Next Wave Multimedia strikes a partnership with Cricket Australia

Next Wave Multimedia Private Limited (Next Wave Multimedia), a Chennaibased mobile gaming company and a subsidiary of Nazara Technologies Limited (Nazara), has announced its association with Cricket Australia to launch a new ‘Big Bash Cricket’ game, leveraging their popular mobile cricket gaming platform. The KFC Big Bash League (BBL) and Rebel Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) are professional Twenty20 cricket leagues in Australia.

Cricket Australia has signed a three-year license with Next Wave Multimedia to develop unique mobile games for fans of the Big Bash leagues across the globe. This is a significant step for Next Wave Multimedia in its quest to expand its mobile cricket gaming platform globally. Next Wave is already known for its World Cricket Championship (WCC) game.

The Big Bash leagues are played annually throughout the Australian summer between teams representing Australian cities, with the Adelaide Strikers (BBL) and the Sydney Sixers (WBBL) the current reigning champions. The BBL was established in 2011 to attract new fans (youth, families and female audiences) to the sport of cricket and to protect the future of the game, with the WBBL introduced in 2015. Since its inception, the league has been a resounding success throughout Australia and the global cricket community.

"I'm really excited to take our mobile game ‘Big Bash Cricket’ to the next level in collaboration with Next Wave Multimedia," "We look forward to offering Big Bash fans in Australia and around the world an even more realistic representation of the game they love with improved graphics and gameplay as well as all new features including a multiplayer option. “Considering Next Wave Multimedia’s mobile gaming pedigree and the quality of their existing cricket games, we can't wait to see what their team does with our teams and players.” says Patrick Horan, Cricket Australia’s Digital Gaming Manager.

Commenting on the association with Cricket Australia, Mr. P.R Rajendran, CEO, Next Wave, said: “We believe that mobile games around cricket enable millions of Indiansto vicariously live the ‘on ground’ experience virtually and with the BBL’s legion of fans, this offers a perfect setting for this partnership. With ‘Big Bash Cricket’, the game will boost engagement with existing fans and also appeal to a larger audience. “We are confident that this partnership will build a strong and vibrant community of cricket fans around the globe.”

Manish Agarwal, CEO, Nazara Technologies, says “We at Nazara believe that cricket fans around the globe have been missing a high-quality gaming experience on their mobile devices unlike their counterpart soccer fans. This partnership with Cricket Australia gives Next Wave an opportunity to offer a console-quality cricket gameplay experience on their mobile devices and attract younger audiences to virtual Big Bash games.

Nazara has invested in mobile gaming companies in the sports genre such as Mastermind Sports Limited, Moonglabs Technologies Private Limited, HalaPlay Technologies Private Limited. Nazara has taken a majority stake in Next Wave Multimedia Private Limited and NODWIN Gaming Private Limited last year and offers gaming subscription services in over 61 countries globally including, Africa, Middle East, South East Asia and the Indian Subcontinent.

With Nazara’s strong cricket pedigree that includes work with Virat Kohli, Royal Challengers Bangalore, NextWave’s World Cricket Championship (WCC), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and now Cricket Australia’s Big Bash Leagues, it is now in a position to further strengthen its foothold in the cricket gaming space.