s revenue. This is because Nazara holds 71.88 percent stake in the firm. Recently, in its Q1 results, Nazara Tech also stated that gaming contributes about 43 percent of its consolidated revenue.

Speaking of the quarterly results for June quarter of FY 2023-24, Nazara’s revenue was Rs 254.4 crores, while Nextwave Multimedia’s revenues increased by up to 7.5 percent Y-o-Y, which stood at Rs 7.2 crore.

Earlier in March 2022, Nazara Tech’s Board of Directors also approved to invest Rs 30 crores in Nextwave Multimedia by way of subscription to equities.