Mumbai: In recent years, gaming has evolved from a niche hobby into a mainstream cultural phenomenon, surpassing both the music and movie industries in terms of revenue. This rapid growth is driven by the increasing demand for interactive and immersive experiences, accessible across various platforms, including mobile devices and web browsers. With advancements in technology, the gaming landscape has expanded, offering diverse genres and innovative gameplay mechanics that captivate millions of users worldwide.

At the forefront of this transformation is Felicity Games, a leading casual game developer and publisher founded in 2023 by serial entrepreneur Anurag Choudhary. Headquartered in Bengaluru, India, Felicity Games embodies the ethos of 'building from India for the world,' leveraging the country's cost and skill advantages to create high-quality, globally appealing games. In under a year, Felicity Games has launched over 10 titles, attracting more than a million monthly users across 14 geographies.

The company employs a proprietary framework called "Pokhran" to rapidly prototype and test casual games for commercial viability, ensuring only the successful ones are scaled. With standout titles like Seek & Find and Nova Solitaire, Felicity Games has distinguished itself through strategic partnerships with studios and brands, innovative use of AI for user experience enhancement, and a focus on personalizing gameplay to keep players engaged and returning.

Indiantelevision.com in conversation with Felicity Games’ founder Anurag Choudhary discussed about their genesis, USP, impact of intrusive ads in mobile games, and much more.

On the inspiration behind establishing Felicity Games and its stand-out point from its competitors

After a decade in the consumer startup ecosystem, I noticed a growing appetite for interactive media, with gaming leading this trend. Today, gaming is larger than the music and movie industries. We have a unique opportunity in India due to our cost and skill advantages, positioning us to build a multi-million dollar casual gaming business for the world. What sets us apart from competitors is our focus on building a “business of games” rather than just “a game” wherein we test multiple titles for commercial viability, only scaling the successful ones.

On the key strategies that contributed to the rapid success of Felicity Games

At Felicity, we leverage the growing ecosystem of Indian indie developers to produce high-quality game prototypes at a fraction of the cost compared to western markets. We commercially test and scale only the successful titles, maximizing revenue by publishing our games across both conventional and unconventional platforms. This risk-adjusted and diversified approach to publishing has helped us get to 1M plus monthly active users within a short span of time.

On managing the impact of intrusive ads in your mobile games, and ways in which the gaming industry can strike a balance between monetisation and maintaining a positive user experience

We believe maximising user experience will maximise LTV in the long run. In our games:

1  Users can opt for a weekly or lifetime pack to go ad-free for a nominal fee.
2  We regulate ad pressure within the game using AI-driven algorithms, ensuring a better user experience.

On your proprietary framework “Pokhran” and its help in game development

Mobile games have a slim two per cent success rate, as numerous metrics must align for commercial viability. At Felicity, we chose to invest in a commercial testing infrastructure called Pokhran before building games. This blend of workflow and tools allows us to:

- Rapidly generate creative assets: We can set up any game's storefront and produce impactful static and video creatives within 24 hours.

- Initiate user acquisition test campaigns: across multiple geographies.

- Predict LTV (lifetime value) of users based on their early sessions.

- Calculate geography/campaign-specific ROAS (return on ad spend) for comprehensive evaluation.

On the strategies that you use to keep players engaged and returning to your games

There are two big levers that help us keep users returning to our games:

1  Personalisation of experiences and level difficulty curve.
2  Fresh content and quests for power users.

On the reason behind games like Seek & Find and Nova Solitaire standing out in a competitive market

Both hidden objects and classic Solitaire are genres with a large TAM and awareness. We've taken a unique approach to content, user experience and game objectives for both. In Seek & Find, you can discover objects around Pyramids of Giza to magical fairytale lands - maps which you won’t find elsewhere. In Nova Solitaire, one can build a classic car collection by winning different games of Klondike Solitaire - again an industry first.

On your collaborations with studios and brands enhancing your game development process and market reach

Our collaboration with studios currently helps us prototype casual games for our core target group faster, increasing the chances of achieving commercial success.

On cutting-edge technologies or trends that you are currently exploring to keep Felicity Games at the forefront of the industry

AI has unlocked a whole new set of possibilities for game publishers like us. We're leveraging it to solve the following problems:

- Improving our LTV prediction based on users' gameplay
- Enhancing personalisation of levels and in-game ads to maximize user experience
- Creating and altering game assets for new maps and quests (LiveOps)

On Felicity Games' plans for the next few years and any upcoming titles or initiatives you can share

Felicity is currently prototyping games in five genres, with the aim of commercially scaling at least one or two. Over the next few years, our goal is to build a portfolio of four to five titles on mobile gaming, each capable of generating more than $10M in annual revenue. Additionally, we are exploring opportunities in newer distribution avenues such as UGC gaming and VR.