Disney India Games Chief Leaves the Company: Sources

Last year, Gadgets 360 reported that Disney India would be shutting down game development at Indiagames. Now, after speaking to several sources, it seems that Sameer Ganapathy, Vice President and ‎Head Interactive, Disney India — responsible for Indiagames’ efforts in game development and distribution — has moved on. Ganapathy had replaced Indiagames co-founder Vishal Gondal who left nearly a year after Indiagames was acquired by Disney.

“Sameer Ganapathy leads the Interactive business of Disney India which includes development and delivery of multiplatform games and digital products including apps for multi-brands under The Walt Disney Company - Indiagames, UTV, Disney, Marvel, and Disney Pixar,” his profile reads on Disney’s corporate website.

(Also see: Indiagames Founder to Start Investing in Indian Gaming Ecosystem)

According to an email received by Disney India employees last week, Ganapathy is leaving the company. This comes a month after erstwhile managing director Mahesh Samat returned to look after all local businesses (except ESPN) after Siddharth Roy Kapur exited to pursue other business interests. Disney India has not replied to our request for comment.

While Indiagames stopped developing games in-house — deciding to outsource live operations to its games such as ICC Pro Cricket 15, it doesn’t seem to have green lit any new games either. However, the distribution arm of Indiagames, which supplies games to be embedded in smartphones and to third-party app stores is still operational and will report to Disney’s Consumer Products head, Abhishek Maheshwari.

(Also see: Game Development in India: In a State of Constant Flux)

Given how unrealistic some of the projections on Disney’s cricket games were, this should come as no surprise.

"Management had projected a revenue on ICC Pro Cricket 2015 of $2 million (roughly Rs. 13.2 crores) in 9 months. It was not realistic," a laid-off employee told us when development ceased at Indiagames.

The studio's efforts were solely-focused on ICC Pro Cricket 2015. Its other cricket game, Cricket Card Battle, ceased receiving updates earlier in the year. Another title it worked on was a match-3 game called Cupcake Dreamland. After it was developed in-house, it was given to Pune-based company Appon Software to run live operations and updates for six months, but that contract was cancelled in two weeks.