Hasta La Motion!

As the world continues its efforts to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, the resulting scenarios have changed the dynamics of regularity by large and this change is expected to grow further.

However, amid all the chaos and uncertainty, there’s been an evident and significant beneficiary: Online Gaming.

Nationwide shutdown has led to Indians spending more time on their mobile devices. As we do not venture out and go about our daily schedules most of us are glued to our screens, to engage or entertain ourselves or to socialise and keep in touch with our peers. Online gaming is an amalgamation of all of the above.

As per the initial data released by viewership measurement BARC India and global measurement data analytics company Nielson in the end of March.

The report stated that the number of users in the gaming category saw an increase of around 2 per cent while the time spent on gaming went up by 11 per cent to 169 minutes per user/week.

“We are living through unprecedented times. Physical social distancing seems to have led to a phenomenal growth in virtual social togetherness with an almost 20 per cent increase in time spent per user on chats, social media and news in the last one week. And we anticipate this to grow further,” said  Dolly Jha, country leader, Nielsen Global Media, South Asia.

Nielsen runs a 12,000 strong smartphone panel passively  which covers the urban population exceeding one lakh people to analyse smartphone behaviour.

Gaming over the years has come a long way in the country. From being an absolute niche, it has somewhat paved its way into the mainstream lead by casual gaming and cheap mobile data-propelled online multiplayer rush on mobiles.

A quick run on Subway Surfer while waiting for a meeting to start or catching up with cousins over a game of Ludo or even a few rounds of PUBM or Free Fire for the evenings with friends, the scenarios are myriad with one thing in common. The mode of connecting and engaging with people amid the lockdown, with a mode of interactive entertainment: online gaming.

Another report was pushed out by the aforementioned companies again in April and the increase in numbers relating to online gaming in the country were staggering.

During the third week of the Covid-19 period, the number of users went up by 15 percent compared to the pre-lockdown period. The consumption of games also increased by 44 per cent. Average gaming apps accessed by the age group of 15-24 years was 2.7 in the third week of Covid-19 period compared to 2.4 in pre Covid-19 period. Users using three apps or more saw an increase from 33 per cent (pre Covid-19 period) to 40 per cent by the third week of COVID19 period. Whereas user with 1 app had dipped down from 42 per cent (pre Covid-19 period) to 34 per cent by third week of Covid-19 period and with two apps having dipped down from 26 per cent (pre Covid-19 period)  to 25 per cent by third week of Covid-19 period.

This does not come as a surprise of sorts. As the country, like most of the world, is going through a lockdown with strict social distancing guidelines by the government in place, gaming is providing a much needed relief in terms of keeping individuals busy, entertainment and socialising to a large extent, albeit virtual.

“On the whole the lockdown caused by the pandemic has had a positive impact on the gaming sector. However, fantasy gaming has been severely affected owing to cancellation / postponement of all major sporting events both globally and in India. Moreover, it will take a couple of quarters for things to get back to normal which will prove to be a challenge for all fantasy gaming operators.” said Paytm First Games COO Sudhanshu Gupta.

Paytm First Games has recently found success amid the lockdown as they experienced an enormous surge in users for their Ludo game. Titled First Ludo, the game amassed  over 2 lakh new users joining the game every day, the game-time per users has also increased from 32 to 45 minutes. Its ‘Play with Friends’ format has seen a jump of 300 per cent, as people invite their friends and family to come and play on the same ludo board irrespective of where they are. The company also recently conducted their first Clash Royale online tournament amid the lockdown which reportedly got 11,000 registrations.

Similarly, indigenous platform Gamerji, which hosts online games such as PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty Mobile and Clash Royale experienced a growth of more than 80 per cent in terms of users amid the lockdown.

“We (on Gamerji) gain an average of 43k new users a month. In the last 14 (Last two weeks of March) days we have had more than 72k new signups. We have increased more than 10 tournaments everyday and even our revenue has grown by 57 per cent.” said Gamerji co-founder Soham Thacker.

Given the high demand, the platform has also upped the ante by hosting free solo tournaments everyday for gamers to participate and win cash prizes. It seems to be an effort by the platform to increase user engagement and bring more offerings to its consumers at this time of lockdown. Instead of developing new features, the team is focusing on hosting a higher number of tournaments per day to build viewer stickiness.

Moreover, people who were not introduced to gaming till now have taken it up during the lockdown for obvious reasons. As they are usually introduced or invited to play by a friend or family, casual social gaming is on a rise.

Evidently, the need to stay connected and socialise during this pandemic is causing this surge in Social Gaming. Multiplayer games like Carrom, Ludo and even games from the Battle Royale genre made famous by PUBGM have seen twice the gameplay time. Moreover, there has been an increase in playing time for casual games like Bubble Shooter, Knife Up, Subway Surfer. Activity on the social features of the app such as video and audio usage during game play has also reportedly doubled while it is also working the other way around as quite a few of the OTT platforms have introduced gaming as their offerings in the nation.

“We are seeing the multiplayer modes on the platform grow manifold, up by three times.  Private tournaments and Vs-Mode (a feature wherein players play with friends and family) on our app has grown considering people are playing with their friends online amid the lockdown, suggesting that people are interested in connecting with their friends/loved ones online via gaming these days – almost as if gaming is a conversation facilitator.” says WinZO Games co-founder Saumya Singh Rathore.

On WinZo’s platform, time spent and the number of users has grown by five times, recording an all-time high. It is also observing a 30 per cent spike in Tier-1 traffic daily, even though the company does not even market its product to this category of audience as the platform is a tier two to tier five focused vernacular product where 80 per cent of the audience is consuming the app in vernacular languages.

Says Singh, “Hence, we are consciously evolving the content on the platform to meet the entertainment needs of this new audience that we are adopting. We tied up with Tencent Games for PUBG Mobile in this lockdown. We also added Free Fire and Ludo within a span of two days to cater to this new audience.”
  

The current situation that is happening to the gaming industry in India and the rest of the world is pretty unique and paradoxical. Online gaming has been boosted by the lockdown imposed across the globe. The platform, ‘Steam’ has hit a historical number of players connected together with more than 22 million over a weekend. 

The sales of video games are also booming since the lockdown started, to about a few weeks reaching almost three million downloads. 

However, these numbers might be flashy, but once the pandemic recedes and lockdown measures around the world are eased, there is bound to be a major shift in numbers, or is it?

Says Ecole Intuit Lab, Mumbai AVP – operations Yan Garin, “When I used to live in Paris, we had a major strike of the transportation industry that lasted for months. Commuting became a major challenge; so many people bought a bicycle and started going to work this way. When things got back to normal, some of the commuters who discovered the benefits of this experience, kept their bicycle as a means of transport. The same way, I think a lot of people are discovering gaming these days, and many of them will develop a taste for it, or even raise a passion.”

It is however clear, that even though the numbers during the lockdown will erode as restrictions and movements are eased, more than a month of lockdown time is also habit forming for many users and it can be expected that post lockdown the new normal will be much higher than before in terms of number of users who will still continue to be engaged with games.

“We feel the organic growth would not be comparable to this unprecedented time- when people have absolutely limited sources of entertainment. People are moreover consuming content in the form of either games or videos sitting at home. At WinZO the peak hours/ prime time for gaming has changed to 11am to 5pm, which was earlier 7pm to 11 pm in the evening. This shows people are spending more time during the day playing online games – and spending the evenings with the family. Our concurrent users are increasing day on day at 30 to 40 per cent. The paid conversions have increased by 20 per cent, suggesting that the sentiment of paying is not impacted- yet.” asserts Singh.

This impetus (if a way or another) comes amid India’s already burgeoning online gaming industry according to the latest report released by FICCI titled, “The FICCI-EY report ‘The era of consumer A.R.T. – Acquisition Retention and Transaction”.

It stated that the online gaming segment retained its position as the fastest growing segment on the back of transaction-based games mainly fantasy sports, increased in-app purchases and a 31 per cent  growth in the number of online gamers to reach around 365 million. This represents a 14x growth since 2010, when there were 25 million gamers. The online gaming segment grew 40 per cent in 2019 to reach Rs. 65 billion and is expected to reach Rs187 billion by 2022 at a CAGR of 43 per cent.

Concludes Gupta, “2020 will be led by Esports, Casual games and Rummy in terms of gaming in India with Fantasy lagging behind due to impact on physical sporting events. A lot of businesses will be able to register greater than 50 per cent year on year growth.”

While we all hope for the pandemic to subside sometime soon and we go back to our daily lives, the lockdown period is and will definitely keep spawning more gamers in India and it is likely that a certain percentage of it will still be playing post the lockdown even if for a lesser amount of time. This in turn will help push the industry further by creating more awareness, bringing in more users, washing off some of the misconceptions associated with gaming and making it easier for the companies to reach out to an audience which is a little more educated about their offerings now.

The post Level up: Covid-19 lockdown is boosting India’s online gaming scene appeared first on AnimationXpress.

FX Networks has given a green light to the new half-hour animated comedy, titled Little Demon, executive produced by Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon. Steve Levy serves as a producer on the project. The half-hour animated comedy will star Danny DeVito (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), his daughter Lucy DeVito (Deadbeat) and Aubrey Plaza (Legion, Parks & Recreation).

From left to right: Danny De Vito, Lucy De Vito and Aubrey Plaza

Little Demon centers on a sinister modern family set up, wherein a reluctant mom (Plaza), whose baby daddy is the Devil (Danny DeVito), and her tweenage Antichrist daughter (Lucy DeVito) try to live a normal life in Delaware, despite the constant interference of monstrous forces — including Satan, who wants custody of his daughter’s soul.

Created by Darcy Fowler, Seth Kirschner and Kieran Valla, who executive produce alongside Harmon, Plaza; Jersey Films 2nd Avenue’s Jake, Lucy and Danny DeVito; and Monica Mitchell, Corey Compodonico and Alex Bulkley of animation studio ShadowMachine’s (BoJack Horseman, Final Space), Little Demon had been in the works since last summer.

FXX recently got back into original short-form animation space with the new late-night series Cake.

The post Danny DeVito alongwith his daughter Lucy DeVito to star in an upcoming animated comedy appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Chinese family media and entertainment company UYoung has launched an educational SVoD service for preschool children. The goal of the platform is to expand the reach of its production and distribution catalogue, while helping kids in the region learn English.

UKids, aimed at preschoolers will offer subscribers a library of curated content chosen for its educational value, ranging from STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), nature and arts and crafts titles through to socio-emotional programming. Its catalogue features more than 3,000 episodes of content in both English and Mandarin, including popular series such as Peppa Pig, Bob the Builder, Fireman Sam and Thomas & Friends. The app also hosts more than 1,000 songs and audio stories, including YouTube content from Skyship Entertainment’s Super Simple Song brand. New content such as Moon & Me and Love Monster will be regularly added to the service through continuous updates.

In the last year UYoung has sold TeamTO’s Mighty Mike and Cottonwood Media’s The Ollie and Moon Show to China’s Tencent and Mango TV, as well as a trio of animated shows Mia and Me, Space Racers and Messy Goes to Okido to state-owned broadcaster CCTV.

The post UYoung launches preschool streamer appeared first on AnimationXpress.

During unprecedented times like this, people are grappling with uncertainty and have turned to stories and art to deal with the ‘new normal’ of staying at home.

Rainshine Entertainment is an entertainment company that creates, nurtures and develops content studios which go on to create quality content for Indian and global audiences. Now the company has conceptualised and produced some inspiring, heart-warming, as well as thrilling content that has caught the attention of the audience. The owned and partner studios of Rainshine Entertainment are behind the creation, conceptualisation, and production of these shows.

The slate includes Vir Das’ critically acclaimed, dark comedy Netflix original, Hasmukh. A Weirdass Comedy (Rainshine partner company) concept, Hasmukh is a dark comedy that follows the journey of a timid, young man from Saharanpur who dreams to be the greatest comedian in the world. However, while he is a great writer, he lacks comic timing. Determined to do anything to achieve his dream, his untamed ambition sets him on a murky path when he realizes committing murder is the only way to keep his onstage mojo. It is directed by Nikhil Gonsalves and co-created by Das and Nikkhil Advani.

Joining this list is the Spotify Original Podcast, Special Mission, Rainshine Entertainment’s heartfelt tribute to the Indian Armed Forces narrated by Gul Panag. Created and story curated by Saishree Ashwin, it covers unheard stories around diverse topics like international rescue missions, stories of regimental legends, of love, of honour and even the animals that serve in the forces. 

The podcast features real-life stories of the Indian Armed Forces that go beyond valour, traversing the extraordinary, behind-the-scenes lives of these heroes and their families. With two episodes already out, the show has been lauded for its depth, character, and ability to tug at the heartstrings of all those who listen in. The show has been produced by Rainshine Entertainment and ATS Studio.

The slate also includes Audible Suno three original podcasts. The first – Masters of Business, where some of India’s most prominent corporate leaders and entrepreneurs like Harsh Mariwala, Ronnie Screwvala, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Umang Bedi, Deep Kalra, and others, hold audio masterclasses. It has been produced by CM Studios (Rainshine Entertainment owned studio) and co-created by Russell Pinto, Upasna Mann and Nudrat Khan.  

Agla Station Investigation, second of the Audible podcast, is a light-hearted, humorous account of the Indian Petty Crimes Branch (IPCB), an obscure branch within the police dedicated to solving only the silliest of crimes, and the third, Swami Hasyadev Maharaj is the story of a fictional self-styled Godman who believes he was sent to earth to spread laughter, have both been created and produced by Weirdass Comedy.

Speaking on this occasion, Rainshine Entertainment chairman and chief executive officer Neeraj Bhargava said, “We are amidst an extraordinary situation that calls for the utmost levels of patience and strength. During these trying times, art, in its diverse forms, is known to be a welcome distraction and comforter for so many people across the world. With everybody at home, content consumption as a whole has increased manifold because all of us are turning to stories to feel better. At Rainshine Entertainment, we are ensuring that we continue to offer high quality, engaging content, across formats and genres. Through these releases, we’ve curated compelling narratives which are resonating with our audiences and we are delighted with the feedback. There’s something for everyone and I hope these stories will help our audiences get through this long phase of social isolation.”

The post Rainshine Entertainment – The name behind some power packed originals across platforms appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Before the pandemic movie night plans are used to be on weekends or during holidays, but now that everyone is at home every night can be a movie night. Grab your nibbles because you shouldn’t  starve while binge-watching these movies with family:

The Matrix series: Our first pick is this series  which  primarily consists of a trilogy of science fiction action films beginning with The Matrix (1999) and continuing with two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions (both in 2003), all written and directed by the Wachowskis and produced by Joel Silver. The movie series might launch two decades back but the storyline and the VFX is quite futuristic. The series features a cyberpunk story of the technological fall of man, in which the creation of artificial intelligence led way to a race of self-aware machines that imprisoned mankind in a virtual reality system—the Matrix—to be farmed as a power source. Every now and then, some of the prisoners manage to break free from the system and, considered a threat, become pursued by the artificial intelligence both inside and outside of it. The films focus on the plight of Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) trying to free humanity from the system while pursued by its guardians, such as Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving). The story incorporates references to numerous philosophical, religious, or spiritual ideas, among others the dilemma of choice vs. control, the brain in a vat thought experiment, messianism, and the concepts of inter-dependency and love. The VFX and the action sequences of the series are still taken as reference by many creators even today. From crowd multiplication to environment creation the movie has squeezed through the VFX techniques possible in that era.

The Lord of the Rings series: For the one who has an eye for fantasy and folklore this movie will do the justice. This is a film series of three epic fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson, based on the novel written by J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are subtitled The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003). Set in the fictional world of Middle-earth, the films follow the hobbit Frodo Baggins as he and the Fellowship embark on a quest to destroy the One Ring, to ensure the destruction of its maker, the Dark Lord Sauron. The Fellowship eventually splits up and Frodo continues the quest with his loyal companion Sam and the treacherous Gollum. Meanwhile, Aragorn, heir in exile to the throne of Gondor, along with Legolas, Gimli, Boromir, Merry, Pippin and the wizard Gandalf, unite to rally the Free Peoples of Middle-earth in the War of the Ring in order to aid Frodo by weakening Sauron’s forces. The magic of visual effects work were jaw dropping and especially how Andy Serkis brought to life as Gollum which is till date most iconic grim CG character roles we can remember.

Harry Potter series: Potter heads it is time to fly to Hogwarts. This British-American film series based on the eponymous novels by author J. K. Rowling have been favourites for many. The series consists of eight fantasy films, beginning with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001),  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010) and culminating with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011). The series curtain raise with Harry Potter as an orphaned boy brought up by his unkind Muggle (non-magical) aunt and uncle. At the age of eleven, half-giant Rubeus Hagrid informs him that he is actually a wizard and that his parents were murdered by an evil wizard named Lord Voldemort. Voldemort also attempted to kill one-year-old Harry on the same night, but his killing curse mysteriously rebounded and reduced him to a weak and helpless form. Harry became extremely famous in the Wizarding  followed by round of incidents of courage and culminated with the rise of good over evil. The series was packed with  VFX  and CG works  which incorporated almost all VFX techniques possible like crowd multiplition , creature works, environment creation, fourth perspective, and so on.There have been many visual effects companies to work on the Harry Potter series Some of these include Rising Sun Pictures, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Double Negative, Cinesite, Framestore, and Industrial Light & Magic. The latter three have worked on all the films in the series, while Double Negative and Rising Sun Pictures began their commitments with Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire, respectively. Framestore contributed by developing many memorable creatures and sequences to the series.[67] Cinesite was involved in producing both miniature and digital effects for the films.

Iron Man series: If you have already watched Avengers series  more than 100 times now it is time to binge watch how the Avengers actually gained there super powers. Starting off with Iron Man which comprises of three films  Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Iron Man 3 (2013). Tony Stark, who has inherited the defense contractor Stark Industries from his father Howard Stark wounded by a missile used by the attackers: one of his company’s own, captured and imprisoned in a cave by a terrorist group called the Ten Rings. Stark and Yinsen secretly build a small, powerful electric generator called an arc reactor to power Stark’s electromagnet and a prototype suit of powered armor to aid in their escape. Since then the journey of iron man started.The movie series has amazing VFX works which resulted to made the series win various awards.

X Men series: X-Men is an American superhero film series based on the fictional superhero team of the same name, who originally appeared in a series of comic books created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and published by Marvel Comics. The film series has 12 movies XMen, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class, The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse, Logan, Deadpool 2 and Dark Phoenix. X Men series starts with the children of the atom, homo superior, the next link in the chain of evolution. Each was born with a unique genetic mutation, which at puberty manifested itself in extraordinary powers. In a world filled with hate and prejudice, they are feared by those who cannot accept their differences. Led by Xavier the X-Men fight to protect the world from all unprecedented scenario a perfect blend of  tension, emotion which will help to bond your family. The movie series are packed with VFX scene with creature works, environment creation, CG graphics which will spellbound everyone.

The Terminator series: Terminator is an American  franchise created by James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd. The franchise encompasses a series of science fiction action films, comics, novels, and additional media, concerning battles between Skynet’s synthetic intelligent machine network and John Connor’s Resistance forces with the rest of the human race. Skynet’s most famous products in its genocidal goals are the various terminator models, such as the T-800, who was portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger from the original Terminator film in 1984. The film series comprises of six movies The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Terminator Salvation, Terminator Genisys, Terminator: Dark Fate. The film series has futuristic concept with deep inclination towards AI and robotics thus it has lot of VFX sequences.

A Nightmare on Elm Street:For those spookiest Saturday nights a horror series will be perfect. A Nightmare on Elm Street is an American horror franchise that consists of nine slasher films. The series revolves around the fictional character Freddy Krueger, a former child killer who after being burned alive by the vengeful parents of his victims, returns from the grave to terrorize and kill the teenage residents of Springwood, Ohio in their dreams. The nine movies are A Nightmare on Elm Street, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, Freddy vs. Jason, A Nightmare on Elm Street. The movie had a lot of VFX incorporated death sequences .

Final Destination series: Final Destination is an American horror franchise composed of five films, two comic books, and nine novels. The film series is comprising of five films  named after the franchise name with numbers.All five films center around a small group of people who escape impending death when one individual (the protagonist of each film) has a sudden premonition and warns them that they will all die in a terrible mass-casualty accident. After avoiding their foretold deaths, the survivors are killed one by one in bizarre accidents caused by an unseen force creating complicated chains of cause and effect, resembling Rube Goldberg machines in their complexity, and then read omens sent by another unseen entity in order to again avert their deaths. The movie might not be  rich in VFX sequences but have enough to be in the list. The horrendous death sequences have a lot of VFX and CG elements which make it unique.

Transformer series: Transformers is a series of American science fiction action films based on the Transformers franchise which began in the 1980s. Michael Bay has directed the first five films: Transformers (2007), Revenge of the Fallen (2009), Dark of the Moon (2011), Age of Extinction (2014) and The Last Knight (2017). A spin-off film, Bumblebee, directed by Travis Knight and produced by Bay, was released on December 2018. The series has been distributed by Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks. The Transformers are made up of the heroic Autobots led by Optimus Prime and the evil Decepticons lead by the villainous Megatron. They lived on a metallic planet called Cybertron. Both groups would have to leave Cybertron to try and find new sources of energy to be able to revitalize their war efforts. All the movies from the series have various VFX sequences from the creation of Optimus Prime and other autobots.

Fast and furious series: Fast and Furious is a film franchise centered on a series of action films that are largely concerned with illegal street racing, heists and spies. Currently the series has nine movies, includes: The Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, The Fate of the Furious, F9. The movie VFX is average commercial movies but one scene which it is known for where visual effects company Weta Digital was hired to re-create Paul William Walker IV Walker’s likeness after Walker died in a single-vehicle crash on 30November 2013, with filming only half-completed.

The post Binge watch these VFX heavy movie series during family movie nights #WhenatHome appeared first on AnimationXpress.