Jio Ropes In Sidharth Kedia To Head Gaming Vertical

SUMMARY

Kedia, who quit Nazara-backed NODWIN Gaming last October, has joined JioGames as senior vice president and head in June

This is Kedia’s second stint with Reliance group

Last year, Jio inked a 10-year strategic partnership with French firm Gamestream, whose partners include Ubisoft, to push its cloud gaming platform

Reliance Jio’s gaming platform, JioGames, has roped in former chief executive officer of NODWIN Gaming Sidharth Kedia as its head.

Kedia, who quit Nazara-backed NODWIN Gaming last October, has joined JioGames as senior vice president and head in June.

This is Kedia’s second stint with Reliance group. Earlier, he worked with its media divisions, Viacom18 and Network18 in different roles, from 2015-19.

“In 2015, I had joined RIL’s media business. Jio was in it’s final stages of development. In December of 2015, I was called upon by the chairman’s office to run the PMO for Jio ‘friends and family’ launch. Now that I look back, I swell with pride to have been part of such a momentous initiative,” Kedia wrote on Linkedln.

“A decade later, I feel pretty stoked to be called back in the RIL family and be entrusted with the opportunity to scale Jiogames and build a gaming behemoth that India awaits,” he added.

It is pertinent to note that he joined NODWIN Gaming in 2019 after his Reliance’s first stint, while listed gaming giant Nazara acquired majority stake in the former in 2018. During his stint, NODWIN Gaming grew to be one of the leading esports companies in the country, with diversification in multiple genres beyond mere tournaments.

The appointment indicates that JioGames might now aggressively push its new efforts in the market. The gaming division of Mukesh Ambani’s Jio plans to target both gamers, and game developers.

Last year, Jio inked a 10-year strategic partnership with French firm Gamestream, whose partners include Ubisoft. The French firm offers clients white-labeling cloud gaming solutions, . Jio said the partnership will help it scale its cloud gaming platform JioGamesCloud.

JioGamesCloud is a cloud gaming platform offering a vast catalogue of games, from AAA titles to hyper-casual games catering to various genres, categories, and age groups, the official website says. With JioGamesCloud, users can simply connect to the internet and enjoy a seamless gaming experience on PC, mobile, TV, and web browsers.

As per a Lumikai report, India’s gaming market is expected to hit $3.1 Bn in FY23 and is projected to reach $7.5 Bn by FY28. India continued to be the second-largest gaming market with 15.4 Bn game downloads in FY23, following China.