Nazara Games ready to play ball with NZ World in Africa

CHENNAI: IPO-bound Nazara Games is expanding into new markets. The company has acquired a 70% stake in Kenyan gaming company NZ World, which will launch a host of real-money games across sport-related genres, ranging from fantasy sports, to arcade games and quiz games, beginning with the launch of a FIFA game this month.

Nazara Games in partnership with NZ World has secured a betting licence from the Betting Control Board of Kenya to operate certain products within the licence. The company has been scouting for opportunities in real money gaming.

“Real money gaming is popular in African countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon in addition to Kenya, primarily on account of a well laid out and clear licensing framework. We will leverage Nazara’s on-ground network built over the past few years, focusing on the sports betting and fantasy market in African countries, beginning with FIFA 18,” Manish Agarwal, CEO of Nazara Technologies told ET.

NZ World will focus on players in the age group of 20 to 45 and expect to see individual monetary transactions worth Rs 20-25 take place on a daily basis, through the real money game launch.

“The monetary transaction M Pesa has been around in Kenya for several years, so we expect to see transactions take place,” added Agarwal. Presently, Sports Pesa is the largest sports betting platform in Kenya and occupies about 70% of the market share.

One of the products that will be launched in Kenya is a real-time social prediction sports game, where players can bet real time among their friends and was developed by Nazara Games portfolio company, Mastermind Sports.