India’s mobile ludo games find enthusiasts across the world

Ludo, a board game that has been played for centuries in India, has caught enthusiasts across the world from Spain to Saudi Arabia in its mobile game avatars. As such, Gameberry Labs’ Ludo Star is the second-highest revenue-generating ludo title in the world. It has over six million daily active users from 15 countries across two ludo games. And Ludo King has emerged as the top game in India in first half of 2021, in terms of the number of downloads and active users.

Afsar Ahmad, founder Gameberry Labs, told ToI that mobile game development is taking off in India partly because of the number of game engines now available. “A game engine, like Unity or Unreal, is a software tool that allows one to build video games. They make it easier for developers to build the gameplay aspect, how it will play on the phone, after which it’s about art, animation and design, and getting them to work seamlessly in the multiplayer format,” he explained.

Ahmed revealed that they decided to work on Ludo when they found that the existing Ludo games were not designed well – one of the reasons Gameberry’s art style has a major appeal. “Our use of colors like violet and gold gave the game a royal feel and appealed particularly in places like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Moreover voice features inside ludo are also a huge appeal in countries like Saudi Arabia where many regular voice apps are banned.”

Gameberry Labs has also developed Parchisi Star, another board game and a slightly modified version of Ludo Star. Most of its ardent players, about 70%, come from Spain. Ahmed had earlier said that it also attracted players from Morocco, Colombia, Mexico and Dominican Republic – countries that had a similar connection with Parchisi like India did with ludo.

There are other developers too like JetSynthesys, which is based in Pune. Rajan Navani of JetSynthesys has developed Ludo Zenith. “We use different characters in the game. For example, if you pick the rabbit, you can jump extra spaces. If you pick the rhino, you can defend yourself,” he explained. “Ludo Zenith looks like a simple, casual game, but it is a very competitive game that keeps users coming back for more.”

Also Read: India can boost electronics manufacturing to USD 300 billion in 3 to 4 years

Navani told ToI that backend engineering is also critical. “We have had 200 engineers work for the last six years just to build tech modules and efficiencies around leveraging tech. If you want the best user experience, you not only need content, but also seamless tech that goes along with it. The architecture, programming, product design, testing, all require deep tech understanding.”

Overall, ludo gained enthusiasts in its mobile version as it was extremely popular in ancient and medieval India, and a version of the game called Chaupar or Chausar is central to the story of Mahabharata when Yudhisthir lost his kingdom, wife and brothers to the Kauravas in this game.