A new startup is eyeing the emerging markets in gaming. The startup called Zeebo Inc. thinks that the demand for good video games is the same in emerging markets as that of in the U.S., Western Europe and Japan.

Next month, Zeebo wants to launch its “video game console for the next billion” in Brazil. The game will cost $199 in Brazil and $179 in other countries where it will launch the game later this year. The cell phone technology of Qualcomm Inc. was used to develop the game.

The Zeebo unit is different than the gaming colsole that are popular in the western countries. The video game unit is lightweight, and bigger in size than the Nintendo Wii. Instead of using disks for playing video games, Zeebo will have digitally downloaded games. These games will be distributed through cell phone networks. Players won’t need to subscribe to such networks.

Zeebo is targeted at game enthusiasts of emerging markets such as India, Brazil, China and Estern Europe and will not directly compete with high powered, latest, powerful devices such as Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3, Microsoft’s Xbox 360, or the Wii. In most of the targeted areas, cell phone network is readily available and people cannot afford to spend money of high end machines.

Zeebo can be attached to any TV and played. It consumes lesser electricity and batteries can be charged with a charger that looks like a typical cell phone charger. Zeebo was showcased at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Technically Zeebo is between the original PlayStation, launched in 1994, and the PlayStation 2. This is not very high according to the U.S. standards but majority of the people in the target markets have not played high end ultra-realistic modern video games. Zeebo expects to attract the middle class of the emerging economy by improving on the popular games and offering digital download. Big game publishers like Electronic Arts Inc., THQ Inc. and Activision Blizzard Inc. will make their games available for Zeebo.

The company estimates the market to be 800 million.

Related posts