Indian mobile games developer takes a stake in London studio

Nazara Games, a mobile game developer and publisher in India, has invested an undisclosed amount to acquire a 26 percent stake in London-based mobile game studio Mastermind Sports, according to a report in the publication VentureBeat.

Nazara has developed CricBet, a real-time prediction-based cricket game that sports fans can play while watching events on TV, in collaboration with Mastermind. The game incorporates a second screen experience enabling users to watch the match and use the mobile game to predict what will happen in the immediate future.

Tom McCall and technology entrepreneur Pratik Shah founded Mastermind Sports to focus on second-screen apps, spending two years building a real-time prediction platform.

Shah told VentureBeat in an interview that the platform’s intelligent engine “…adapts to the ebb and flow of a live match, ensuring the most accurate and insightful gaming experience possible. Our games, led by CricBet, are designed to truly test fans ability to predict what is about to happen.”

Manish Agarwal, CEO of Nazara, said in a statement, “We at Nazara believe that second screen experience via mobile phones would convert a passive activity of watching TV into a highly interactive activity.

“Our investment in Mastermind Sports is to enable deeply engaged fans to have a real time social second screen experience and amplify the fun of watching matches with friends cutting across geographical constraints.”

CricBet has eight prediction markets where fans can bet on things events such as the next boundary to be scored, runs in the next over and whether a batsman will score a half-century or more.