How This Humble Tabletop Game Took Over South Asia
Part II - How it's going...
This piece follows Part I of A South-Asian Tabletop Story. It may be a good idea to start from there.
Done? Here we go, then…
The advent of the 21st century opened doors for newer innovations and technologies for the world, especially for the fast-growing countries of South Asia. But the pre-existing tabletop market was already scattered with long-standing indigenous titles like Snakes and Ladders, Ludo (Pachisi), Chess, Mahjong, Go, the usual deck of cards, etc. Some with deeper roots than others, and rules handed down from generations. Western titles were often lumped into imported goods, with availability limited to a handful of developed regions. Other significant factors, such as overcomplicated rules and language barriers, might have been why global phenomena like D&D never reached the average Asian kid.
The Digital Hope
As new technology surfaced, the counterfeit video game industry found its home in Asian markets. Thanks to the modular FAMICOM concept and easily available spare parts, millions can now play pixelated versions of many tabletop games on their dream color TV set. In theory, at least. In reality, the massively diverse game library, and the wave of new RPGs and arcade games completely overshadowed the fraction of digital board games, which needed to be more fun to play on screen. As a result, the first decade of this century proved to be a boon for video games (that are on a completely different level now ), and a bane to tabletop games in Asian countries.
With innovations shattered and sales staggered, physical games continued to lose interest among kids and adults alike. The same was true for Ludo. However, as its traditional colors faded in the 2000s, a new hope would arise in the coming decade.
The Portable Decade
The iPhone indeed changed the technology landscape in 2007. The Internet laid the foundation for mobile interfaces to go beyond calling, and Google launched Android the following year. In a couple of years, both platforms would encompass the globe. Android took hold of the Asian market by providing a custom version of its operating system to any brand that is not Apple. Soon, all Android users got the app store on their phones, and with that came the dawn of mobile gaming.
The early 2010s was the experimental phase for mobile games. People wanted to try their new toys and push the limits of their capabilities. A mere clone of Ludo with its two-dimensional game mechanics was a success in niche communities. It was no match for the exotic ambiance of Angry Birds. Even mad lovers of everything local couldn't enjoy playing on a computer. The key components of the game were missing—Real Players.
Huge Wave of Surfing
By 2015, the stage was set for Pachisi 2.0.2.0 to enter the next phase. Major titles were now established, with millions of downloads (organic and paid) on the Android store. New mobile screens were bigger, brighter, and more responsive, allowing multiple players to set a phone as a makeshift board and play for hours.
The introduction of 4G played a huge role in the mobile gaming revolution. In Indian markets, it brought the first limitless internet plan for the average consumer. Android phones sold like hotcakes and Ludo had reached its target audience, or in technical terms, the tier 4 population. By 2016, the craze of the humble game started taking root. Popular titles now have millions of downloads, at least on paper, and a constant revenue stream from AdSense.
Meanwhile, the demand for foreign titles was ever-increasing in India. The success of the superhero genre was vital for the new face of pop culture among the newly literate population. During the same decade, comic books from East and West crossed the seas and brought trendy games like Jenga, Scrabble, etc. In the metropolitan area, anything with an overseas tag was the talk of the town. The world was connected, and new inventive board games were financed every other day. The future Ludo was almost set in a corner of the app store until the next decade when its popularity exploded.
A Decade With Terrible End
Ludo was a Panda Rider—one of the many successes that rode on the back of the pandemic. With no hope for a certain future, the Indian subcontinent masses, including the well-known labor force, found a place of alleviation in this old game, ready to trigger on a billion black mirrors. Not to mention, the leading mobile shooter game, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds was just banned. This was the time for maximum retention, and a familiar name was appealing. With its origins steeped in the core Indian mythology and conflicts—irrespective of the infamous developments—there was already bias at the back of heads for a substantial many. Rules passed down from generation needed no recall.
Global multiplayer matching and voice chat frameworks were already established and introduced quickly. This made the mobile version a household name, even a default app among the bloatware of potentially a billion phones, going strong today.
The Betting Market
In recent years the incumbent Ludo app has incorporated several successful marketing strategies. Rampant ads are part of the most basic user acquisition strategy. However, players have already gotten used to rewards on ads as the demographic is developing countries. With a user base of hundreds of millions, in-purchases of a dime or two have become the new norm. With easy-to-pay payment apps, this opens up routes to a full-circle destination—Gamling.
The mobile version of Ludo has branched far out of India to other parts, mainly in South Asia, but even in farther regions like Papua New Guinea. The stats of smaller developing countries, often unreliable, are overwhelmed by the local user base of the most populated. Many multilingual features reflect the growing number. Especially in the coastal parts, people mistake mobile gaming for lottery. Even if the fake inventor of Ludo were alive today, he wouldn’t be able to claim his patent on hundreds of mobile betting apps offering Ludo lottery events every hour. I don’t play any. Not only that, I decided to write on this topic after getting bombarded by daily ads of “play and win” endorsed by local celebrities.
In countries riddled with economic inequalities, the reward trap looms above every game, chipping dimes from shallow pockets to drop into the revenue well. Every round, every roll of dice has a dozen prayers to rid those ads.
Thank you for sticking out with me to the end. Sorry for being late. I‘ve been working on the end-of-the-month post. Hopefully, it will be out in a couple of days. Both of my publications had massive leaps of viewership in August. If this is your first time here, please consider subscribing and sharing my work. It helps me keep going.