The King of Ludo Enters Tech 25 - Class of 2020 The Man Who Brought Nostalgia Back to the Favorite Board Game – Ludo

The June edition of Entrepreneur India magazine unveiled the fourth annual listicle of the Tech 25 – Class of 2020.

Belonging to a small city of Patna, Bihar Vikash Jaiswal was fond of games as a teenager. He fondly remembers his love for Mario and how gaming parlours were his hub in the early 90s. Though his love didn't die soon even as a grown up. His craziness for games further led him to do a course in graphic designing and then computer engineering where his engineering life was also spent developing games. As someone who was always thinking big, he had to convince his mother who raised him as a single parent after his father's death to buy him a computer. He soon explored a world of creating games and softwares would help. In the third year of engineering he developed a game that became popular and earned him a job in Mumbai with Indiagames. "I worked with Vishal Gondal for four years developing feature phone games." Though the entrepreneurial bug had bitten him and he wanted to do something on his own.

In 2004, he started taking interest in Google AdSense and started setting a base for his own venture. He left his job and started working from home. Formally he set up the company in 2010 and bought an office in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai.

Till 2013 with a small set up he was making online browser based games at oneonlinegames.com earning 5000 dollar per month but suddenly he saw traffic decreasing. Sharing his journey, Jaiswal says, "Till 2014 I had made about 20 games. Post that I started developing mobile games, as that's where the future lied. 2015 is the time when the idea of Ludo King came to me." From the start he was confident that this board game will reach the top. February 2016 saw the launch of Ludo King with a minimal and basic design away from the fancy games one sees. By 2016 it was already a hit and since May 2018 it was topping Google Play store. During Coronavirus led lockdown Ludo King topped the charts becoming the favorite of everyone, Jaiswal says "Before lockdown we had 13-15 million active users on a daily basis. And during lockdown time we are touching 51 million daily active users." It became one of the top five most installed mobile games worldwide in April as per the data released by Sensor Tower.

Talking about the challenges he says, "IP monetization is hard to drive. From the start we are focusing on game engagement. But we are doing well in advertising revenues." Sharing his mantra for success, the simple and humble Jaiswal says, "I have always worked on games which have mass appeal. Ludo is already played by everyone. They don't have to be taught.

During lockdown, families came close and with Ludo King they can play a social, safe, fun game together that unites the family." His future plan is to make more sleeper hit games like Ludo King to create another sensation.

FACT SHEET

Team size: 70

Funding: bootstrapped

(This article was first published in the June 2020 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. To subscribe, click here)