Nostra is launching its disruptive mobile game Discovery platform around the globe and it will make it available to game developers worldwide.Nostra, based in San Francisco and Singapore, has become a huge game discovery platform in Asia, with more than 90 million monthly active users and 25 million livestream viewers, particularly in India and Southeast Asia. It helps players discover, play, watch, and compete across games. And it does so by making games available on lockscreens via Glance. And it also facilitates livestreaming.Now, it is expanding globally and opening its platform to game developers and studios worldwide, aiming to unlock the full potential of their games and drive organic engagement at scale.“We are an independent unit inside Glance, and we very much act as an independent unit with its own mission. Our vision is to be a community-led Gaming platform that meets the gaming needs of every user,” said Yashashvi Takallapalli, vice president and general manager of Nostra, in an interview with GamesBeat. “Our belief is that every user is a gamer. It’s just a matter of putting the right game in front of that user. So that’s the first proposition — a game for every user and a user for every game.”GamesBeat Next 2023Join the GamesBeat community in San Francisco this October 23-24. You’ll hear from the brightest minds within the gaming industry on latest developments and their take on the future of gaming.He added, “The second aspect is we also are talking about every gaming need of a user. So when it comes to gaming, increasingly, it is becoming very mainstream. Now, gaming is all just about playing games, talking to your friends about those games that you played, finding updates on those games you want to research.”Right now, there are about 500 games on Nostra. Most of them are low-bandwidth HTML5 games, with some Android titles. Over the next 12 to 18 months, the company plans to rapidly expand its Android games portfolio. Puzzle games and match-3 titles are very popular, as are hypercasual games. Nostra is working with about 30 game studios now, many of them in Asia.You can casually get engaged with a game on your lockscreen, or you can swipe and get the game up. If you’re playing Scrabble, you’ll see an opponent make a turn and get a prompt to make your move. Over time, Nostra wants to launch on browsers, game folders, homescreens and more. Nostra is also in the process of building its own app. Nostra has welcomed Voodoo SAS, the French video game developer behind popular casual games, to its platform. Voodoo will deliver immersive gaming experiences on smartphone lock screens and other smart surfaces. This collaboration allows Voodoo to tap into Nostra’s massive user base, particularly in Southeast Asia and India, two of the world’s largest gaming markets. By joining Nostra, Voodoo SAS gains access to a platform that offers nearly ten times the reach and engagement compared to traditional app download models, providing unprecedented opportunities for game discovery, higher engagement, increased retention, and new monetization avenues.Nostra’s partnership with Glance, the world’s first smart lock screen platform, further enhances its gaming capabilities. Glance, available on nearly 430 million Android phones and other smart surfaces, provides personalized content recommendations and live experiences. Nostra powers gaming on Glance, creating a seamless and immersive gaming experience for users across Asia.To disrupt traditional mobile game discovery and enhance engagement and retention, Nostra has introduced new immersive gaming formats. “We want to be community first,” Takallapalli said. “We have to work very closely with game developers to execute this. We launched three products, and are packaging them as part of an SDK that game developers can utilize the products.”The “Live” format allows livestreaming from inside any game, driving game discovery, engagement, and fostering learning and connections. A more advanced version of this format, called “TurboLive,” enables viewers to interact with live streamers in any game and influence gameplay, creating an immersive and interactive experience. The “Connect” format offers discussion forums to engage with players during the game, fostering social connections and boosting engagement and retention. Additionally, the newly added “Esports Tournaments” format allows gamers to compete against each other, transforming them into enthusiasts and advocates, further enhancing their interest and involvement in the gaming community.These innovative experiential formats aim to boost game discovery, resulting in intent-based installations and higher levels of engagement. The success of these immersive formats is exemplified by Voodoo’s experience on the Glance Lock Screen, which has facilitated the expansion of their user base by 43 million active users across 10 games in just three months, with nearly 90 million game plays.Takallapalli emphasized the importance of discovery and retention in the gaming industry. With over 700 new games launching every day and a high churn rate of 90% within thirty days of installation, it’s hard to get noticed. Nostra presents a new paradigm of user discovery, community, and engagement. By thinking beyond the app, Nostra offers a depth and breadth of gaming experiences that transform casual gamers into dedicated fans. The integration of Nostra with the Glance Lock Screen provides developers with a high-frequency touchpoint to connect with new audiences at scale.Other industry players, such as Famobi, have also recognized the value of Nostra’s platform. In a statement, Kevin Bernatek, business development manager at Famobi, praised Nostra for increasing the audience that can play their premium HTML5 games and providing valuable insights into the market.Looking ahead, Nostra plans to expand its presence to other markets, including Latin America and North America, enabling developers to reach gamers worldwide through a single integration. With its vision to become one of the biggest platforms for all gaming experiences globally, Nostra aims to create a rich experience-led gaming platform that caters to the diverse needs of gamers while contributing to the larger gaming ecosystem.Nostra is India and Southeast Asia’s largest gaming platform, with a mission to become one of the premier platforms for gaming experiences worldwide. Nostra is owned by Glance, a Singapore-headquartered consumer technology company. The company has 30 people in the Nostra division.“Essentially, our promise for game developers is to engage users within the gaming platform. That results in amazing engagement and retention for developers. We can help developers acquire and retain users.”The platform monetizes through ads or it helps games monetize better in whatever fashion they use. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? 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