In what could be a path-breaking move, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is aiming to launch its first mobile cricket game. The main aim for this is to diversify revenue streams in anticipation of a massive slowdown in the value of future broadcast rights. Though there have been instances of cricket gaming stretching back to the 80s and late 90s, this move is believed to be the first time the game's governing body will develop and launch its own game.
The ICC's digital team is set to make a presentation on the same to the chief executive's committee (CEC) and the ICC's board meetings, which begin today in Harare. It is to be noted that the gaming idea has been discussed in several meetings, but the ICC is now keen to get a nod from the Full Members to put a tender out for developers to build a game.
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Most of the cricket fanatics will fondly remember the EA Sports Cricket series or Codemaster's Brian Lara Cricket on game consoles. However, in recent years, hardly any of the mobile cricket games have been a massive hit amongst the fans.
ICC eager to launch mobile games to make viewers fall in love with E-gaming
ICC is eager to replicate the success of FIFA while launching mobile cricket games. For over 30 years, FIFA has widely resonated with football fans, and its success largely stems from the users enjoying a good experience while playing games. However, ICC has a huge task on their hands while designing the game for cricket regarding how it negotiates a complex landscape for players' name, image and likeness (NIL) rights.
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One of the major reasons why EA Sports ended its cricket series in 2007 was owing to the failure to secure licensing rights for player names, which became a tough affair. Also, it is observed that over 100 companies are using players in various games without authorization or onward revenues to players.
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Currently, the size of the mobile gaming market in India, according to several reports, is at around US $3 billion and growing massively. This is one of the primary reasons the ICC is keen to launch its own mobile cricket game.
