While several startups have turned their focus on profitability in the ongoing ‘funding winter’ and investors backing out from putting funds in companies, Nazara is looking to become a major player in the global gaming ecosystem with eyes on acquiring VR game development studios and Web3 companies.
Mumbai-based Nazara is looking to invest big in the free-to-play games sector and game development studios that specialize in virtual reality games. They are also looking to acquire companies that can hand them a passage to the eSports community. The company’s joint MD, Nitish Mittersain revealed that they will use a bulk of their own money for acquisitions as they have ₹700 crore to ₹750 crores of cash as margin.
They did ₹100 crore of EDITDA in FY22 with free cash flow of ₹112 crore. Although they are looking to invest in new ventures, Mittersain also said that they will have to strategize their existing acquisitions with the newer ones.
“We are also looking at game development studios, especially the ones in VR (virtual reality) games, along with companies operating in new areas of the eSports ecosystem that we can enter. We have a little over ₹700 crores to ₹750 crores of cash as margin. However, since we have already made acquisitions after we went public, we will also take some time to integrate existing acquisitions before making new acquisitions. I think it is a balancing act, and that’s how we are going to approach it,” Nitish Mittersain revealed in a conversation with The Hindu BusinessLine.
Cricket games to be the first launch in the Web3 space
Earlier this year, Nitish Mittersain’s Nazara Technologies revealed that they will invest $2.5 million in US-based gaming Web3 fund Bitkraft Ventures. And when asked about the company’s plans in the Web3 arena, Mittersain said that they are looking at that prospect keenly but are also circumspect about it, citing the example of Axie Infinity, which was one of the most popular games in the Web3 arena but eventually fizzled out. The entrepreneur also spoke about the company’s internal projects inWeb3 space.
“We are also looking at moving some of our internal products into Web3. Cricket games, for example, will probably be our first launch in the Web3 space. We are also being a little cautious because there has been a lot of hype in this space without substance. We don’t want to burn our fingers by getting into something which is short-term in nature. One of the most popular games in Web3 — Axie infinity — became very big very soon, but they also went down equally fast. As Nazara, we are looking at building sustainable Web3 businesses,” Mittersain added.